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In today's Morning Brief:

INESC article on fisheries published on Science Business

Yesterday a new article by INESC on remote monitoring for sustainable fisheries has been published on Science Business, here. This is the third of the series of articles agreed upon with Science Business to increase the visibility of all INESCs and their research capacity at a European level. Thank you to Fernando Moreira, who was the lead writer, for taking up the challenge of writing the article within a short time and by making sure to represent INESC as a whole.

Remember to share the article with your network; if it’s your thing, share it or comment it on Twitter (tagging the HUB with the handle @HubInesc). The article can also be reached through the HUB website, here.

 

HUB Horizon Europe workshop

A big thank you to all the participants in yesterday’s workshop “Horizon Europe: practical tips and Q&A”, organized by the HUB. The slides of the presentation of Ricardo Migueis is now available in the Private Area here. The recording of the session will also be available in the same folder (Horizon Europe: Practical tips and Q&A (18 May 2021)) soon. As a reminder, the research managers in each institution and INESC Brussels HUB are always available to give support and advice regarding European funding and research networks.

 

Newer member states’s hardship in extracting value from Horizon Europe

With the full-on launch of Horizon Europe in limbo and the Commission’s pact for research and innovation still on the drawing board, research elites in  EU13 countries (countries that have joined the EU since 2004) are struggling to see how they can break the vicious circle of low pay and impoverished research systems, to capitalise on the EU’s new research programme.

Low pay means the struggle to attract talent from abroad will continue, while the economic crisis sparked by the pandemic is an excuse for cuts in national R&D programmes. Horizon grant holders argue it is unfair to pay researchers on a fixed contract the same as a public servant with lifelong job security. “For such a call you advertise abroad for an expert and you know the difference between the base salary and what [a researcher] could get in Germany or Austria is two or three times higher,” said Samo Ribarič, head of the Institute of Pathophysiology at the University of Ljubljana. Read more on Science Business.

 

Commission strategic guidelines for sustainable and competitive EU aquaculture

Yesterday, the European Commission has proposed a new approach for a sustainable blue economy in the EU for the industries and sectors related to oceans, seas and coasts. The Sustainable blue economy strategy involves all blue economy sectors, and aims to:

  • Achieve the objectives of climate neutrality and zero pollution, by developing offshore renewable energy, by decarbonising maritime transport and by greening ports.
  • Switch to a circular economy and reduce pollution, through renewed standards for fishing gear design, for ship recycling, and for decommissioning of offshore platforms and reducing plastics and microplastics pollution.
  • Preserve biodiversity, protecting 30% of the EU’s sea area.
  • Support climate adaptation and coastal resilience, with activities such as developing green infrastructure in coastal areas and protecting coastlines from erosion and flooding.
  • Ensure sustainable food production, with new marketing standards for seafood, use of algae and seagrass, stronger fisheries control as well as research and innovation in cell-based seafood.
  • Improve management of space at sea, through the new Blue Forum for users of the sea to coordinate a dialogue between offshore operators, stakeholders and scientists engaged in fisheries, aquaculture, shipping, tourism, renewable energy and other activities.

Within this scope, the Commission has published the strategic guidelines for a more sustainable and competitive EU aquaculture. The guidelines offer a common vision for the Commission, Member States and stakeholders to develop the sector in a way that contributes directly to the European Green Deal and in particular the Farm to Fork Strategy.

 

EC and EIB for a new blue economy strategy

As a follow up to the new strategy, the Commission and the European Investment Bank Group, composed of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF), decided to join forces to boost investment in the sustainable blue economy. Both institutions will work together with Member States to meet existing financing needs in order to reduce pollution in European seas, with particular focus on circular economy approaches, and support investment for blue innovation and blue bioeconomy. The EIF and the Commission will jointly develop solutions for equity and guarantee funding. This will provide Member States’ Managing Authorities with ways of matching their national resources with funding from relevant European funds, in particular the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) through financial instruments and blending operations. The EIF is managing the BlueInvest Fund and is financing businesses in the blue economy sector via equity funds selected earlier this year. More information is in the news release.

 

Fusion power: EU ITER and EU-Japan DEMO

ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is the world’s biggest fusion machine project, and aims to become a powerful contributor to reaching the clean energy needs of the future. ITER is the successor of JET, the Joint European Torus – a ground-breaking achievement in fusion science that was approved by the European Commission in 1977. ITER is a unique project, aiming to build the world’s largest fusion machine, thus putting the EU in the lead of global fusion research.

The construction work started in 2007 in Cadarache, in the south of France, and is one of the most complex engineering projects in history, as it will require millions of components to assemble the giant reactor that will weigh 23,000 tonnes. In addition to the progress on the European site, later this year, the EU and Japan will inaugurate the fusion reactor JT-60SA, located in Naka, Japan. It will be the largest tokamak in operation, until ITER is operational. JT-60SA has been designed and built jointly by Japan and Europe under the “Broader Approach” agreement. Its specific properties are its capability to produce long-pulse plasmas. Its main missions are to support exploitation of ITER (scheduled to start in 2025) and to contribute to the design of the EU’s next generation fusion reactor, DEMO. More information on the ITER and the EU plans for fusion power can be found here.

 

Workshops on the green & digital transition

Within the scope of the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010/31/EU (EPBD), the Commission is organizing a series of 5 workshops to obtain stakeholders input to the preparation of the revision. The fourth workshop, that has taken place this morning, touched on a range of diverse topics (energy efficiency of buildings, decarbonization, e-mobility, data gathering, Bullding Renovation Passport). Check this page to know more about the previous and next activities within this initiative.

 

OLISSIPO Twin Seminars on Computational Biology

Tomorrow, the OLISSIPO project hosts two twin seminars. The Twin Seminars will contribute to disseminate the scientific work and expertise of INESC-ID and all the Olissipo Project Consortium that includes Inria, ETH Zürich and EMBL. These seminars will comprise two short presentations, one researcher from Lisbon and one from a twin international institution working on similar topics in Computational Biology. More information about the project and the seminar can be found 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 »