ERRIN News & Events provides reports of main ERRIN activities (public events and project news) and EU research and innovation news from other sources. For more info on ERRIN activities see the weekly newsletters or check check the Director's Blog.
ERRIN Spring AGM 2010
9 June 2010
At the spring Annual General Meeting ideas, suggestions were shared how to build, how to improve the network in the future.
The backbones of ERRIN are the Working Groups. Through their activities can the network produce added value and thanks to their high-quality and ambitious workplans can ERRIN attract new members and can gradually grow.
Working group leaders have taken a stock of their achievements since the last AGM.
Policy Group flier - C.Daumas
Future RTD Group flier - L.Polizzi
Project Group flier - S.Schreiber
Biotech flier - S. Jackson
Energy and Climate Change WG flier - X.Tsitiridou & D.Mazzarino
Health WG flier - H. Hansen
ICT WG Flier - R.Tuffs
Innovation Funding WG flier - B. Davies & M.Martin
Science in Society WG flier - A. Sibilla & M. Hilger
Transport WG flier - M. Perello & Z. Balogh
EU mandates standard plug for electric cars
30 June 2010
European Commissioner Antonio Tajani yesterday (29 June) gave European standardisation organisations a mandate to develop a common charging system for electric vehicles.
Three bodies, the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), are to put together a new standard that ensures that all types of electric cars, scooters and bicycles can be safely charged across all 27 EU member states.
The idea is to make sure that all plugs and connectors use the same standard across the Union so that drivers can use the same plug independent of vehicle brand or country.
The European Commission is also asking the bodies to consider "smart-charging" solutions, which would allow users to charge vehicles more cheaply at off-peak times, thus promoting energy savings.
Standards are expected to be ready for deployment by mid-2011.
Tajani argued that a common approach would allow the EU to become a global leader in electric vehicles.
European Automobile Manufacturers' Association said a uniform standard would be the rule for all new vehicle types by 2017. European specifications could even be the basis of a global standard, it argued, putting Europe in the driving seat.
Source: EurActiv
Expert panel publishes report on mid-term evaluation of COST
28 June 2010
A panel of experts has presented its report on the mid-term evaluation of COST to the European Commission. This report is the outcome of the FP7 Mid-Term Evaluation of COST conducted by independent experts from January to May 2010.
The mandate for this evaluation was to ascertain whether the
recommendations of the FP6 Evaluation of COST and the Evaluation Summary Report for the FP7 grant agreement between the ESF and the Commission have been implemented. The Panel also had to give recommendations for the further
development of COST.
Provided the Grant Agreement remains in place until the end of FP7 and COST and ESF agree to continue their joint efforts regarding synergies and networking, the Panel recommend that the appropriate process be put in place to allocate the additional €40 million reserved in FP7 for COST (please see news item from 18 June).
Source: EARTO
EU adopts new measures to simplify management of regional funds
25 June 2010
On 24 June 2010, the EU adopted new measures aimed at simplifying management rules for the structural and cohesion funds. The changes should help to facilitate access to the funds and accelerate flows of investment at a time when public budgets are under pressure. As part of the measures to counter the economic crisis, additional advance payments totalling €775 million will be paid out to some member countries to tackle immediate cash flow problems. The set of reforms will also make it easier for regions to revise their programmes to adapt quickly to new challenges.
Source: EARTO
Commission to revive EU carbon tax debate
21 June 2010
European commissioners will start talks on introducing minimum tax rates for carbon on Wednesday (23 June). But it is still unclear when and if Tax Commissioner Algirdas Šemeta's suggestions will develop into a formal proposal.
EU Tax Commissioner Algirdas Šemeta has prioritised revising the Energy Taxation Directive, which would include an EU-wide minimum tax on the CO2 content of fuels. The idea is to bring taxation more in line with Europe's environmental obligations.
During their Wednesday meeting, the commissioners will hold an "orientation debate" on an internal working document. Šemeta hopes to test the water to see whether he can proceed with a formal proposal, which is still being drafted.
The issue of taxation is sensitive, and the chances are that the proposal, if tabled, would result in years of in-fighting. The potential tabling of such proposals has been mooted since 2008, but Šemeta's predecessor decided against the idea amid disagreement within the college of commissioners.
Member states, like the Nordic countries, support the proposal because they have been applying similar national carbon taxes since the 1990s. Others, such as the UK and Ireland, however, are against Brussels setting taxes.
A potential proposal would have to get the unanimous backing of every member state to become law as taxation requires unanimity. But the UK for one is determined to veto such legislation, as it would require a redesign of national energy legislation.
Source: EurActiv
Name and shame regional fund fraudsters online, say MEPs
19 June 2010
MEPs earlier this week backed a report recommending that the European Commission improve the transparency of EU funding, including publishing online the names of people who abuse or defraud regional and cohesion funds.
The report, drafted by Greek Green MEP Michail Tremopoulos, was backed by a huge majority of MEPs in a Strasbourg plenary vote on 15 June, and is likely to provide food for thought as the Commission debates how regional policy should be reformed beyond its current 2007-2013 budget period.
Currently, there is too much variation between how member states and regional authorities interpret the European Transparency Initiative (ETI), the report argues, largely due to the "relatively loose legal framework" concerning the publication of data on EU funding beneficiaries.
Tremopoulos noted that a number of positive steps had already been taken by the EU executive to increase transparency and bring the complex web of regional policy mechanisms in line with the ETI.
In many cases, argues the report, managing authorities in the regions are eager to increase transparency but lack the staff or know-how to do so.
As a result, if the Commission requires managing authorities to match its efforts in providing additional information and data, Brussels also needs to give additional technical support through, for example, workshops with the participation of Commission officials and local/regional staff responsible for the management of structural funds, the exchange of best practices between managing authorities and the publication of concrete guidelines.
Source: EurActiv
EU to step up raw materials 'diplomacy'
18 June 2010
An EU expert group has identified 14 raw materials seen as "critical" for EU high-tech and eco-industries and suggested that the European Union's global diplomacy should be geared up to ensure that companies gain easier access to them in future.
"It is our aim to make sure that Europe's industry will be able to continue to play a leading role in new technologies and innovation and we have to ensure that we have the necessary elements to do so," said Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani, presenting the group's final report on 17 June.
The supply risks identified for the 14 critical raw materials highlighted in the report primarily relate to the fact that global production is concentrated in a handful of countries: China, Russia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Brazil.
The low recycling rates of these materials and the difficulty of substituting them with others add to their "criticality", the report said.
The experts recommend a number of policy measures to improve access to primary resources and stress the need to increase recycling and promote research into substituting and improving the efficiency of materials.
Policy measures to improve access to primary resources should cover "fair treatment of extraction with other competing land uses", promote exploration and extraction within and outside the EU and "ensure that exploration by companies is regarded as a research activity," the report says.
It also advises the EU to promote good governance, capacity-building and transparency in relation to the extraction industry in developing countries.
The European Commission and the African Union Commission agreed on 8 June to develop bilateral cooperation in the field of raw materials and work together on issues such as governance, infrastructure, investment and geological knowledge and skills.
Source: EurActiv
EU leaders adopt EU2020 Strategy
17 June 2010
European leaders meeting in Brussels on 17 June adopted Europe 2020, a new 10-year strategy for jobs and growth which will promote the delivery of structural reforms.
The focus will now be on the implementation of the strategy. Over the coming months, EU leaders will discuss how specific policies can be mobilised to unlock the EU's growth potential, starting with innovation and energy policies.
Source: EARTO
Council conclusions on the Strategic Report of 2010 by the Commission on the Implementation of the Cohesion Policy Programmes
14 June 2010
The General Affairs Council of the Council of Ministers adopted on Tuesday conclusions on the Commission 2010 strategic report. The conclusions were prepared by the Spanish Presidency, assisted by the future Belgian and Hungarian Presidencies, and deal with both the Commission's conclusions and recommendations as well as giving pointers as to the future direction of the policy. In that context the conclusions emphasise the need for the policy to have an important role within the Europe 2020 Strategy fostering structural change across Europe and supporting key investment priorities. They go on to address the need for one strategic approach and common implementation rules for the three funds (European Regional Development Fund / Cohesion Fund / European Social Fund), to better address the problems of regions in transition and for further streamlining administrative procedures.
More information
Source: Inforegio
WIPO Launches Global On-line Resource to Facilitate Access to IP Information
11 June 2010
The World Intellectual Property Office, launched WIPO-Gold, a free online tool designed to provide quick and easy access to searchable IP data and tools relating to technology, design, WIPO standards and IP laws and treaties, among other things.
WIPO-Gold website
Source: EARTO
EU launches new Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change
10 June 2010
Twelve top scientists will meet in Paris today to prepare a European–level work programme to coordinate nationally funded research aimed at securing a safe and sustainable food supply. This is the first meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board for the EU Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change. This initiative involves twenty European countries overall and is jointly led by France, through its National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and the UK, through the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). It will bring together researchers, improve the effectiveness of national funding totalling over a billion euro annually, share existing research results and coordinate future work to avoid duplication and maximise value for money. The European Commission will contribute about €2 millions.
More information
Source: EARTO
Funding crisis for nuclear fusion project ITER
10 June 2010
A multi-billion euro international research project has run into deep financial trouble as EU governments scramble to find money to meet spiralling costs. However, with European credibility at stake, officials say there is no question of abandoning the project despite the yawning funding gaps.
Europe's bill for the France-based ITER project has almost trebled, leaving cash-strapped finance ministers to question the merits of the investment.
Euratom, the European Atomic Energy Community, could be asked to fork out close to €6 billion, with France liable for a further €1.3 billion in its capacity as host country for the plant.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2012, leading critics to call for the project to be shelved before it gathers further momentum. However, advocates point out that ITER is the subject of an international agreement which would be difficult to break.
The ITER reactor aims to replicate the kind of fusion that occurs in the sun as an abundant source of energy.
Last month, research ministers met in Brussels to discuss the future of the initiative in light of its rising costs. Ministers reiterated their commitment to ITER but could not agree a detailed plan on a way forward. Instead they set up a task force to find a solution by the summer.
Cost-containment measures and improved financial management are likely to be part of the task force's discussions, but the bigger challenge is to pull funding from other sources to save the project.
More information
Source: EurActiv
EC welcomes launch of supercomputing infrastructure for European researchers
9 June 2010
The European Commission has welcomed the launch of a €500 million initiative which boosts European supercomputer capacities and opens them up to scientists across Europe. The Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) unites the European Commission and 20 countries across Europe in a unique initiative which will enable researchers to use super fast computers located in other countries to make up to 1000 trillion calculations per second for their research projects. This could be used for example to speed up the development of more efficient solar cells or help us understand how drugs interact with the human body. Europe's fastest computer, JUGENE in Germany, will be the first machine available to European scientists under the PRACE initiative. By 2015 more supercomputers in Germany, France, Italy and Spain will be available across the EU. The initiative remains open to other countries that can host such supercomputers. The Commission is contributing more than €70 million to PRACE, which strengthens European research and competitiveness, in line with the objectives of the Digital Agenda for Europe, a flagship initiative under the Europe 2020 strategy.
More information
Source: EARTO
Top researchers fear 'radical shift' in EU policy
9 June 2010
Scientists at Europe's leading research universities have expressed concern over the growing trend towards linking EU funding with pre-defined outcomes. Researchers fear political priorities will curb their scope for creativity and free thinking.
EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has pledged to simplify European funding programmes and proposed asking scientists to meet certain goals in return for European support.
However, in a detailed analysis published on 7 June, the League of European Research Universities (LERU) offered a mixed response to the European Commission's recent efforts to streamline the Framework Programme for science.
The Commissioner also suggested using prizes more frequently in order to get around the onerous accounting requirements that come with EU grants. This too met with some resistance from universities as it is not seen as a steady source of ongoing funding.
LERU said it strongly supports many of the proposals put forward in the EU's communication on simplification and called for additional resources to be given to the European Research Council (ERC).
The elite university group backs a "trust-based approach" to funding with less reporting back to Brussels. They urged the EU executive to scrap timesheets which currently require some scientists to account for every hour they spend on a particular project.
More information
Source: EurActiv
EC publishes series of papers on regional research and indicators
8 June 2010
The European Commission's Regional Policy department (DG REGIO) has produced the latest in its series of short papers on regional research and indicators. This paper develops an indicator, the Lisbon Index, to measure how close an EU region is to achieving the main targets for 2010 on employment, education, and research and development, as set out in the EU's Lisbon Strategy. Two maps illustrate variations in regional performance across Europe, providing a snapshot of the situation in 2007 and tracking progress for the period 2000-2007.
More information
Source: EARTO
OECD launches Innovation Strategy
7 June 2010
the OECD launched its Innovation Strategy, a policy tool designed to help countries build a sustainable and job-rich recovery by stimulating green growth. The strategy looks at innovation in the broad sense, beyond R&D activities.
It is built around five priorities for government action: 1) Empowering people to innovate; 2) Unleashing innovation in firms; 3) Creating and applying knowledge; 4) Applying innovation to address global and social challenges; and 5) Improving the governance of policies for innovation.
It advocates an approach which takes into account the interplay of different policy domains and brings them together through supportive mechanisms for governance, highlighting experiences and good practices from countries around the world.
More information
Source: EARTO
Robert-Jan Smits as new Director-General at DG Research
5 June 2010
On 3 June, the European Commission revealed the name of the new Director-General of DG Research. Robert-Jan Smits, currently Deputy Director-General at DG JRC, will take over from José Manuel Silva Rodriguez as of 1 July 2010. The charismatic personality of Robert-Jan Smits and his outstanding knowledge of the European Research Framework Programme and its challenges will certainly bring promising insights to the development of EU research funding in the coming years. Silva Rodriguez will remain as Advisor in DG Research.
In parallel, Françoise Le Bail currently Deputy Director-General at DG Enterprise will join DG Justice as new Director-General. The name of the person who will succeed her was not communicated yet.
More information
Source: SwissCore
Regions build climate alliances with business
4 June 2010
Regional governments will work together with businesses to deploy low-carbon technologies even in the absence of a global pact on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, regional leaders told world governments on the sidelines of two-week climate talks in Bonn.
The Bonn talks, which started on Monday (31 May), are seeking to make advances on agreeing a new global climate treaty after the disappointing outcome of the Copenhagen climate conference last December.
Ministers and representatives of 15 regional governments from around the world met on the sidelines of the talks. They were brought together by the Climate Group to debate ways to curb global warming with representatives of leading companies and Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The regional leaders stressed the role of regions and cities as "low-carbon technology laboratories" and argued that 50-80% of the action required to halt climate change will take place in cities and regions.
The EU has already gone some distance towards empowering its regions to fight climate change. For example, EU structural and cohesion funds for the 2007-2013 period earmarked EUR 100 billion to support eco-innovation, environmental risk-protection measures, clean technologies and enterprises at local level.
Crucial low-carbon technologies to be developed in the regions include electric vehicles, LED lighting, renewable energy, building efficiency, waste management and smart grids, the regional leaders agreed.
Source: EurActiv
Czechs ready to spend 3% of GDP on R&D
3 June 2010
Applying the EU's target of raising investment in R&D to 3% of GDP by 2020 is seen in the Czech Republic as attainable, even at national level. Surprisingly, the caretaker government proposed a 2.7% national target, higher than the more modest 2.3% proposed by the European Commission.
As the EU's 3% target is expected to be broken down into individual national goals reflecting countries' different starting positions, the Commission has proposed a 2.3% target for the Czech Republic. Last year, the country spent around 1.54% of GDP on R&D, according to the OECD. Yet the government believes it can do even more and has set itself the more ambitious goal of 2.7%.
The government is now discussing how to divide this national target among various sectors – public, private (businesses) and EU structural funds.
Czech business figures see building a knowledge economy based on strong investment in R&D as essential. It is a long term priority for the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic; However, investment in R&D is not expected to increase for some time. A survey carried out by the Confederation of Industry among its members showed that out of 1,600 businesses, almost 60% cut their R&D budgets due to the crisis, while only a quarter decided to invest more.
With the longer term in mind, the confederation asked the government to prepare a new national R&D strategy, together with business organisations, that will identify a number of research areas to be prioritised. 'Also, one of the options [on how to raise private investment] would be the implementation of tax breaks for companies that decide to invest in R&D.
More information
Source: EurActiv
Member states weigh in on future of EU regional policy
2 June 2010
Ahead of a summit on 17-18 June, EU member states have presented an assessment of Europe's regional policy and are due to call on the European Commission to ensure that a proper debate is held on the policy's future.
Draft summit conclusions, agreed by all EU member states under the guidance of the Spanish EU Presidency, appear to mark a starting point for a much deeper debate on the future of the EU’s cohesion policy, which accounts for one third of the total EU budget.
A number of high-level recommendations have been made in recent years as to how the revised policy should look like – for example in an independent report by Italian expert Fabrizio Barca, or in a document by former EU Regional Policy Commissioner Pawel Samecki .
But the draft summit conclusions for the first time convey a sense of urgency from member states that they wish to see this debate widen and deepen, and soon.
While commenting on a number of strengths and weaknesses in current regional policy structures, the document concludes that the Commission must above all ensure that the new policy – and the legislative tools that go with it – be firmly done and dusted by January 2014 when the new policy's six-year lifespan will begin.
More information
Source: EurActiv
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn nominates High-Level Panel on the Measurement of Innovation
1 June 2010
On 28 May 2010, Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn appointed members of a High Level Panel, chaired by Professor Andreu Mas-Colell, to advise her and the European Commission on an indicator measuring Europe's progress towards a more innovative economy.
At the Spring European Council, EU leaders agreed that such an indicator should be produced to complement the Europe 2020 target of investing 3% of GDP in R&D.
The Panel members are leading business innovators and economists. The indicator will aim to capture overall research and innovation performance and the reasons why it differs between Member States. It could also help to benchmark Europe's performance against its main trading partners. It will feed into the implementation of the Research and Innovation Strategy for Europe that Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn will propose in the autumn. Professor Andreu Mas-Colell is Secretary General of the European Research Council and Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.
More information
Source: EARTO
Practical guidelines to set up a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC)
1 June 2010
The European Commission (EC) published a document titled: "Legal framework for a European Research Infrastructure Consortium – ERIC". ERIC is a legal entity and a tool, which is appropriate only for high-profile research infrastructures with a European dimension. The legal framework for ERIC has been designed to facilitate the establishment and operation of research infrastructures of European interest involving several European countries.
The Commission’s document provides practical guidelines for handling this legal frame and setting up an ERIC . The first section of the document regards the submitting of an application for an ERIC. The second section comments the article of the ERIC Regulation. The final three annexes provide: a model request, the rules for Value Added Tax (VAT) and excise duty exemption, and a compliance checklist.
The ERIC guidelines can be found here
Source: SwissCore
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