Stakeholder consultation on the future Guiding Principles for Knowledge Valorisation

The EC announced the launch of the stakeholder consultation on the future Guiding Principles for Knowledge Valorisation. The consultation, together with the recently launched Knowledge Valorisation Platform, is a great opportunity to shape the European knowledge valorisation policy.

The HUB will be working with representatives of the 5 INESCs to respond to this important consultation, also in articulation with EARTO.

In its email announcement, the EC provided some important background information to be taken into consideration, namely the Recommendation on the management of intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities. The R&I landscape has changed considerably since 2008 in terms of actors and complexity of the R&I ecosystem as well as in terms of global challenges. This required policymakers to set new objectives and provide updated guidance on knowledge valorisation. In the Communication “A New Era for research and innovation” (2020) the Commission called to update the Recommendation on knowledge transfer, developing Guiding Principles for knowledge valorisation and a Code of Practice for the smart use of intellectual property (IP). The objective of the Guiding principles for knowledge valorisation is to provide a policy framework and guidance to stimulate knowledge circulation and valorisation in Europe. They will also help to address knowledge valorisation gaps across Member States and ensure that value creation of the publicly funded R&I results is maximised across the Union.

The link for the consultation is here and the deadline is the 6th September 2021.

Stakeholders’ survey on Europe’s innovation ecosystem

This survey is aimed at gathering views from a wide range of stakeholders on how to strengthen the European innovation ecosystem and improve innovation cohesion in Europe. Your input will feed into ongoing analysis and reflections on the evolution of the European innovation ecosystem, also in view of future programming for Horizon Europe (e.g. European Innovation Ecosystems, European Innovation Council), and Cohesion Policy programmes and the role of smart specialisation approaches.

The consultation focuses on the following issues:

1) The most important needs and challenges for innovation to thrive in Europe;

2) Your vision of a European innovation approach;

3) Your ideas for the actions and type of support at European, national, regional or local levels;

4) Your suggestions of best practices.

The HUB will be working with the representatives of the 5 INESCs to provide a joint answer.

Public consultation on a set of European Digital Principles

As a citizen primarily and as a citizen who is engaged more than the average with digital technologies, you may want to contribute to this public consultation, open until the 2^nd September. This covers areas such as:

• access to internet services
• digital education and skills necessary for people to take an active part in society and in democratic processes
• human-centric digital public services and administration
• digital health services
• secure and trusted online environment
• digital systems and devices that respect the environment
• the protection and empowerment of children and young people in the online space
• ethical principles for human centric algorithms

These principles will complement existing rights that already protect and empower Europeans online such as the protection of their personal data and privacy, freedom of expression, freedom to set up and conduct a business online or the protection of their intellectual creations. Participants to the public consultation are also invited to propose alternative formulations or elaborate on other possible principles. Direct link for online response here.

Call for researchers to shape the EOSC Future solutions

EOSC Future is seeking researchers and actors from all scientific fields to closely support the co-design of EOSC. The EOSC Future project will develop an environment with interoperable research data sets and other research outputs including publications and code, professional data services, and access to resources such as compute and storage and services like data discovery and archive. It will create a so-called ‘system of systems’ that will support European researchers in managing the entire lifecycle of data: from sharing, managing and exploiting their own data to discovering, re-using and recombining the data sets of others. In order to reach this goal, EOSC Future would like to engage and onboard a pool of diverse EOSC Users (the so-called EOSC Future User Group) that will provide input and feedback on the solutions developed by the project and promote the achievements for its whole duration (until September 2023). The User Group will consist of at least 200 selected champions from all scientific areas who will support the project in co-designing and validating future EOSC services and products on the user-level. The application period is open from 07 July 2021 to 15 September 2021 at 23:59 CEST.

The HUB will be working with the HUB Policy and Operations Board to mobilise potential applicants from all INESCs. All the information on the application procedure can be found here.

EC-OECD Artificial Intelligence reports and database

We have previously reported that the EC and the OECD got together to set-up a joint database of national AI policies and strategies. The database contains over 650 AI policies and strategies from over 60 countries and the European Union. In 2021, the database was expanded to include emerging trends in AI policy, use cases in the public sector, COVID-19 responses that include AI and policies to foster AI skills and talent. Recently, two reports were made available that are now on the HUB Private Area:

• European Commission AI Watch report “National Strategies on Artificial Intelligence: A European Perspective”
• OECD report “State of Implementation of the OECD AI Principles: Insights from National AI Policies”

OECD report on reducing the precarity of academic research careers

In line with what one can call the most emblematic flag of the Portuguese ministry of science, technology and HE (the promotion of stable hiring and tenure tracks for researchers – the how, its limitations and success is another issue), the OECD report analyses academic research careers, with a focus on the “research precariat”, defined as postdoctoral researchers holding fixed-term positions without permanent or continuous employment prospects. It identifies policies and practices that aim to improve researchers’ well-being, develop more diverse, equitable and inclusive research systems, attract and retain the best talent in academia, and ultimately improve the quality of science. The report presents a conceptual framework and synthesis of available data and policy information. It draws on a survey of OECD countries that included country notes and interviews with policy officials, funders, representatives of research performing organisations and researchers. It offers recommendations and a set of policy options to improve working conditions and professional development, better link funding to human resource policies, make governance more inclusive, promote equal opportunities and diversity, improve human resource management, promote inter-sectoral and international mobility, and develop the evidence base on research careers. The full report is available in PDF here and on the HUB private area.

Promoting cultural change in open access publications (UK)

UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) which brings together the UK’s thematic research councils (similar to FCT in Portugal, but divided per thematic or knowledge domains) announced a new Open Access policy aiming at increasing the opportunity for the findings of publicly funded research to be accessed, shared and reused. This applies to the publications from initiatives funded by the research councils. UKRI’s updated policy requires immediate open access for peer-reviewed research articles submitted for publication from 1 April 2022. It also includes a new requirement for monographs, book chapters and edited collections published from 1 January 2024 to be made open access within 12 months of publication. For further information visit their webpage here.

European Defence Fund (EDF): Information Day & Networking Event

The European Commission’s Directorate General for Defence Industry and Space invites you to participate in the EDF Info Days on the 2021 calls for proposals, published on 30 June on the Funding & Tenders Opportunities Portal. This is a FREE three-day virtual event that will consist of an info day to introduce the 2021 calls for proposals, explain participation modalities and present insights and expectations from the European Commission, followed by a 2-day brokerage and matchmaking event offering a unique international networking experience to forge winning defence research and development consortia. More information here.

World Bank report on “The economic case for nature”

As part of “vacation reading” we’ve been through this World Bank report on the economic case for nature, which is part of a series of papers by the World Bank that lays out the economic rationale for investing in nature and recognizes how economies rely on nature for services that are largely under-priced. This report presents a first-of-its-kind global integrated ecosystem-economy modelling exercise to assess economic policy responses to the global biodiversity crisis. Modelling the interaction between nature’s services and the global economy to 2030, the report points to a range and combination of policy scenarios available to reduce the impact of nature’s loss on economies. This modelling framework represents an important steppingstone towards ‘nature-smart’ decision-making, as it seeks to support policymakers who face complex trade-offs involving the management of natural capital, and hence achieving growth that is resilient and inclusive. Download the report here. It is also stored in the HUB Private Area in the Green Deal section of EU R&I Policy.