Welcome to today’s Morning Brief. The Morning Brief  newsletter is available to INESC staff and affiliated researchers upon subscription, after creating an account in the Private Area of the HUB website, or those who wish to subscribe. To do so, click the log-in icon on the top-right corner of this website or go to the Morning Brief page and click the subscribe button.

 

Contact us:
Mariana Santos, INESC Brussels HUB Communications Officer
mariana.f.santos@inesctec.pt

In today's Morning Brief:

Key Takeaways

– It’s time for lobbying. This week, the 2023 annual conference of the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators was told that it was time to shape the successor to Horizon Europe. Universities, researchers, and research managers are called to influence it.

– After UK’s Prime Minister’s uninterested answer to a letter urging the government to join Horizon Europe, researchers are lacking hope. It is unclear how the negotiations will proceed.

– There are 114 open calls in the Digital, Industry and Space cluster. We’ve selected many of them from the call Twin Digital and Green Transition 2024. We also have a complete list of calls in our repository. Have a look.

– There’s a new GEE Paper worth reading. Addressing the importance of developing actions aimed at Open Strategic Autonomy, the paper identifies the challenges and opportunities faced by the EU in the context of global competition for resources and technologies, highlighting the need to balance openness and self-sufficiency in strategic areas.

– For an overview of the robotics industry in Europe, a new technical report is now available: AI Watch – Evolution of the EU market share of Robotics.

– This week, the Commission announced the development and implementation of a European Standardisation Panel Survey. The Survey will address a large-scale population of EU industry and the results will ultimately support the development of recommendations to improve the match between the demand of industry for R&I based standards and the current supply of such standards.

– A recent leak draft of research ministers’ position on changes needed in academic publishing shows it hasn’t changed much since the original Swedish draft. The forthcoming paper, to be adopted in late May, will call on policymakers and publishers to make immediate and unrestricted open access, which has been warmly welcomed. On the other hand, some still argue it doesn’t go far enough to guard against AI-generated papers. There’s an in-depth article at Science|Business about it.

– Keep an eye on the upcoming events: EARTO Webinars on Healthcare R&I (4 May) and Horizon Europe Participation (10 May) come very soon. Check the complete list below.

 

Horizon Europe

Lukewarm letter from Sunak offers little clarity over UK’s future in Horizon Europe

According to Science|Business, an unenthusiastic reply to a letter from 15 Nobel Laurates urging the UK government to join Horizon Europe appears to confirm concerns that Sunak is not fully committed to an association deal with the EU. Responding six weeks after receiving the letter, Sunak said his “preference” is for association negotiations to be concluded “successfully”, but that the terms “need to be on the basis of a good deal for our researchers, businesses and taxpayers.” He also stressed that the UK would pursue Pioneer if the terms of Horizon Europe association are not “fair and appropriate”. Read more

 

‘Time is now’ to shape successor to Horizon Europe

According to Research Professional News, the 2023 annual conference of the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators was told that it was already time to lobby to shape the programme that is due to start in 2028, currently known as Framework Programme 10. Sean McCarthy, managing director of research-strategy consultancy Hyperion, pointed that decisions for FP10 will include not only its overall budget, but also the share for individual parts of the programme, setting, for example, the bottom-up research grants of Horizon Europe’s Pillar I, such as the European Research Council, against the top-down ‘missions’ and other funding in Pillar II. It was suggested that universities should encourage senior staff to join expert groups and panels to influence the direction of travel. Likewise, researchers and research managers can have a real influence over which funding topics are picked, especially in the detailed planning of top-down calls in Pillar II. Read more

 

A complete list of Horizon Europe calls is available in our repository

The HUB is developing an online tool on our website to make available all the calls across Horizon Europe in an accessible way. We expect it to become available in June 2023. Meanwhile, you can find the Excel list in our repository:

Menu > Think Tank > Intelligence Reports > Calls Horizon Europe 

(Note that it is only accessible by whoever has access to the private area of our website.)

 

Open calls in the cluster Digital, Industry and Space

TWIN GREEN AND DIGITAL TRANSITION 2024

 

Research & Innovation

GEE Papers – Open Strategic Autonomy in the EU: Challenges and opportunities in the age of digital technology

This GEE Paper analyses the main geopolitical challenges and economic, social and environmental impacts, with particular emphasis on the digital technology sector in the EU, also considering the implications for global governance and international cooperation. It highlights the need to balance openness and self-sufficiency in strategic areas, with a view to increasing countries’ independence and resilience. In the context of the European Union (EU), this concept is crucial to guarantee the security and defence and resilience of supply chains in critical sectors, such as energy, food, health, and digital technology, ensuring the functioning of economies and protecting the EU’s interests in an interconnected and competitive global economy. Read and download the full paper

 

AI Watch – Evolution of the EU market share of Robotics

Two weeks ago, it was published a report with an overview of the robotics industry in Europe, as well as a description of the definitions, typologies and main differences between industrial and service robots. It also identifies the necessary actions to merge heterogeneous data into a meaningful and consistent dataset to estimate the EU shares of robotics from the demand and supply perspectives, and for both industrial and service robots. Complementing these data with other sources to enhance the value and significance of the overall estimation exercise of the EU robotics market shares, provides a comprehensive overview of the production and adoption sides for both industrial and service robots. Read and download the full report

 

Gospel of hope: Commission’s new research chief calls for optimism in the race against climate change

According to Science|Business, Marc Lemaître said Europe has a significant gap to fill in terms of the technologies needed to make the transition to a green economy, but noted optimistically that we should not fall into defeatism. “We know that many breakthroughs in knowledge, in technologies [needed] in order to win that race, we do not have today,” Lemaître said. Read more

 

EU governments to rein in unfair academic publishers and unsustainable fees

As stated by Science|Business, research ministers are nearing the finish line in drafting their position on changes needed in academic publishing, with the latest leak draft revealing the near-final text. The upcoming paper, to be adopted by ministers in late May, will call on policymakers and publishers to make immediate and unrestricted open access, “the default mode in publishing, with no fees for authors.” While there is a warm reception for this, there is concern that the Council is missing the opportunity to crack down on AI-generated scientific articles, given rising evidence that the AI chatbots like ChatGPT could undermine the integrity of academic publishing. Read the full article

 

EU governments to rein in unfair academic publishers and unsustainable fees

As stated by Science|Business, research ministers are nearing the finish line in drafting their position on changes needed in academic publishing, with the latest leak draft revealing the near-final text. The upcoming paper, to be adopted by ministers in late May, will call on policymakers and publishers to make immediate and unrestricted open access, “the default mode in publishing, with no fees for authors.” While there is a warm reception for this, there is concern that the Council is missing the opportunity to crack down on AI-generated scientific articles, given rising evidence that the AI chatbots like ChatGPT could undermine the integrity of academic publishing. Read the full article

 

Commission Plans to launch a European Standardisation Panel survey

To further support the uptake of R&I results through standardisation, the Commission has signed a contract on the development and implementation of a European Standardisation Panel Survey. The work will be carried out by a consortium led by Technopolis Consulting Group Belgium and involve the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research. The Survey will help identify industry’s demand for standards as potential results of R&I projects, contribute to the assessment of how EU R&I framework programmes tackle the standardisation needs of industry, and foster awareness on the importance of standardisation for industry. Read more

 

News from INESC institutes

INESC TEC research integrates reference journal in immersive learning

The results of two research papers on immersive learning environments have been published by IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies – a major journal worldwide. The first work addresses the collaboration with the industry in the adoption of virtual reality technologies for training activities. The second advances a structural framework that allows, for example, education and training professionals to select examples of immersive learning application that are compatible with their pedagogical environment. Read more

 

Diogo Nunes is using computational analysis to understand how chronic pain is felt

The PhD student at INESC ID wrote an article at Público (“Todos nós, garantidamente, já sentimos dor física”, “We’ve all felt pain”) explaining how he’s studying the language of pain to to approach an “objectification” of pain, which can be unequivocally understood by everyone. Read the article

 

INOV projects: get to know RESCUER and Back Office GO Mobile

  • Check the two tools developed by the H2020-RESCUER project: The Black Box for buildings collects critical information gathered from building sensors to be provided to #firstresponders (FRs) in the event of disaster, while Communications Gateway allows FRs to share data and messages in an infrastructure-less environment. See the pictures
  • GO Mobile is a back-office application developed by INOV, meant for use in production settings by industrial workers and supervisors. Watch the video
  • By the way, INOV has a brand-new Instagram account. Make sure to follow them @inov_inesc.

 

Job Opportunities

  • INESC TEC has 10 vacancies in different work areas, such as Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and more. Find more at INESCTEC website and via LinkedIn
  • INESC TEC will award 2 postdoctoral grants in the areas of Informatics, Computer Sciences and Applied Mathematics, aimed at foreign researchers. Applications and more info. Deadline: 30 April 2023
  • INESC ID has 5 Fellowship positions. More info
  • INESC MN is hiring a Junior Characterization Engineer and a Clean Room Process Engineer More info
  • INOV is hiring a Systems and Network Engineer and a Software Engineer (Full stack) More info

Events & Training workshops

  • EARTO Webinar on Healthcare R&I Position Paper
    EARTO Working Group Emerging Technologies for Healthcare Core Team. 4 May 2023. 10:00-11:00 (CET). Register here
  • EARTO Members’ Participation in HE
    With Amélie Vagner, European Programmes Coordination, CEA. 10 May 2023 11.00-12.00 (CET). Register here
  • Intercultural Communication Workshop
    With Neil Mason. Open to anyone interested in intercultural communication. Organised by the International Relations Service. 9 May 2023 10:00 – 12:00 (Portugal). Auditorium B, INESC TEC. Registration until 5 May
  • International Negotiation Training Session
    With Sandrina Antunes. Targets the staff that is most exposed to international negotiations, most notably (but not limited to) project and area managers and TEC4 Business Developers. Organised by the International Relations Service. 24 May 2023 14:00-18:00, Auditorium B, INESC TEC. Registration until 22 May
  • Teaming for success: How to capitalise on centres of excellence in Widening countries?
    A hybrid Science|Business Widening roundtable. 16 May 2023 (9:00 -14:00 CET). By invitation only for in-person attendance. Public online attendance. More info and applications
  • Financial and Business Opportunities beyond Horizon Europe
    An information event in Brussels organised by DG Research & Innovation to support the market uptake of new technologies and systems. 23 May 2023. More info
  • What makes co-creation work for transitions?
    The METI and the OECD organise a Joint Workshop. 24-26 May 2023, Paris. Registration and Agenda
  • Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030” in Palermo
    30-31 May 2023. Register here
  • 8th World Conference on Research Integrity
    2-5 June 2024, at Megaron Athens International Conference Centre (MAICC), Athens. Travel Grant applications open on 26 June 2023. More info
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