Moves to ensure the EU’s economic independence and technology sovereignty are catching universities in the cross hairs. Institutions must strike a balance between protecting sensitive technologies and maintaining open science and autonomy

A small top-up for Horizon Europe allays fears the budget would be cut, but there’s growing unease about the EU’s research programme becoming too focused on innovation

Maria Leptin looks to how Horizon Europe’s successor programme can help bridge the east-west gap in research performance after visiting Croatia and Slovenia

A formal system has been put in place that allows regional funds to be transferred to Horizon Europe projects. To date, €18.5M has been made available

A new report highlights structural problems and bottlenecks that are holding back progress in building up capacity and strengthening the scientific systems in eastern Europe

As the process of reforming research assessment gains momentum, representatives of Widening countries share concerns that their perspectives will not be properly accommodated

The money forms part of a proposed €10B package of investment in strategic technologies. But the Commission fails to deliver on much-requested increases for other parts of Horizon Europe

New report by the European Court of Auditors shows battery R&D is uncoordinated, leaving gaps and leading to duplication of effort

Concentrated diplomatic efforts win the day as Romania is made a ‘founding observer’ in the ELI ERIC consortium. The move is a huge step forwards after a long-running row that seriously held up the largest research infrastructure in eastern Europe

Blame game has ensued after the Commission shut down the bespoke portal with no prior notice. And the application process is likely to be messy for a while, with temporary solutions still being set up