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In today's Morning Brief:
EU reaches a deal on the European Climate Law
After 14 hours of negotiations, negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states reached an agreement on the European Climate Law. After heated discussions, parties reached an agreement to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by “at least 55%” by 2030, compared to 1990 levels – which is lower than the 66% that the EP had voted earlier – and agreed to cap the contribution of carbon removals from land use, agriculture and forestry. Additional highlights of the deal are the European Commission agreeing to consider increasing the contribution of carbon sinks in order to bump up the EU’s net target to 57%, and the EU negotiators accepting the EP’s advice to establish an independent scientific advisory body, the European Scientific Advisory Board, to advise policymakers on the alignment of EU policies with the bloc’s climate neutrality goal. The agreement arrives right before the beginning of this week’s US-hosted climate summit. For a full account of the targets agreed and the reactions, check this Euractiv article.
Data protection in health care and health research
Health experts are calling for a revision of GDPR to allow the sharing of health data with researchers outside the EU/EEA to enhance international research collaboration in the public sector, thereby maximising health benefits for European citizens. According to a recent report published by the European Academies Science Advisory Council, the current EU’s legal data protection framework is hampering the sharing of pseudonymised health data outside the EU, which affects the work of health researchers in Europe and limits the relevance for European citizens of research conducted elsewhere. It is estimated that in 2019 more than 5000 collaborative projects were affected between EEA countries and the US National Institutes of Health alone. The EU aims to respond to this need with the creation of a “house” for health data, as outlined in the Commission’s Pharmaceutical Strategy last year. This is planned to be a trustworthy, patient-centred European health data space, designed to serve as a cornerstone of health digitalisation and ensure easier and safe access to health data.
ERC receives record number of Starting Grants applications in first round of Horizon Europe
The ERC Starting Grants 2021 call closed for applications on 12 April 2021. These are the preliminary data on submitted proposals.
- This year the ERC received 4,056 applications. This is a 24% increase compared to the previous Starting Grants call.
- The highest number of applications was submitted in the domain of Physical Sciences and Engineering (1,754 – 43.2%), followed by Social Science and Humanities (1,185 – 29.2%), and Life Sciences (1,117 – 27.5%).
- Nearly 40% of proposals were submitted by women, compared to 38% in the Starting Grants call 2020.
In the ERC Work Programme the ERC Scientific Council has earmarked €619 million for an estimated 413 Starting Grants in 2021. The ERC is now starting evaluation of the proposals. The projects selected for funding are planned to be announced at the end of 2021.
CEOs call for €100B technology sovereignty fund
According to Science Business, leaders of EU unicorns, start-ups worth over €1 billion, have compiled an eight-step to-do list for the European Commission on how to get Europe to the forefront of innovation. The list, ‘Next Innovation EU’, handed to research commissioner Mariya Gabriel yesterday, includes a proposal for a €100 billion technology sovereignty fund, scaling up of public procurement and a pact for all EU start-ups to become carbon neutral by 2030. The article does mention the obvious: there is no money to spare, but the Commissioner did say that her services will analyse every proposal and use the ideas to change the way Europe innovates. Check the full list of proposals here.
Digital Maturity Tool and the Innovation Radar
During the webinar hosted by the EC on May 18th (from 10 to 12 CEST), a methodology for assessing the digital maturity of customers of the EDIHs will be presented and feedback from participants will be heard. With the roll-out of Digital Europe programme, a new generation of Digital Innovation Hubs (to be called European) will be funded to speed-up the digital transformation of SMEs, mid-caps and public sector organisations across the EU. Programme and registration here.
German Research Foundation adopts charter of principles for young research careers
Germany’s largest research funding organisation, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), has adopted a charter of ten principles for more effective career support for young researchers. The DFG hopes the principles would help create better framework conditions for attractive careers in research.
EARMA Policy session: The research impact agenda and its influence on institutional strategies in the European and wider international context
In 2019 and 2020, the EARMA Policy and Representation Committee invited EARMA members to respond to a survey on their institutional approaches to impact strategies. The aim of the survey was to identify and share best practice in how institutions are responding strategically to the research impact agenda, and the ways in which this relates to national and European policy contexts. In this session, two committee members will present a short summary of the survey, highlighting the key findings and insights that emerged. We will then hear examples of the practitioner view on the impact agenda – from both the institutional and funder perspectives. This is session is only for registered members of EARMA. Would you consider important an institutional membership of EARMA?
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26/05/2023: New Horizon Europe calls, a global drive for open science, European Commission DG RTD recent reorganisation, EU-China & much more
In today’s Morning Brief:
Horizon Europe
– Twinning call for proposals is open – Read all about it
– Horizon Europe ERA Fellowships call is now open
– EUR 20 million available for Pathways to synergies – Call for proposals
– New Horizon Europe funding opportunity: Dissemination & Exploitation Support Facility call
– Commission Open Call: Expert Group on the Interim Evaluation of Horizon Europe
– Industry 5.0 Award contest opens: apply by 1 September 2023
– Horizon Europe: The EU and the Republic of Korea launch formal negotiations on association to the programme
– European Space Agency chief seeks ‘forward-looking decisions’
Research & Innovation:
– EU research ministers make fresh call for a full transition to free open access publishing
– Open Science: stakeholders welcome European efforts towards publicly owned and not-for-profit scholarly communication
– Global drive for more open, rigorous research is growing
– European Commission sets up new European Innovation Council unit in the research directorate
– Spain wants EU presidency to be ‘bridge’ with Latin American R&D
– Green industry law haunted by old conflicts over nuclear, financing
– The five EU research projects involving China’s military-linked universities
– Critical Raw Materials: EU ministers want to move fast but dilemmas abound
– G7 ministers call for rules to improve research security
– Territorial Economic Data viewer supports policy monitoring
News from INESC institutes:
– INESC Brussels HUB is signing an Open Letter regarding changes to Who is Who in EC Directorate
– ECI Cruelty-free cosmetics – Consultation to adhere to joint final statement
– Structuring the ecosystem: RTOs collaboration with higher education institutions
– INESC TEC develops pioneering research in the application of variational quantum circuits to reinforcement learning
– INOV: MULTICAM prototypes, an online presentation on Blockchain and 5000 followers
– Job Opportunities
Events & Training workshops
19/05/2023: HUB Summer Meeting, Digital Europe Programme, Regional Innovation Valleys, European R&I funding and policy, and much more
In today’s Morning Brief:
Horizon Europe
– Commission Expert Group on the Interim Evaluation of Horizon Europe
– Commission launches first €122M call to create regional innovation ecosystems
– New calls for proposals of the Digital Europe Programme
Research & Innovation:
– EU research commissioner Mariya Gabriel resigns
– France to boost funding for health research infrastructures and UK to invest £100M in improving RIs
– Commission takes European Innovation Council management under its wing
– Industry 5.0 Award: The contest is open for applications
– AI Act moves ahead in EU Parliament with key committee vote
– Defence industry renews call for R&D spending boost
News from INESC institutes:
– Technology and Law: building a virtuous relationship, by Graça Barbosa
– The 2022 INESC-ID AnnualReport is out
– Exciting news from H2020-RESCUER
– Launch of the New Horizon Europe Project SYCLOPS
– INESC TEC supports the implementation of robotic technologies to reduce the ecological footprint
– INESC TEC develops virtual reality app to support youngster looking for jobs
– Job Opportunities
Events & Training workshops
05/05/2023: HE calls update, cohesion policy, open access, open science, cohesion policy and coordination of national and EU R&D policy.
In today’s Morning Brief:
Horizon Europe
– Horizon Europe – easy call and topic search
– From KOWI: MSCA: Model Working Contract for Doctoral Networks published
Research & Innovation:
– Report on the outcome of 2021-2027 cohesion policy programming
– Spain adopts national open access strategy
– Commission attempts to strengthen coordination between national R&D policies and EU research programs
– Commission Plans to launch a European Standardisation Panel survey
– Research funders draw attention to uneven implementation of open science
– EIT Climate to become financially sustainable by end of 2024
– Preparing for Belgium’s Thirteenth Presidency of the Council of the European Union
– African Union-European Union High Level Policy Dialogue – Science, Technology and Innovation. Senior official meet to endorse the AU-EU Innovation Agenda
News from INESC institutes:
– INESC MN has a new publication in Advanced Materials Journal
– INOV projects on Youtube
– Diogo Vaz published an article in Público
– Job Opportunities
Events & Training workshops