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In today’s Morning Brief, we open up with the Energy Transition Expertise Centre Stakeholder Workshop taking place later this month for those interested in the EnTEC project. We also let you know about the latest news in the EU regarding R&I like a ‘liquid tree’ in Belgrade fighting air pollution and news about hydrogen wells and more!

Any comments or suggestions, hit me up with an email on teresa.carvalho@inesc.pt.

In today's Morning Brief:

In today’s Morning Brief:

Energy Transition Expertise Centre Stakeholder Workshop

The first Energy transition expertise centre (EnTEC) stakeholder workshop is organised jointly by the European Commission and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI. It aims to inform stakeholders about the EnTEC project and present the first 2 in-depth studies:

– Enabling the Energy Transition – How flexible digital options can support

– The role of renewable H2 import & storage to scale up the EU deployment of H2

Fraunhofer ISI will introduce the project. The EnTEC partners McKinsey and Trinomics will present the studies. Afterwards there will be the opportunity to discuss the study results and ask questions to the project team.

Don’t miss this fascinating workshop taking place Monday 31 January from 10h00 to 12h30 CET by registering here!

‘Liquid tree’ in Belgrade fighting back against air pollution

Belgrade has an innovative tool in the fight against dirty air – this so-called “liquid tree”. It’s Serbia’s first urban photo-bioreactor, a solution for tackling greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality.

It contains six hundred litres of water and uses microalgae to bind carbon dioxide and produce pure oxygen through photosynthesis.

“The microalgae replaces two, 10-year-old trees or 200 square metres of lawn,” said Dr Ivan Spasojevic, one of the authors of the project from the Institute for Multidisciplinary Research at the University of Belgrade. “The system is the same because both trees and grass perform photosynthesis and bind carbon dioxide”.

“Our goal is not to replace forests but to use this system to fill those urban pockets where there is no space for planting trees.” Could this be a sustainable solution for the most polluted cities in Europe?!

France to hold EU presidency conference on international cooperation in R&I

The conference in Marseille on 8 and 9 March will promote balanced cooperation in research and innovation with countries outside the EU.

“It will underscore the need to uphold the EU’s values and interests, as well as the requirement for global standards, in particular for intellectual property, to assert the EU’s role as a driving force and initiator of these standards,” the French Council presidency’s plans say.

The EU’s openness to science cooperation with other countries has suffered several blows this year after Switzerland was denied access to the EU’s research programme Horizon Europe while the UK’s participation in the programme continues to hang in the air.

Hydrogen could be taken straight from the ground

Natural, or white, hydrogen is continuously produced in the earth’s crust, and scientists are now discovering there’s much more of it stored underground than previously thought. 

It’s a renewable resource that can be captured by simply drilling a well. One such pool was found in Mali in the 1980s, but it took decades before someone proposed to extract the gas. Today, the well gives out 98% pure hydrogen and has not recorded any decrease in production since extraction started in 2012.

Industry is ready to hop on the natural hydrogen train too. The French energy company Engie has been exploring the potential of natural hydrogen since 2016. It started off with projects in Brazil, where the company developed sensors to monitor the flux of hydrogen in specific areas, and has since expanded to other areas in the world.

Now, competition is picking up as start-ups and bigger companies turn to natural hydrogen, rushing to get licenses to explore its potential. “There is a lot of competition. We saw that in the South Australia state when they opened the mining rights to natural hydrogen exploration,” said Olivier Lhote, special adviser on hydrogen at Engie.

To read more about this click here

Europe needs to understand Chinese research – or risks being exploited

The EU urgently needs better intelligence about China’s science and technology system to avoid being taken advantage of, warns a new report, the latest sign of European anxiety that it lacks a deep understanding of the country.

There is an information “asymmetry” between China, which has a long-standing global network on the lookout for foreign technology, and Europe, which only recently woke up to the fact that China might be a technological rival, according to the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS).

In the past two years, Brussels has pivoted away from blanket research openness, taking a more cautious approach towards China.

In 2019, the Commission for the first time labelled the country a “systemic rival”, among other things, and last year launched its global approach to research and innovation, seeking to set out tougher and more reciprocal terms of engagement.

MERICS researchers were themselves blacklisted by Beijing last year in retaliation for EU sanctions on officials linked to repression of Uyghurs.

Despite this growing frostiness, the MERICS report stresses there is still plenty of benefit working with China, if done properly.

Read more here.

More Articles

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

Read More »

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

Read More »

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

Read More »