This week we are taking a close look at a push from some member states to reform the Widening programme after 2027, and a dispatch from Poland on how academics see their future following the election on Sunday, as well as an update on investigations into the Polish research funding agency.
The latest news
REFOCUS THE WIDENING PROGRAMME: Informal talks are ongoing among a group of member states that would like the Widening funding schemes to be open to less developed regions across the EU, instead of specific member states, as is the case now. The scheme is aimed at improving research and innovation performance in poorer EU countries, but there are voices challenging its effectiveness.
Marc Lemaître, the European Commission’s director general for research and innovation, said earlier this year that the initiative needs to be rethought, but did not offer specific alternatives yet. In the meantime, some member states are pushing for an overhaul in the next Framework research programme. Thomas Brent has the story.
ACADEMICS ARE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT CHANGE: Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) won the most votes for a single party, but failed to secure a parliamentary majority in the election on Sunday. Academics say the election result could help research and higher education move towards a greater degree of academic freedom, better dialogue with scientific community, and gradual resolution of enduring problems in the sector. Anna Rzhevkina has the full story.
AUDIT REPORT: Poland’s Supreme Audit Office (NIK) has reported finding “numerous irregularities” in the distribution of grants by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) in a fast-track call for digital innovation that was co-funded by the EU. The report says the irregularities “indicate the existence of corruption mechanisms in NCBR” and called the audit results “alarming”, pointing to an “enormous problem related to the reliability of spending EU funds.” More on this here.
In other news
NEW FUNDING AGENCY: Hungary last week unveiled the Research Excellence Council, a new body whose aim is to develop a system of excellence-based research grants that helps to create attractive research careers in Hungary. The new council will contribute to the government’s goal of increasing the number of researchers in Hungary from 6,000 to 9,000 per million inhabitants.
Ferenc Krausz, this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize for physics is one of the seven members of the council. The others are social scientist Petra Aczél, the R&D director of Richter plc, István Greiner, plant biologist Éva Kondorosi, biochemist András Perczel, mathematician Gergely Röst and professor of applied mechanics Gábor Stépán.
ROCKET SCIENCE: Czech start-up Uptim.ai has signed a contract with Italian space company Avio to supply machine learning software for optimising the engineering of advanced equipment and launchers for the space industry. The company was founded in 2018 by aerospace engineer Martin Kubicek and has received support from the business incubation centre (BIC) of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Prague.
"The successes of our incubation graduates prove that ESA BIC Czech Republic supports companies with real potential and helps them to succeed in the market,” said Ivo Denemark, start-ups and venture funding director at CzechInvest, the agency that manages the ESA business incubation centre.
SUCCESS IN HORIZON: Portugal is performing better in EU research funding competitions. According to the Portuguese foundation for science and technology, 25.7% of applications made to Horizon 2020 were successful, while in Horizon Europe this has increased to 39.3%.
In addition, in three and a half years since the launch of Horizon Europe, Portuguese researchers are very close to matching the amount of money raised from the Widening programme throughout the seven years of the Horizon 2020. Since 2020, Portugal has raised €81.9 million in Widening projects. That compares to €97.7 million in Horizon 2020.
Mark your calendars
25-26 OCTOBER, WARSAW: Poland is to host an international matchmaking event aimed at researchers, companies and investors interested in Horizon Europe funding for projects in clean energy, raw materials, hydrogen and the circular economy. Register here.
21-22 NOVEMBER, WARSAW: Horizon4Poland’23is the country’sbiggest matchmaking event for Horizon Europe applicants. It will bring together entrepreneurs and leading innovation institutions in Poland with counterparts from across Europe, with the aim of increasing cross-border cooperation in Horizon Europe competitions. More details here.
3 OCTOBER, PRAGUE: CZARMA Conference, the Czech association of research managers and administrators, is organising its annual conference at Charles University in Prague. Registration is now open.
15 NOVEMBER, BRNO: The Velvet Innovation conference aims to “inspire and connect people dedicated to innovation without demolition”. This should be interesting. Get tickets here.
6 DECEMBER, BRUSSELS: Strategies for R&D resilience in shifting security paradigms, the annual Science|Business Widening conference. More details here.
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