New training on Horizon Europe available

As of today, the users registered in the Private Area of the HUB website will be able to access the first video training on Horizon Europe, produced by the HUB in collaboration with EU research funding experts from across the INESC institutes. The six videos that compose the training tackle several aspects of Horizon Europe: its rationale and differences from Horizon 2020, the funding instruments available, work programme interpretation, budget creation, establishment of consortia. Videos and support material are all accessible in the Private Area of the website (HUB training workshops and materials>Training From Horizon 2020 to Horizon Europe).

Workshop on R&T Infrastructures for Nanotechnology

On May 4^th, from 13.30 to 15.50 Portugal time, Ascent+ will host a workshop as a satellite event of the European Nanotechnology Forum, titled Research and Technology Infrastructures for the European Nanotechnology Ecosystem. The event will feature the presentations and discussion of representatives of six major projects that cover the full TRL range and the nanotechnology value chain. Our very own Ricardo Migueis, Chief of INESC Brussels HUB, will be the panel discussion moderator of the event. Click here for the full agenda and registration.

Open Science in Horizon Europe

Yesterday, the Research Council of Lithuania has hosted a workshop with DG RTD of the Commission on the Open Science policy and its application to Horizon Europe grants. Open Science will play a key role in the evaluation of project proposals and in the reporting practices of projects funded by the new framework programme. The Commission expects Open Science to invest the research funded within Horizon Europe at various levels: accessibility of early research results and research methodologies, management of research data, reproducibility of research. All the information regarding the impact of Open Science in Horizon Europe and the instruments to comply with the new policy are in the workshop presentation slides, available in the Private Area of the website (EU R&I policies>Open Science).

Launch of the 2021 European Social Innovation Competition

The European Commission has launched the 2021 edition of the European Social Innovation Competition, which will award overall €150,000 to three innovations that will help shape a green and digital future. The initiative, backed by the EIC, is open to individuals, businesses and industries with innovative ideas from across the EU countries. The topic of this year is Skills for tomorrow – Shaping a green and digital future and inscribes the competition as a complement to the EU Green Deal and the European Digital Strategy. The competition will encourage and reward social innovations that contribute to job creation, growth and European competitiveness, with a preference to it scalable, early-stage ideas that tackle the skills needed for the green future, the digital transition or both. The closing date for entries is May 12^th 2021. All the useful information on the competition can be found here.

ITRE paves the way to EP’s approval of Horizon Europe, Digital Europe, and European Defence Fund

The European Parliament’s industry and research committee (ITRE) has voted this week the approval of Horizon Europe, Digital Europe and the European Defence Fund. This brings the final approval by the plenary of the European Parliament much closer. “If this support holds in the plenary, the Parliament will have adopted the programme in about one month after receiving the final text from the Council,” said to Science Business MEP Christian Ehler, one of the Parliament’s two co-rapporteurs of the Horizon Europe. “Never before has the Parliament moved so fast.” Now the Commission is invited to move much faster on the finalisation of the work programmes of Horizon Europe, none of which has been published so far.

Green hydrogen to decarbonise EU industry

Green hydrogen – hydrogen created by putting renewable energy sources like wind and solar power through an electrolyser, and whose only by-product is water – is increasing its importance in the European decarbonisation strategy. In particular, the EU is now looking at how to scale up the cost-efficient production, transport and consumption of green hydrogen in driving the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industrial sector, such as steel or fertiliser production, and in heavy goods transportation. Apart from setting out policy and strategy guidance on hydrogen, the EU also supports many projects and initiatives on hydrogen, funded within Horizon 2020 and managed through the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. Among them, the Djewels project, which will build a 20MW electrolyser to help ensure low-cost green hydrogen for its customers. In addition, the Hybrit project in northern Sweden uses renewable electricity hydrogen instead of coal to produce carbon free iron and steel. In a similar vein, a 6MW electrolyser developed under the EU-funded H2Future project supplies green hydrogen to a steel plant in Linz, Austria, and also provides electricity grid services thanks to its flexible power consumption.