This week we’re taking a close look at the latest ideas and trends in EU regional funding for research and innovation, a cross-border start-up network in central Europe, how Poland is helping Ukranian scientists forced to flee the war and those who have remained, and we revisit the spat between Budapest and Brussels over access to EU research funding.
The latest news
REGIONAL WOES: Innovation performance in Bulgarian and Romanian regions has been ranked the lowest in the EU in the fifth regional competitiveness report, published by the European Commission this week. Capital cities Sofia and Bucharest are getting closer to EU average innovation performance, but regions elsewhere are ranked well below EU and national averages. The report comes at a time when the Commission and other EU institutions are scrambling to support research and innovation in laggard regions, including a new round of funding for the Regional Innovation Valleys initiative. Read the full story.
ECOSYSTEM: A start-up network connecting three border regions in Czechia, Poland and Slovakia is hoping that its bottom-up approach can help a local - yet transnational - innovation ecosystem to thrive. The CEE Startup Network held its first cross-border funding competition last year and is now looking to expand its reach into more cities ahead of hosting this year’s Startup Voucher call, which will open in September. Thomas Brent has the story.
CLOSER TIES: With the war in Ukraine entering its second year, an emergency funding programme for Ukrainian researchers launched by the Foundation for Polish Science has been extended into a third call. This and other initiatives are strengthening cross-border research cooperation between the two countries. Poland has played a major role in coordinating international efforts to support Ukrainian research and innovation and has offered support and funding to hundreds of Ukrainian researchers, both in and out of their country. Anna Rzhevkina has the story.
HUNGARY: The government has set aside €12.5 million as a stop gap for universities hit by the EU’s Horizon Europe funding freeze, but some researchers say this substitute fund is papering over cracks rather than solving underlying autonomy issues in the higher education sector. The EU suspended access to Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ funding for 34 Hungarian universities after finding that these institutions were managed by public trust foundations controlled by the government. Read our latest update on this running story here.
In other news
APPOINTMENT: The Hungarian government has appointed investment banker Ádám Kiss as president of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office. Kiss plans to focus on the commercialisation of R&D results as part of moves to modernise Hungary’s research and innovation system, including a revamp of how public money is allocated.
DECLINING SUCCESS RATES: Poland’s National Science Centre (NCN) is taking steps to halt the decline of success ratesin its funding calls. According to NCN, there isn’t enough money available to match the needs of the research community, which means that very good proposals are being turned down despite having scored high in the evaluation process. Going forward, NCN will limit the number of proposals that can be submitted by one researcher, but the agency again called on the government to ensure “optimal” funding.
DANGEROUS BUGS: The Institute of Molecular Genetics at the Czech Academy of Sciences has opened a new lab for the study of highly infectious viruses and bacteria. The new facility has a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) and is intended to help expand the country’s capacity for studying pathogens. Jan Konvalinka, director of the academy’s Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, said the lab will also be open to scientists from outside Czech Republic.
ENHANCED DIALOGUE: The European Commission and Slovenia have begun work on a new “enhanced dialogue” policy mechanism, which member states can use to get tailored advice on research and innovation policy. A delegation led by Commission deputy director general Joanna Drake visitedSlovenia early this month to kick off talks on attracting research talent, and on hydrogen and other green technologies.
Mark your calendars
BRUSSELS: Research liaison offices in Brussels from Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia are organising a training event for research managers in central Europe this week. Details here.
PRAGUE: The central European capital is hosting a conference on the role of hydrogen technologies in Europe’s transition to energy independence. Details here.
SOFIA: Bulgaria’s new excellence centre in artificial intelligence is launching a lecture series featuring international experts in the field. Sign up here here.
BRUSSELS: The Polish Science Contact Agency (PolSCA) is organising an event to review the state of play in the Ukrainian research and innovation community one year after the Russian invasion. More details here.
RIGA: The Lithuanian research, development and innovation office is organising an information session on European Innovation Council (EIC) on 21 April, targeting potential EIC applicants from the Baltic states.
WARSAW: Science|Business is organising a hybrid roundtable in May to bring together research stakeholders on building attractive centres of excellence in the Widening countries. More details here.
Also in Warsaw, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Polish Academy of Sciences are launching the European Climate Conference (ECC).
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