In today’s Morning Brief:

Info-days regarding Horizon Europe

The INESC Brussels Hub has gathered information about the info-days that ANI, FCT and PERIN are organising in the coming days regarding Horizon Europe.

National (Portuguese) Info-day dedicated to the Key Digital Technologies (KDT) partnership – 21/02, 14h00 GMT

ANI co-organizes brokerage event dedicated to Horizon Europe’s Cluster 3: Civil Security for Society – 22/02-23/02

ANI co-organizes brokerage events dedicated to Horizon Europe’s Missions:

– The session “Adaptation to Climate Change & Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities” will take place 10 February. Register here until 8 February.

– The session “Cancer Mission International Brokerage Event” will take place 14 February. Register here until 11 February.

European Innovation Council’s 2022 work programme to be released tomorrow

The EIC’s work programme detailing the calls, their budgets and scope for this year will be out tomorrow.

The new programme is expected to set the first cut-off date for EIC Accelerator call for start-ups and SMEs on 23 March. Meanwhile, the first deadline for the EIC Pathfinder call for early-stage research on breakthrough technologies is to be set sometime in early May. The details will be confirmed once the work programme is out and clarified during the applicants’ day on 22 February.

The release of the 2022 work programme was delayed after the future of the European Commission-run EIC Equity Fund got caught in political infighting over its management. The dispute also blocked off equity financing for companies selected for funding last year as Commission officials argued over the terms on which the fund should be run. Last week, EU member states broke the policy deadlock after deciding the EIC should stick to the old management rules for this year while the policymakers look for a solution.

Is ERC open to higher TRLs?

In a very interesting editorial, Kurt Mehlhorn, Member of the ERC’s Scientific Council and Chair of the ERC’s Working Group On Innovation And Relations With Industry, talks about the potential of excellent ideas to have short-term commercial applications being chosen for funding by ERC. Of course this is in the spirit of the Proof of Concept (PoC) grant, whose latest results just came out yesterday, but also shed light on what the ERC considers short, medium and long term and on what kind of visionary research with potential commercial application have the biggest chances of success.

Read the full story here.

How can the EU do more to fight cancer?

The European Parliament has looked at cancer in Europe and is proposing ways to improve prevention, treatment and research.

Over the last 18 months, the European Parliament’s special committee on beating cancer has listened to national law makers, international organisations and experts on the latest cancer developments and insights. Based on their knowledge and experience on the ground, MEPs believe a multidisciplinary and coordinated approach at European level could reduce inequalities among countries and improve the lives of cancer patients and survivors.

The committee’s report and recommendations are set to be adopted by the Parliament next week. Make sure to read more here.

Top experts to advise the Commission on transformative R&I policy in support of social, green and digital transitions

Yesterday, the renewed group of experts on the economic and societal impact of R&I (ESIR) met for the first time to discuss its work for the next two years. The group will provide independent advice on how a transformative EU R&I policy can best support the transformation of our economy and society throughout the social, green and digital transitions.

The renewed ESIR high-level group, chaired by Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-President of the Club of Rome, proposed forward-looking innovative policy solutions to address current societal challenges, for instance through policy experimentation and mission-based policy implementation.

Click here to read more.

The 9^th US-EU Energy Council

The ninth US-EU Energy Council met yesterday in Washington D.C, reconfirming their role as the lead transatlantic coordination forum on strategic energy issues.

Mindful of the rapidly changing energy landscape and the continued risks to energy security, including cybersecurity of energy infrastructure, the US-EU Energy Council works to enhance energy security and promote energy diversification. The parties emphasised that accelerating the just energy transition to a net-zero future will support the mitigation of energy market fluctuations and facilitate access to affordable and reliable energy. The Council also discussed the urgency for action to address the gas supply situation in Europe and to ensure gas supply to Ukraine.

If you want to read more about this Council meeting, make sure to read here.

New software to calculate ammonia emissions in agriculture and livestock

The Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) has developed a new software called SCENA that calculates ammonia emissions in agriculture and livestock.

This tool provides estimates on ammonia emissions for the different categories of livestock and the agricultural use of fertilizers with a high nitrogen content. Data processing include: number of animals and amount of fertilizer, emission factors by the number of heads of the main categories of the zootechnical sector in the various phases, the amount of nitrogen emitted for the different nitrogen fertilizers.

To read more about the tool click here.

New rules for reporting on the reduction of single-use plastic food containers adopted

The European Commission has adopted new rules specifying how EU Member States must calculate and report on the reduction in their consumption of single-use plastic food containers and beverage cups under the Single-use Plastics Directive.

This Act will contribute to reducing the consumption and littering of plastic food containers and beverage cups in the EU.

Click here to read more on EU rules on single-use plastics.