Commission releases pre-draft of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement

A “pre-draft” of the Annotated Grant Agreement, a simplified version of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement, the legal document setting out the terms and conditions of EU grants, has been published by the European Commission. The document will help applicants who struggle to understand legal language behind a Horizon Europe proposal. It explains details of the grant process, such as calculating personnel costs, security, protecting intellectual property rights and clauses on confidentiality.

This document is available in the Private Area here, together with the other drafts of the Model Grant Agreement.

Consultation on Low-Carbon Industrial Technologies Prospect

Continuing its work and in order to further define which low carbon industrial technologies should be looked at further, the European Commission has launched a stakeholders’ consultation on its Low-Carbon Industrial Technologies Prospect report. This consultation can be found here.

The results of this survey will serve as the basis for the next steps on the roadmapping efforts by the Commission and the still upcoming workshop on this topic. EARTO is collecting the responses of its members, so if you wish to participate, please do not hesitate to let us know by contacting the HUB.

EU announces €122 million for 32 projects developing low carbon technologies

The European Union is to award €118 million for 32 small innovative projects located in 14 EU Member States, Iceland and Norway. The selected projects aim to bring low-carbon technologies to the market in energy intensive industries, hydrogen, energy storage and renewable energy. In addition to these grants, 15 projects located in 10 EU member states and Norway will benefit from project development assistance worth up to €4.4 million.

The grants and the assistance packages are part of the first funding round under Innovation Fund, a scheme dedicated to the commercial demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies.

Research funding agencies want a greater say in shaping new ERA

The pact for research and innovation should give stakeholders a greater say over the implementation of the European Research Area (ERA), says Science Europe, the continent’s largest association of research organisations and funding agencies, in a statement published on Friday.

Earlier this month, the European Commission put forward a pact for research and innovation, aimed at convincing member states to boost public and private R&D expenditures. The pact is part of the Commission’s revamping of the ERA, the EU’s single market for research. While the pact acknowledges the role of research organisations and university associations in shaping the revamped ERA, the text does not detail how these stakeholders would help define and implement the new research and innovation policies. Read more on Science Business.

Study warns of compliance costs for regulating Artificial Intelligence

The EU’s forthcoming regulation on Artificial Intelligence could cost the bloc’s economy up to €31 billion over the next 5 years and cause investments to shrink by as much as 20%, according to a study published this week. The full study is now in the Private Area, here.

The assessment by the Centre for Data Innovation looked into the administrative costs of the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA), a horizontal EU regulation to introduce increasing obligations based on the level of risk associated with the application of the groundbreaking technology.

The study author stresses the administrative burden the new legislation is expected to create, which they say will disincentivise innovation and technology uptake.

“The Commission has repeatedly asserted that the draft AI legislation will support growth and innovation in Europe’s digital economy, but a realistic economic analysis suggests that argument is disingenuous at best,” said senior policy analyst and report author Ben Mueller.