European Elections, 2024. On June 9, across the European Union, millions of people went to vote and choose national representatives in Parliament. For several weeks, the media provided comprehensive coverage of the different campaigns, with emphasis on debates and rallies. There were many interviews and analyses to electoral programmes, together with the presentation of political trajectories, and the discussion of future paths to the countries.  

To create this electoral narrative, it became necessary to go back a few years, and to understand the evolution of candidates and parties in the Portuguese and European political context. How did the journalists, who disseminated the information, manage to search for and select the most relevant data? How did they organise the events in a meaningful timeline? How did they make the process of telling this story easier? 

In addition to interviews, reports, news coverage (with or without different sources), journalists tend to resort to information research, whether in public documents, on social networks or in other media. But the human being does not have the ability to look at all the texts and analyse them thoroughly; so, they resort to keywords as clues to understand things. But what if they used decision-support tools, capable of collecting and organising relevant information, and performing this time-consuming research work? If you add AI to the equation, then you can open a new world of possibilities. Shall we find out? 

Continue reading the article here. The article was first published on BIP INESC TEC. 

“Out of the box” is a section about… those different, geeky ideas we all love. 

Out of the box: The Rubik’s Cube Turns 50 

Or in the case of this week’s chosen inauguration article, out of the cube. Mathematicians and hobbyists have had a half-century of fun exploring the 43 billion billion permutations of Erno Rubik’s creation. Have fun reading this celebratory article by New York Times columnist Siobhan Roberts, learn how the idea for the cube emerged, when, how to solve the cube and what it means to have “a severe mental disorder accompanied by itching of the fingertips, which can be relieved only by prolonged contact with a multicolored cube”. Lot’s of fun. Read it here. 

See also: How Financially Smart Are Students? 

This most recent volume presents the financial literacy results of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 and examines 15-year-old students’ understanding of money matters in 20 countries and economies. It explores the links between their financial literacy and their competencies in mathematics and reading, and differences across socio-demographic groups. It also offers an overview of their experiences with money, their financial behaviour and attitudes, and their exposure to financial literacy at home and in school. Access it here.

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Thematic Areas 

Advanced Computing

Germany unveils world’s first hybrid quantum supercomputer 

Artificial Intelligence and Data Science 

Commission seeks input from industry on the use of artificial intelligence in finance 

At AI Aspirations, Leaders Project a Vision for How We Can Use AI to Achieve America’s Ambitions 

Special Report: Exploring the fast-growing role of AI in academic research 

Bioengineering and Health Technologies 

What if focusing on the system, not just the symptoms, were key to health?  

Power and Energy Systems

EU invests close to €3 billion of emissions trading revenues for cleaner energy systems in 10 EU countries via the Modernisation Fund  

European Research Area: Commission presents joint research and innovation agenda on solar energy 

Repowering the EU with Hydrogen Valleys: Commission presents progress towards a European hydrogen economy 

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Transversal Areas

EU R&I Policy  

European Council conclusions 27-28 June 2024, including the Strategic Agenda 2024-2029 

A systemic R&I policy for Europe – redefining competitiveness for long-term sustainability – a new policy brief 

EU Budget 2025 aims to reinforce funding for Europe’s priorities 

ITRE Activity Report 2019-2024 

How is the EU performing on Science, Research and Innovation? The Science, Research and Innovation Performance of the EU (SRIP) report was published by the European Commission  

Factsheet – Realising Europe’s Digital Decade 

Research shows science increasingly contributes to innovation 

Viewpoint: Commission must not interfere with the European Innovation Council’s success 

Higher education

Erasmus to fund mega alliance of European Universities 

New German internationalisation strategy aims to build resilience 

What Europe’s far-right surge means for universities 

AI in qualification recognition: Risks vs opportunities 

UK universities in crisis as centre-left takes power 

Research careers 

Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE) Factsheet – European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe 

R&D Funding

New rules simplify personnel cost reporting in Horizon Europe 

New guidelines on synergy creation and international cooperation for European Partnerships (PPPs) 

Updated EC Guidelines for Submission and Integration of Partnership Data (PPPs) 

FP10 

ERAC FP10 Position 

Member states call for a greater role in shaping FP10 

Poland wants more bottom-up calls and better tools for Widening countries in FP10 

EU regions want to play a bigger role in FP10 

Regional Policy and Cohesion

Commission adopts €110 million in Cohesion Policy Funds to modernise the rail network between Madrid and Seville 

New tool to enhance governance in cross-border regions across the European Union 

Knowledge valorisation

What do EIC programme managers do? 

The European Innovation Procurement Awards 2024 – 2025 edition is open for applications! 

2025 European Prize for Women Innovators now open for applications 

Defence

Security concerns and funding draw academics and SMEs into defence research 

Ocean

Navigating the future of innovation in the water, marine, and maritime sectors 

Agriculture

Trends for the next decade of agriculture – OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2024-2033 

International Cooperation

Canada officially joins Horizon Europe 

Fact Sheet: Biden-⁠Harris Administration’s Actions to Advance American Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing 

Updated Report to the U.S. Congress on Financing Mechanisms for Open Access Publishing of Federally Funded Research 

Kicking Israeli researchers off Horizon projects could ‘amount to discrimination’, says EU Commissioner 

Europe reviews science diplomacy policy after Ukraine invasion shock 

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Job Opportunities at INESC

– INESC TEC has 22 vacancies in different work areas, such as Robotics, Computer Science, and more. Find more at INESCTEC website and via LinkedIn 

– INESC-ID has 6 open positions for Research Grants and 2 for contracts. Know more here. 

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Events & Training 

JULY 

– 5th Internation ESS Conference, 8-10 July 2024, Lisbon. More info here. 

– Conference: IAMOT – International Association for Management of Technology 2024, 8-11 July 2024. Porto, Portugal. Organised by INESC TEC and FEUP. More info 

– Horizon Europe: The road ahead for the European Innovation Council?, 9 July 2024, 2:30-3:30 PM CET, Online event. More info here. 

– Annual Network Planning Science Business, 9 July 2024, Brussels, Hybrid event. More info here.  

– Summer Reception & Meet the new Parliament, 9 July 2024, 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM CET, Brussels. More info here. 

-14th International Symposium on Communication Systems, Networks and Digital Signal Processing – CSNDSP 2024, 17-19 July 2024, 9:00 – 17:30, Rome, Italy. Register here. 

SEPTEMBER 

– Valorise this: How to speed and scale up tech transfer?, 12 September 2024, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Brussels. Hybrid event. More info here. 

OCTOBER 

– Hot prospects: When will quantum tech reach the industrial mainstream?, 17 October 2024, 1:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Brussels. More info here. 

NOVEMBER 

– Horizon Europe: New priorities for the European Research Area policy agenda?, 19 November 2024, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM. More info here.