Parliament finalises €15 billion EU unified space programme

The seven-year EU space programme will for the first time run the space programme under a single regulation, in an effort to get rid of redundancy and overlaps between the European Space Agency and the European Commission, and to make the EU a global player in space, rivalling the position of the US and China. Strategic autonomy is at the heart of this initiative, and it wants to allow the EU to stop being dependent on other countries’ satellites and technology for the control of its own essential communications. The programme will support existing EU space initiatives, such as the satellite navigation system Galileo, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay service, the Copernicus earth observation system, as well as some new tools for space surveillance and satellite communications. More information here.

Innovation Fund presentation available

The Innovation Fund is one of the largest funding programmes for the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. It will provide around EUR 10 billion of support over 2020-2030 for the commercial demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies, and as such is a key instruments for delivering the EU’s commitments under the Paris Agreement and supporting the EC’s climate neutrality targets. The first call for large-scale projects opened on 3 July 2020 with a budget of EUR 1 billion for breakthrough technologies for renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, energy storage, and carbon capture, use and storage. The call closed on 29 October 2020 and following the admissibility and eligibility checks of all submissions and evaluation by independent external evaluators, 70 projects were invited to continue on the second stage and submit a full application. DG CLIMA organized earlier this month a webinar to explain key aspects of the second stage of the first call: you can now watch the recording of the event and have a look at the presentations here.

EU seminar on fisheries sciences

How marine protected areas can benefit fisheries? The 2021 Seminar on Fisheries Science, organized by DG MARE, will focus on marine protected areas and how they can benefit fisheries. The event will take place on June 1^st, from 9.15 CEST. The programme will include discussion of a successful case study about the Torre Guaceto MPA (Italy), insights from scientists into the outcomes, lessons learnt and recommendations from their work, and a panel discussion with different stakeholders to explore several aspects of MPAs and their benefits for fisheries. Details and information available here.

NTNU Oceans organizes Ocean Week

NTNU Oceans is organizing the annual conference Ocean Week. This year’s digital conference will take place 3-5 May, engaging researchers, policymakers and innovators on the goals of the Ocean Decade in NTNU, Trondheim and Norway.

• Monday 3 May 13:00 – 15:00: Defining the Ocean Decade: What are the goals, why are they important and how will we contribute?
• Tuesday 4 May 9:00- 12:00: Accelerating for Blue Innovation for Sustainability
• Wednesday 5 May 9:00-12:00: Ocean Research in Europe and Norway- What is on the Horizon?

For more information, please visit the website and follow us for program updates on their Facebook event page. Registration link available here.

New COST project to advance international research in marine connectivity

The new COST Action Unifying Approaches to Marine Connectivity for improved Resource Management for the Seas (SEA-UNICORN) brings together a broad interdisciplinary community of scientists, stakeholders and policymakers, from more than 100 organizations across Europe and beyond. Its goal will be to gather effective knowledge on Marine Functional Connectivity, that is the connectivity among marine populations and habitats, and the migratory flows of organisms in the landscape. Understanding MFCs will be an important first step towards conservation of vulnerable species and ecosystems, controlling the spread of invasive species and pathogen, and the promotion of sustainable fisheries’ management.

EIT Digital to invest in skills gap

The agreement between EIF and EIT Digital, an innovation community of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) supporting the EU’s digital transformation, has a maximum volume of €2.5 million. This financing will allow EIT Digital to offer deferred payment schemes for students and learners participating in its courses, thus improving access to education. Future EIT Digital students and learners will be able to apply for the new scheme from June 2021 onwards, it is expected that around 500 people can benefit from the scheme. The EIF guarantee will allow EIT Digital to support a number of students and learners of its Master School, Summer School and Professional School, facilitate in this way access to EIT Digital’s education and training portfolio, and provide more Europeans than ever before with digital knowledge and skills in support of innovation and entrepreneurship. More info here.

First financial programme to boost the single market

Yesterday marked the adoption of the Single Market Programme, the first-ever financial programme to provide an integrated package to support and strengthen the governance of the single market. The programme mainly consolidates a large range of activities that were previously financed separately in the effort to reduce overlaps and improve coordination and efficiency of actions. The programme will also support a better enforcement of EU law and promote the competitiveness of SMEs, also through the Enterprise Europe Network and Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs. The programme will mobilise €4.2 billion over the period of 2021-2027. Here you will find more information about the programme, and here a factsheet that summarises the Commission’s objectives for the single market in 2021-2027.

New position paper by EARTO and the Vanguard Initiative on new cohesion tool for research and innovation -I3

INESC has contributed to the new position paper by EARTO on the Interregional Innovation Investments. We fully support the paper, that includes recommendations on technology infrastructures, grants based support, state aid, balance between top-down and bottom-up, complementarity with smart specialization, among others. Read the full paper here.

Gabriel meets female investors to discuss gender equality in EU innovation ecosystem

According to Science Business, EU research commissioner Mariya Gabriel today met with a group of investors who seek to strenghten women’s participation in the venture capital industry in Europe, the European Women in Venture Capital Group, to work on creating a more gender-balanced EU innovation system.

“We need women’s creativity and entrepreneurial potential to create jobs and growth. If we want more women innovators in Europe, we need to invest more and provide them with the right education and support early on,” said Gabriel.

The meeting is the first in a series of meetings between the investors and the commissioner and part of the Commission’s efforts to foster gender equality in the EU research programme, Horizon Europe. Earlier this year, the Commission also launched an entrepreneuship training initiative for female start-up founders, Women TechEU.

Deep-Dive: European Council Think Tank Review April 2021

This months EU Council Think Tank review is dedicated to:

COVID-19

• Analysis of developments in EU capital flows in the global context: increasing uncertainty in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic
• Die Aufbau- und Resilienzfazilität der EU: ein Tropfen auf den heißen Stein?
• Covid-19 and the danger of self-sufficiency: how Europe’s pandemic resilience was helped by an open economy
• Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on EU industries
• The unequal inequality impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
• Les implications économiques potentielles d’une pandémie durable
• La transformación digital: un aliado estratégico en la era Covid
• Covid-19 and its effect on inequality and democracy: a study of five large democracies 

Economic and financial affairs

• Der Stabilitäts- und Wachstumspakt
• Kan euron tävla med dollarn som internationell valuta?
• Low interest rates in Europe and the US: one trend, two stories
• Sovereign debt relief as a global power issue: a political economy analysis

Environmental issues

• A whole-economy carbon price for Europe and how to get there
• A CO2-border adjustment mechanism as a building block of a climate club
• EU climate action policy: responding to the global emergency

Transport / Telecommunications / Energy

• Faire préférer le train aux Européens
• Greening of infrastructure assets
• The encryption debate in the European Union: 2021 update
• What to make of the revised EU energy infrastructure policy? Priorities for improving the TEN-E regulation proposal 

Foreign affairs

• Will the European hero please stand up?
• The time for EU’s Common Foreign Policy is now
• Autonomía estratégica Europea: ni contigo, ni sin ti…
• Ciberdiligencia debida: ¿una actualización necesaria para el derecho internacional del ciberespacio?
• Push back, contain, and engage: how the EU should approach relations with Russia
• China, EU and US cooperation on climate and energy: an ever-changing relationship
• China in the broader Black Sea region
• NATO decision-making in the age of big data and artificial intelligence
• The evolution of US strategic priorities

Read the articles of your choice directly in this PDF.