German plan for “mega deal” covering Erasmus+ and visa costs welcomed by student unions

The German government has proposed a broad post-Brexit alternative deal between the UK and EU that would include student mobility arrangements and ameliorate high visa costs, according to reports, bringing a warm welcome from German student union representatives.

An article published today by Politico says that as the EU discusses a new post-Brexit security deal with the UK’s Labour government, the German government has proposed broadening that into a much wider “mega deal” encompassing areas ranging from agriculture to the EU student mobility funding programme Erasmus+.

Germany’s ambassador to the UK, Miguel Berger, told Politico that the proposed deal “would include the Erasmus programme, school trips, youth exchanges, and the question of visa costs, which are more than 10 times higher to come to the UK than the other way around”.

He said he would like to see “progress” on “day-to-day mobility, especially for young people”.

Erasmus+ has an estimated budget of €26.2 billion for 2021-27 and supported more than 30,000 exchange programmes in 2023. It facilitates the EU’s goal of reaching 20 per cent student mobility. 

Warm welcome

Paul Klär, international officer at Germany’s Free Association of Student Unions (FZS), said it “would welcome a re-association of the UK with Erasmus+ immensely”.

Klär said that “dissociation from Erasmus+ and a simultaneous drastic increase in tuition fees for foreign students has made the UK inaccessible… for German students”.

The FZS, alongside the European Students’ Union, has repeatedly called for the UK to rejoin Erasmus+.

Klär said the move would bring benefits “for students both in the UK and in all the current Erasmus+-countries, including Germany”, and foster “intercultural understanding on campuses”.

Previous mobility proposals by the EU have been met coolly by the UK’s new Labour government, which is adamant it will not reintroduce freedom of movement in any form. But Germany and the EU stress their ideas focus on short-term visas.

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Group representing pharmaceutical industry accepts new rules while highlighting issues still needing clarification

A group representing the European pharmaceutical industry has accepted the final agreement on the European Health Data Space regulation, despite previously expressing “deep concerns” about the progress of the legislation.

The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations published its position on the EHDS agreement on 24 July. The document says Efpia intends to “work constructively” with EU institutions and member states “to address critical aspects that require further clarification within the implementation phase”.

“Efpia recognises the importance of the EHDS. The pharmaceutical industry wants to take part in the EHDS ecosystem, with the paramount objectives of unlocking the huge potential of health data to improve care and treatment, foster innovation and support the economy,” it says.

Proposed by the European Commission in 2022, the EHDS is intended to give patients more control over their medical data and care and to set out laws for using data in healthcare and research. It was approved by the European Parliament in April and is set to be adopted by the European Council.

Reservations remain

The Efpia paper highlights issues that the group believes still need to be addressed in the regulation. These include clarifying datasets in scope for secondary use, which it says are too “broadly defined”, as well as issues around territorial scope, international data transfers and opt-outs.

In February, Efpia expressed “deep concerns” about the progress of the EHDS, setting out “10 fundamental issues [that] have not been addressed satisfactorily” by legislators. These issues included the need for clearer definitions of key terms including ‘electronic health data’ and ‘data holder’.

The federation, which includes national associations as well as companies, is still concerned that there is no plan for secondary legislation—implementing acts—to provide further clarity on these definitions.

The paper sets out recommendations including creating secondary legislation to address these issues, stressing that it is critical that “data holders…remain involved at all steps of the decision-making process”.

“We are looking forward to collaborating with the European Commission, member states and responsible authorities in order to achieve this,” the paper says.

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Four organisations seek views on how to strengthen open science

Organisations representing European academic libraries and repositories are seeking input on their future role.

Four groups announced a consultation on 18 July to feed into a “collective vision for the future of repositories in Europe”. They are: Liber, the Association of European Research Libraries; Sparc Europe, a Dutch foundation that advocates for open access; the Confederation of Open Access Repositories, which represents more than 130 members globally; and the non-profit OpenAire, which provides infrastructure services to support open access.

The consultation builds on a strategy released by the four organisations in January 2023, which aimed to “strengthen the European repository network”.

As a first step towards that goal, a survey of 394 repositories in 34 countries was carried out in February and March 2023. This defined repositories as services that “acquire, preserve and provide open access to tens or possibly hundreds of millions of valuable research outputs and represent critical, not-for-profit infrastructure in the European open science landscape”.

Such repositories provide access to materials such as articles that may be paywalled in published journals, research data, theses, conference papers and preprints.

Three challenges

The survey identified three challenges for European repositories: maintaining software platforms; implementing best practices in metadata, preservation and usage statistics; and increasing visibility in the scholarly ecosystem.

The new consultation aims to collect initial information from different stakeholders. This will then be refined further by focus groups, ultimately resulting in a vision that repositories can work towards while tackling the challenges identified by the survey.

The consultation closes at the end of August.

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UK spending watchdog questions Esa value for money as new science secretary emphasises space opportunities

The UK’s spending watchdog has questioned whether the nation gets value for money from its membership of the European Space Agency, a day after science secretary Peter Kyle highlighted the innovation opportunities in the space sector.

In a report commissioned by the UK Space Agency and published on 23 July, the National Audit Office scrutinised the country’s £553 million spend—85 per cent of UKSA funding—on Esa programmes in 2022-23, pointing out that the country received a lower return than France and Germany over most of the past decade.

“The UK does not yet receive contracts from Esa proportionate to the value of the funding UKSA provides,” according to the NAO report. It cited a February 2023 UKSA committee meeting paper that said UK companies received an estimated 93p for every £1 UKSA contributed to Esa (excluding Esa’s internal operating costs). The same committee paper said the UK had the “highest cumulative deficit” of any Esa member, equating to around €168.5m since October 2015.

But the report noted that UKSA, with Esa’s help, is working to increase the value of contracts the UK receives. Furthermore, benefits of UK participation in Esa do not boil down to just the money that industry and academia receive from the contracts themselves; participation also gives UK space companies access to large-scale space programmes that would be “challenging to replicate nationally”, the report said.

For instance, UKSA, with other countries, is investing in Esa’s Juice mission, which aims to orbit Jupiter and three of its largest moons at a total cost of around €1.6 billion. The UK’s contribution to this mission, the report noted, is in line with its existing space strategy in the areas of discovery and Earth observation.

A closer UK-EU intergalactic bond

While the NAO report is likely to incite some debate regarding UK participation in the programme, new science secretary Kyle said in his first speech in the role on 22 July that he wants to work closely with Esa on space.

“Working closely with our international partners, including the European Space Agency, I want to forge a strategic partnership with businesses, researchers and investors,” he said.

Kyle said his department will be focusing on collaboration, long-term solutions and long-term funding cycles for space.

“To create opportunities for companies to start, scale and succeed in the UK, to create the good jobs that bring prosperity to communities up and down our country, these sectors need to learn from space and space needs to lead the way,” he said.

Slow progress

In the speech, Kyle announced £33m for innovative businesses from UKSA’s National Space Innovation Programme and pointed out that Glasgow “now makes more satellites than anywhere in Europe”.

The Conservatives published the UK’s National Space Strategy in 2021, which saw spending for UKSA increase by 73 per cent from 2018-19 to 2022-23, reaching £647m.

But three years later, UKSA and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are still in the early stages of “identifying and developing the plans and capabilities needed to deliver the strategy’s ambitions”, according to the NAO report.

The report also highlighted that UKSA “has not made as much progress as it planned on its programmes”, delivering less than three-quarters of its “high-level milestones” in 2022-23 against its planned deadlines.

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Latest European Parliamentary appointments include new chairs for key sector committees

Members of the European Parliament have voted in new committee chairs to lead policy discussions in areas including education and research.

Committee chairs are appointed for a period of two-and-a-half years, during which they lead policy discussions in their thematic area and develop proposals that will then be examined by the entire Parliament.

Education

The committee on culture and education voted for Nela Riehl, an MEP with the German Green party, as its new chair. She defeated Malika Sorel, a French MEP with the Patriots for Europe, by 18 votes to 11. 

Riehl is a former high school teacher from Hamburg who will be serving her first term as an MEP.

During this term, her committee will be involved in negotiations on implementing the European Higher Education Area. This will focus on quality assurance and cross-border degree recognition, as well as the continued European University Initiative, with the aim of facilitating cross-border university alliances.

Riehl is replacing German Christian Democrat Sabine Verheyen, who has been chair of the committee for the past five years.

Although Verheyen was eager to champion education and culture ahead of the European election, she stood down to assist Parliament president Roberta Metsola as one of her 14 vice-presidents.

Research

Polish MEP Borys Budka was nominated by fellow European People’s Party representative Christian Ehler to become chair of the Parliamentary committee on industry, research and energy, and ran unopposed.

Christian Democrat Budka, who is taking over from the Romanian MEP Cristian Bușoi, is also a first-time MEP. He was previously minister of justice and minister of state assets in the Polish government, a position he left to join the European Parliament.

In the coming months, his committee will be leading discussions on Framework Programme 10, the successor to the EU’s research funding framework programme Horizon Europe, which ends in 2027.

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Increased incentives should be offered for scientists to tackle misinformation, says Science Europe report

Greater effort is needed to encourage researchers to become involved in science communication, and this work should be considered as a standalone profession, according to a report by Science Europe.

The report, published on 22 July, is based on the discussions at a conference hosted in partnership with the Belgian funder Research Foundation-Flanders, and the Fund for Scientific Research.

Science Europe is an association of major research funder and performing organisation. In the report, it argues that “incentives for science communication should be increased, and science communication should be recognised as a profession in its own right”.

Benefits of communication

Science communication can help to “attract both people and funding to a given research area; [deliver] public appreciation for the purpose, benefits and effects of researchers’ work; [ensure] increased opportunity for interaction and networking between researchers and other stakeholders; [in] tackling misinformation and providing a reliable source of information to a broad range of audiences; and, crucially, to enable research-informed decisions and policy-making”, according to Špela Stres, director of the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency.

However, “many science communication initiatives are just not very good”, according to Alex Verkade, head of communications at the Taskforce for Applied Research SIA.

Panellists at the event argued that science communication should be recognised as a professional field that requires specific skills, training and funding. They called for the establishment of centres of excellence for science communication and for the sharing of best practices, and collaboration across borders.

There was also a call for more incentives to conduct research communication, both for scientists and professional communicators such as journalists. This should be supported by policymakers who can facilitate “critical introspection” into how science communication is carried out.

Application requirement

The EU’s largest blue-sky research funder, the European Research Council was singled out by speakers for including science communication and dissemination as part of its application requirements. Speakers argued that more EU initiatives should provide similar incentives.

However, Science Europe argued that there is a need for more information about how research is funded as a way to systematically address the ‘trust deficit’ and to address increasingly polarised views. Specifically, the report calls for research into ways that “relatable [science communication] can influence public understanding and attitudes towards science, particularly in counteracting misinformation”.

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Collaboration on research and innovation, raw materials and technology “reaffirms Serbia’s EU path”

The EU and Serbia have agreed a strategic partnership in research and innovation, sustainable raw materials, batteries and electric vehicles.

The EU announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Serbia on 19 July. The European Commission stated that the agreement provided a framework for “strong public-private multi-level engagement between the EU institutions” and Serbian government, industry and civil society.

The partnership covers five areas. On research and innovation, both parties will “share knowledge and technologies related to sustainable exploration, extraction, processing and recycling of secondary raw materials”, according to the Commission. It also commits to mobilise investment, create joint projects in the electric vehicle and battery industries, and develop skills in these sectors while adhering to environmental and social governance practices.

Path to membership

The collaboration is an “important foundation for Serbia’s deepened integration into [the] EU’s green technology supply chains”, which “also reaffirms Serbia’s EU path,” said Olivér Várhelyi, commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement.

Maroš Šefčovič, the Commission’s executive vice-president for the European green deal, said that collaboration will “unlock immense potential for sustainable growth and innovation, while also enhancing Serbia’s integration with the EU’s single market”.

The partnership forms part of the EU’s bid to secure access to the raw materials and manufacturing capacity needed for technologies essential for the green and digital transitions, such as batteries or microchips. This forms part of its ambitions towards reducing dependencies and vulnerabilities in these areas, a policy known as strategic autonomy.

The EU has so far signed memorandums on strategic partnerships for raw materials with 13 countries, including Chile, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Greenland and Kazakhstan.

Serbia has become a growing priority for EU enlargement following the war with Russia. The partnership is part of the EU’s growth plan for the Western Balkans. The country’s governing Serbian Progressive Party has been criticised for its closeness to Russia, and for irregularities in elections held in December 2023.

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Practice of animal testing for scientific purposes decreased almost 11 per cent in a year

The number of animals used in research and testing in the EU fell by 10.9 per cent between 2021 and 2022, official statistics have shown.

In 2022, 8.39 million animals were used for the first time in research and testing in 27 EU countries and Norway, down from 9.41 million in 2021, according to the annual European Commission update.

The figure for 2022 was 5 per cent lower than in 2018, when 8.82 million animals were used for the first time.

Tackling disease

Kirk Leech, executive director of the European Animal Research Association, which advocates for the responsible use of animals in research until alternatives are available, said: “The EU statistics on animal use in 2022 are still large numbers, but they represent thousands of studies by researchers in Europe to develop vaccines and treatments for diseases such as Covid-19, and continue the remarkable progress made to fight cancer and diabetes.”

The figures showed that the top three EU countries for animal use in 2022 were France (1,829,827 animals), Germany (1,342,404 animals) and Spain (1,047,233 animals).

The Commission reported that the 2022 figures showed there were “areas that could be improved”. It highlighted that the use of zebra fish had gone up 39.7 per cent compared with 2018, birds by 18.5 per cent and rabbits by 12.1 per cent.

However, there was a particular decrease in the number of mammalian species used for the first time, by 10.1 per cent over the past year overall, 25 per cent for rats and 9 per cent for mice.

Mice continued to be the species most-used for the first time in 2022.

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Sector hails plan for increased research and innovation spending, especially on the European Research Council

Research and innovation groups have welcomed the new political direction of the European Commission, after Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected as president and set out her plans for her second term.

Among the many plans announced by von der Leyen (pictured) for her upcoming five-year term was an intention to “increase our research spending to focus more on strategic priorities, on groundbreaking fundamental research and disruptive innovation, and on scientific excellence”.

Many in the R&I sector said the guidelines, which have competitiveness as a top priority, were well aligned with their own ambitions and wishes.

Lidia Borrell-Damián, secretary-general of Science Europe, the association of major research funding and performing organisations, said von der Leyen’s “focus on increased investment, support for fundamental research and emphasis on scientific excellence reflects the priorities we have already identified”.

But she added: “The success of these initiatives will depend on whether they are matched by ambitious and sustained levels of investment.” The detail of how strategies will be implemented will also be decisive,  Borrell-Damián warned.

The Commission has limited powers over EU budgeting; it proposes both seven-year budget frameworks and annual budgets, as well as budgets for individual programmes and instruments, but these are all agreed in negotiation with the European Parliament and the Council of the EU member state governments.

Research Professional News asked the Commission and the European Research Council, which is the EU’s flagship funder of basic research, how von der Leyen could deliver on a promise in the guidelines to increase funding for the ERC given these constraints, but both declined to comment.

‘Music to our ears’

Kurt Deketelaere, secretary-general of the League of European Research Universities, said “much of what is written on R&I in the guidelines is music to our ears”.

But his optimism was also caveated. He pointed out that while von der Leyen mentioned innovation many times in her election speech to the European Parliament, “the word ‘research’ was not mentioned once”. He said this was “a bit risky since some people still think that you can have fantastic innovation without groundbreaking research”.

Deketelaere said there would need to be a “good balance” between support for R&I based on politicians’ priorities and that based on researchers’ own ideas of what is most important. The ERC, which supports fundamental research pitched by researchers, provides “the greatest added value for every euro of taxpayers’ money spent on R&I”, he stressed, adding that it had proven its contribution to solving societal challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the Council of EU governments must realise that pledges in the guidelines to bolster European defence and strategic autonomy in areas including artificial intelligence would require “big investments in R&I”. The Council attempts to cut the EU R&I budget every year, and recently agreed to repeat this stance for 2025.

Thomas Jørgensen, director of policy coordination and foresight at the European University Association, said it was “particularly welcome” that von der Leyen had specifically sought to devote more funding to the ERC given the current political emphasis on financing political priorities. 

“In the next years, it will be important to repeat that we need a solid knowledge basis to make all the innovations for green tech and biotech that featured in her speech,” he emphasised.

Tech promises

On technologies, von der Leyen announced plans for a European Competitiveness Fund to invest in strategic technologies, including AI and biotechnology. Jørgensen said it was “important that the competitiveness fund does not eat into the future [R&I] Framework Programme and that they are complementary”.

He said it was “too early to talk about what is realistic” in terms of increased R&I investment but added that “the research sector should be clear from early on about what it needs” from the next seven-year budget framework, to be agreed in the coming political term.

The European Association of Research and Technology Organisations also highlighted the creation of the competitiveness fund as particularly positive, and said in a statement that its members were ready to support “further thinking and elaboration” on the nature of the fund.

The political guidelines also included plans for a dedicated life sciences strategy and a new Biotech Act, which were welcomed by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. It said that “the key to achieving these goals will be the development of coherent and supportive policies and legislation”.

Efpia said a strong R&I ecosystem would “not only help Europe to stay globally competitive but [could] also drive health and economic resilience, and ensure highly skilled jobs stay in the region”.

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Christian Ehler says there are “a lot of important tasks to do”

The influential German MEP Christian Ehler has been made a member of the European Parliament’s research committee again, following previous stints in which he helped to shape the design of EU research and innovation programmes, among other legislation.

Ehler (pictured) posted on X that he was “happy and grateful to be re-elected” as coordinator for the European People’s Party political group in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. The EPP is the largest and therefore most influential group in the Parliament.

“We have a lot of important tasks to do to ensure European competitiveness, a digital and green transition, affordable and clean energy and to strengthen European research, innovation and academic freedom,” wrote Ehler, who has been a member of the committee since 2009.

His reappointment was welcomed by research sector representatives.

Thomas Estermann, director for governance, funding and public policy development at the European University Association, said on X: “Congratulations! Good news for the university sector!”

Jan Palmowski of the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities said: “Many congratulations! We need your strong understanding of R&I, your experience, and your leadership!”

Ehler was the managing director of a biotechnology centre in Germany from 2000 until 2010, and was the industry and technology spokesman for the CDU Group in Brandenburg Regional Parliament between 1999 and 2004.

On 23 July, the committee will elect a chair and vice-chairs for the next two-and-a-half years. 

Other prominent MEPs who returned to the committee include Spanish academic Lina Gálvez Muñoz of the Socialists and Democrats group, and Dan Nica, a Romanian MEP who was coordinator for the S&D group in the previous parliamentary term.

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Commission president seeks bigger ERC and EIC, and stronger cross-border university alliances

Political guidelines presented by the newly re-elected European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, call for increased EU investment in research.

“We will increase our research spending to focus more on strategic priorities, on groundbreaking fundamental research and disruptive innovation, and on scientific excellence,” state the guidelines published by the Commission following von der Leyen’s re-election to her second five-year term on 18 July.

Specifically, they pledge to “expand the European Research Council and the European Innovation Council”. The ERC is the EU’s flagship funder of basic research, while the EIC funds the development of breakthrough technologies and their commercialisation by small companies.

Science and tech investment

A Strategy for European Life Sciences will “look at how we can support our green and digital transitions and develop high-value technologies”, while a European Biotech Act will be proposed in 2025 to “make it easier to bring biotech from the laboratory to factory and then onto the market”.

“To lead on innovation, we need to create the conditions for researchers to thrive. This means providing the infrastructure and innovative laboratories they need to test and develop ideas through new public-private partnerships,” the guidelines also say.

As trailed in von der Leyen’s statement to Parliament ahead of her re-election, the guidelines confirm plans for a European Competitiveness Fund to invest in strategic technologies, including artificial intelligence and biotechnology. A European AI Research Council is also planned “where we can pool all of our resources, similar to the approach taken with Cern”, the nuclear research lab.

This fund will support Important Projects of Common European Interest, the cross-border state aid schemes enabling multiple countries to support activities including R&D among industries in those areas for which private investment needs public support. “I will make IPCEIs simpler and faster to get financed and off the ground,” von der Leyen promised in the guidelines.

She also wants to “build up the European Defence Fund”, which supports R&D and capacity-building, and wants an increased focus on security to involve “investing in research capacity for strategic and dual-use technologies” with both civilian and military potential.

Education cooperation and skills strategies

The guidelines stress the need to attract and retain talent, which von der Leyen said she wants to achieve by strengthening “the collaboration between research departments, higher education and business—notably by strengthening our university alliances”. These alliances are the cross-border collaborations of higher education institutions supported by the European Universities Initiative.

In addition, the guidelines pledge to “strengthen Erasmus+”, the EU’s academic mobility programme, “so that more people can benefit”, with vocational training getting a specific mention. Alongside this, a European Strategy for Vocational Education and Training is planned.

A Stem Education Strategic Plan will be proposed for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, “to address the worrying decline in performance and the lack of qualified teachers in areas linked to Stem and bring more girls and women into Stem education and careers”.

“We have a lot of assets that give us a competitive edge, from world-class researchers and universities, to thriving small businesses and a stable environment,” von der Leyen stressed. “But given the scale of the challenges and opportunities, we now need to go much faster and further to ensure competitiveness, prosperity and fairness.”

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European Commission president is re-elected, promising investment in clean industry and “stronger Erasmus+”

Ursula von der Leyen has been approved for a second term as president of the European Commission, having promised to prioritise competitiveness and environmental sustainability.

Following a statement and a lively debate in the European Parliament, the German former defence minister was re-elected in a vote on 18 July by a majority of 401 MEPs out of 719.

She will now serve a second five-year term, after a first in which she helped steer the EU through the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its associated energy crisis.

Focus on prosperity

“Our first priority will be prosperity and competitiveness,” von der Leyen said in her Parliament statement, in which she emphasised the links between competitiveness and the environment.

EU competitiveness “needs a major boost”, she said, including to make it “faster and easier” for companies to do business. “We need less reporting, less bureaucracy and more trust, better enforcement and faster permitting.”

In this vein, von der Leyen said she would ask each of the 26 political commissioners she will oversee to examine their portfolios and find ways to reduce red tape, with a vice-president coordinating the work. 

In addition, “a revamped competitiveness check” will help reduce the burden of legislation, in particualr for small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Von der Leyen also stressed the importance of investment, mentioning it more than a dozen times in her statement.

“Europe needs more investment, from farming to industry, from digital to strategic technologies, but also more investment in people and their skills,” she said.

In the first 100 days of her second term, she plans to propose a Clean Industrial Deal to “channel investment in infrastructure and industry, in particular for energy-intensive sectors” such as steelmaking.

The Commission will also propose a European Savings and Investments Union to facilitate the savings of European citizens being used to invest in European companies. Von der Leyen said Europe needs to stop such savings flowing to foreign investment markets and being used to lure innovative European companies abroad.

Europe needs “a deep and liquid capital market” and “a competition policy that supports companies to scale up”, she said.

Von der Leyen also proposed the creation of a European Competitiveness Fund to “drive competitiveness and innovation”, including by supporting the Clean Industrial Deal. It would use EU funding to leverage more public and private backing for cross-border European projects. 

The fund “will ensure that we develop strategic tech and manufacture it here in Europe…[because] from artificial intelligence to clean tech, the future of our prosperity must be made in Europe”, she said.

Other policies

Although her statement was light on specific initiatives of direct impact on academia, von der Leyen did cite a need for a “stronger Erasmus+”, referring to the EU’s academic exchange programme.

She also stressed the need for work on enlarging the EU through the accession of new member countries, naming the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia specifically. 

“We will support candidates by working on investment and reforms, and integrating them where we can into our legal frameworks,” she said, but sought to reassure doubters by adding: “Accession will always be a merit-based process. And we will ensure that all countries are ready before joining.”

Seeming relaxed and confident, von der Leyen touched on topics that she knew from prior meetings were important to the Parliament’s many and varied political groups. In addition to competitiveness—a focus of her own European People’s Party—she covered poverty and social fairness, in an attempt to woo members of the Socialists and Democrats, which is the second-largest group after her own. 

She also promised the S&Ds a commissioner for housing, while acknowledging that this was not traditionally an area of EU policy.

To avoid losing the support of the Greens, she promised to “stick to the targets” of the Green Deal environmental policy package, while, in a bid to win over some right-wing MEPs, she stressed the importance of secure borders. 

A call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza failed to secure the vocal support of the leader of The Left when group leaders responded to her statement, but despite this, and an interruption from an MEP who was forcibly removed from the session, von der Leyen did enough to secure majority support.

Initial reaction and next steps

Iliana Ivanova, the current research, innovation and education commissioner, who is also from the EPP, congratulated von der Leyen on her reappointment. “Your continued leadership and vision are vital for Europe’s future,” Ivanova said on social media.

In initial reaction from the research and higher education sector, Kurt Deketelaere, secretary-general of the League of European Research Universities, said von der Leyen was “not perfect, but she is damn good”, and pledged his “full support”.

Jan Palmowski, from the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, said: “For a strong functioning EU in a turbulent world, there was no alternative. This is good news also for research, innovation and higher education: von der Leyen is clear that EU strength must build on its scientific and innovative capacity, and on the drive of our students!”

Thomas Jørgensen, director of policy coordination and foresight at the European University Association, said that von der Leyen gave a “strong performance” in the session but that there would be “not a few points and questions for #universities in the small print”.

Next, those EU member states that have not yet done so will nominate their commissioners, who will be assigned portfolios by von der Leyen.

Bulgaria has yet to say who its nominee will be, meaning that it remains to be seen whether the country’s current commissioner, Ivanova, will return for a second term. Even if she does, she may not be given the same portfolio.

The prospective commissioners will next be questioned by the Parliament to gauge their qualifications for their roles and any conflicts of interest. The Parliament will then vote on the college of commissioners as a whole, accepting or rejecting them en masse.

Update 18/7 – This article was updated with more reaction from the sector and with the vote count

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This week: research integrity, space skills, advanced materials and more

R&I funding

More than 100 European associations representing organisations that carry out research and innovation have called on the EU to “significantly increase” the budget of its next R&I funding programme. At the same time, the EU member states themselves should, “at a minimum”, finally meet their long-missed target to spend 3 per cent of their GDP on R&I, the groups, including the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations, said. EU investment in R&I “significantly lags behind [that of] its global competitors”, said signatories including Business Europe and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations.

Full story

EU budget

The European University Association has expressed concern about the likely budget for the EU’s next research and innovation programme, saying it is a bad sign that a formal opinion from national representatives did not recommend a specific figure. “In the current climate, where future R&I investments are under significant pressure, it is disappointing that the European Research and Innovation Area Committee did not take a stance on the overall budget for FP10,” the EUA said. “The fact that R&I ministries do not advocate for a larger budget does not bode well for the negotiations.”

Full story

Framework programme 10

The EU’s next research and innovation programme needs to devote “more efforts” to supporting interdisciplinary R&I, according to the association of major research funding and performing organisations, Science Europe. In a position paper, the association said there was a need for “truly interdisciplinary” funding calls in Framework Programme 10, which is due to start in 2028. These FP10 funding calls should “include perspectives from the arts, social sciences and humanities from the outset”, Science Europe said. Furthermore, ASSH disciplines should in general be “better integrated” in the programme, including in the development of the work programmes that set out funding calls, as well as on proposal evaluation panels.

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Horizon Europe

Potential beneficiaries of the EU’s research and innovation programme lack awareness of its funding opportunities and the steps taken to simplify it, according to a new European Parliament study. Based on surveys, the study reported that “approximately half of the consulted stakeholders [were] unaware of the modifications introduced under the Common Model Grant Agreement or the strategic plan”. These were introduced to Horizon Europe to simplify its grant agreements and set out its priorities, respectively. The study concluded that better communication is needed to ensure stakeholders are well informed. It suggested that National Contact Points could play a part.

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Research security

The research sector may not be ready for the challenges it faces around security, the president of the European Research Council has warned. Maria Leptin issued the warning in a keynote speech she was invited to give at a meeting of research ministers from the G7 group of leading global economies. Geopolitical trends mean that researchers are set to have to “protect” some of their findings against being “compromised”, she said, reflecting movements already underway. But she added: “I am not sure we and our institutions are sufficiently prepared and equipped for that, or that the task of assessing security risks should be imposed on researchers or institutions.”

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G7 collaboration

Science ministers from the G7 group of leading global economies have agreed on the need for stronger collaboration among themselves and, more broadly, on matters including research infrastructures and advanced technologies. Ministers from the member nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US met in Italy on 9-11 July with the aim of increasing collaboration. “To face our current challenges, we need to foster stronger collaboration among like-minded countries. This meeting reaffirmed our shared commitment to promote progress in research and innovation, aligned with the principles of openness, security, freedom and integrity,” said EU R&I commissioner Iliana Ivanova, who also attended the event.

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Gene editing

The European Commission’s plan for the EU to reduce its regulatory oversight of some gene-edited crops “is scientifically justified”, the European Food Safety Authority has confirmed. The plan, which is being considered by EU politicians, is intended to make the EU’s decades-old rules on genetically modified foods better reflect more than 20 years of scientific progress and enable the bloc to produce crops with better traits, such as increased resistance to drought. Efsa was asked by the European Parliament to review concerns expressed by the French food regulator, and it found that the concerns were baseless, except for a call for greater clarity.

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Picture of the week

Image: European Space Agency

On 9 July a collaboration of the European space sector successfully flew the new Ariane 6 launcher for the first time. The inaugural flight was much anticipated not only because it had been delayed for several years but also because, in the meantime, Europe had been reliant on US launchers to loft satellites and other craft into space.

Singapore ties

The European Commission has asked EU governments to allow formal negotiations on Singapore becoming associated to the EU’s research and innovation funding programme, Horizon Europe. Commission executive vice-president Margrethe Vestager announced the move via social media during a visit to the country in which she met with its deputy prime minister Heng Swee Keat. Vestager said they discussed “our mutual interest in this partnership and bringing [European] and [Singaporean] scientific excellence together”. Singapore has been holding informal talks on association to the programme’s second pillar, which is focused on societal challenges and industrial competitiveness.

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R&I missions

The EU’s research and innovation-based ‘missions’ on cancer, cities, climate change, soil and water should be moved outside the bloc’s R&I funding programme due to their reliance on other funding sources and delivery needs, the Young European Research Universities Network has recommended. Yerun said the EU should make missions a “separate, horizontal and more ambitious programme outside of the [R&I] programme…to allow the use of other synergistic funding mechanisms and the development of related policy initiatives through additional instruments”. The missions have been criticised for trying to achieve too much with too little resource.

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University alliances

The cross-border alliances of higher education institutions being funded by the EU should be allowed to “undertake an iterative experimental cycle” in which they explore ideas and drop ones that do not work out, the Cesaer group of European science and technology universities has recommended. The EU is now funding 64 international alliances involving more than 560 higher education institutions under its European Universities Initiative scheme, which is intended to help institutions collaborate on projects such as joint campuses, courses and posts. “Alliances should not be confined to a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach,” Cesaer said.

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Industry research

The EU’s next research and innovation programme should have a specific governing body dedicated to steering its industry-related funding, the representative body Business Europe has urged. Framework programme 10 as a whole “should have a significant focus on industrial R&I, be more business and competitiveness-oriented, and offer more attractive conditions for industry participation”, the association argued. It said the public-private partnerships funded by the programme, in areas such as medicines development, “should be the focal point…as they enable important risk-sharing, long-term impact and collaboration between stakeholders”.

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Research integrity

Science Europe, the group of major research funding and performing organisations, has adopted a “renewed focus” on research integrity, describing it as a “cornerstone” of research. Such a renewal is “right” at this time due to the “challenges and strains” research systems are facing at present, it said. The group encouraged the exchange of best practices on research integrity between organisations, and suggested they should document their investigations into misconduct and publish these documents in an anonymised form, when possible. “The data published should include types of cases investigated, outcome of the procedures, and measures taken,” it said.

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Space skills

The EU is considering which scientific skills it will need to support to boost the competitiveness of its space sector. Draft conclusions developed for the Council of the EU member state governments to adopt invite the European Commission to suggest which skills are needed. The conclusions highlight the importance of space to the EU’s economy, security and social objectives, and add that, to build an agile and innovative space sector, the EU “needs a robust strategy for upskilling, reskilling, attracting and retaining talent”. Technical, strategic, regulatory and diplomatic skills are all needed, according to the draft conclusions, as is investment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

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Bioeconomy partnership

The EU has drawn up outline plans for its proposed central and eastern European research and innovation partnership on the circular bioeconomy—the sustainable use and reuse of biological materials for economic activities. Draft conclusions intended for adoption by the Council of the EU member state governments say there is a need to boost R&I cooperation among the CEE countries and that circular bioeconomy initiatives could help the EU meet its environmental targets while boosting its competitiveness. The conclusions say that an existing EU-funded R&I initiative called Bioeast, focused on agriculture, aquaculture and forestry in the CEE countries, could form the basis of the partnership.

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Horizon evaluations

The EU should change how it evaluates proposals to its next research and innovation funding programme, according to the European Association of Innovation Consultants. The EAIC said the scores that evaluators give to project proposals, which determine which projects are funded, should be weighted “based on the relevance of [the evaluators’] expertise with regards to different evaluation sub-criteria”. It also said the three main evaluation criteria—excellence, impact and quality of implementation—may need to be redefined to reduce “confusion among evaluators” and to help deliver more consistent scoring.

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Advanced materials

The European Commission has launched a call for applications to join a new EU advice group on advanced materials. It said the “group will coordinate efforts to meet future needs for advanced materials in Europe and is key to building a single advanced materials ecosystem”. EU R&I commissioner Iliana Ivanova said: “The Technology Council for Advanced Materials is part of our strategy to work together with the member states, research organisations and industries to identify and address common needs.” The group is expected to consist of representatives from ministries, academia, research and technology organisations, industry and the Commission. Applications are due by 9 September.

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Marc Lemaître says European Commission will take seriously sector’s demands to reform “extremely complex landscape”

The European Commission’s top research and innovation official has told Research Europe that there is a need for a “very significant simplification” of the EU’s R&I funding landscape.

Marc Lemaître, who has led the Commission’s R&I department since February 2023, said in an interview that his institution had “heard loud and clear stakeholders calling for simplification, and so we will be taking that call very seriously”.

He said there had been a “legitimate complaint” from the sector that the EU has “an extremely complex landscape of funding instruments”.

This complexity is “difficult to navigate”, making it “difficult to find where the opportunities are”, he said. Such feedback “shows that there is a need for a very significant simplification of the landscape of instruments”, he added.

Funding scheme efficiency

When asked what funding schemes should perhaps be scrapped, Lemaître pointed out—while wanting to remain “quite general”—that the EU has schemes for funding reforms to R&I ecosystems under both its dedicated R&I programme and its regional cohesion funds.

His “tentative” feeling is that such funding should be retained in some form, but “ideally through one instrument rather than two”.

Lemaître also said the “certainly long” time the Commission spent finalising its Annotated Grant Agreement for the EU’s 2021-27 R&I programme, Horizon Europe, was justified by the need to help applicants with the complexity.

He acknowledged that the time the Commission took over the AGA caused “frustration” in the sector——published only this year, the delay left applicants and beneficiaries relying on informal guidance—but Lemaître said it was “time well spent [and] a good investment”.

The difficulties navigating the funding landscape “will be helped by the fact that we did this investment now to have a largely harmonised set of rules through the model grant agreement across the different instruments that are directly managed by the Commission”.

‘This is a learning process’

The Commission has already achieved “significant clarity and significant simplification compared to the past” through the rewriting of the AGA and other initiatives, according to Lemaître.

He said the broader use in Horizon Europe of lump-sum funding, in which applicants are asked for more detailed project plans upfront in exchange for a reduced financial reporting burden later on, and the possibility to use unit costs for personnel expenses, should “produce important daily simplification for beneficiaries”.

“This is a learning process, [but] I trust that we will be on very solid and familiar ground,” when the successor to Horizon Europe starts in 2028, he said.

But he added that “there is scope for some further, more marginal, improvement” with the AGA, and “we will have to see how far we go” with the broader use of lump-sum funding and of simplified personnel costs.

‘Difficult trade-offs’

The Commission will also have to “screen all the rules we have [for Horizon Europe] today, to see whether we got the balance right between regulatory or reporting burden and what is being achieved”, Lemaître added.

He was referring in particular to the “tricky area” of non-financial obligations, citing the example of research institutions needing to have gender equality plans in place to be eligible for Horizon Europe funding.

“This clearly is a burden” for applicants, he said, “but it is also a potent policy tool for us to spread good practice”.

For such rules, “the choice is not easy between going either for a softer approach of best efforts or having an approach which really obliges, legally, beneficiaries to comply”.

This is another area of potential simplification for the Horizon Europe successor, he said, “but with difficult trade-offs”.

Lemaître also stressed that there is “a cost to change, and we need to think carefully before we make significant changes” to the programme rules.

This is because “it always takes a lot of time to get acquainted with rules, to explain new ones, to have everyone feel at ease with them”.

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The EU’s top research and innovation official on competition, defence and the framework programme

When Research Europe sat down for an interview with the European Commission’s top research and innovation official, Marc Lemaître, he acknowledged that the EU’s economic competitiveness is “the talk in town” at the moment, as he put it.

The Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU member state governments (which began this month and runs until December) has just announced that competitiveness will be a top priority during its term at the helm. And the second of two reports on competitiveness, requested from former prime ministers of Italy, is eagerly awaited in EU policy circles.

That report, by Mario Draghi, is expected next month, while the first, by Enrico Letta, called for R&I and education to be made the “fifth freedom” of the EU’s single market, meaning that knowledge and related products, services and people should be allowed to move freely within the EU.

Letta’s report provided “a good stimulus” for the EU to “take an honest stock” of what has been achieved in the European Research Area since it was created over 20 years ago, according to Lemaître, who became director-general of the R&I directorate general in February 2023, having previously led the regional policy DG.

Pitching for harmony

The ERA is the EU’s initiative for raising R&I standards and harmonising related national procedures. While the proposed fifth freedom “goes beyond the ERA” because it includes education, on R&I, one could “very much equate” them, Lemaître says. And on the ERA, “we cannot really declare that the job is done—far from it”.

“There is a lot of integration, coordination, harmonisation potential” remaining, he explains, adding that this requires the EU to consider “whether we shouldn’t think of a more determined approach to making progress” on the ERA than the “informal, soft, coordinating” approach taken so far. This could include proposing “legislative action”, he says—a move that would certainly be more determined than the voluntary approach taken to date.

The political focus on competitiveness also affected the Commission’s recommendations to EU countries last month on how they could improve their economies as part of the European Semester process, says Lemaître. He previously led the teams of budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski and regional policy commissioners Danuta Hübner and Paweł Samecki after joining the Commission in 2007, having worked in the Luxembourg representation in the EU before that.

“We identified R&I as one key area to focus on to really make an impact on Europe’s competitiveness and productivity,” he says of the recommendations.

Exploiting research

An area that requires “a lot of attention” around the R&I contribution to competitiveness is the valorisation or exploitation of research results, according to Lemaître. The Letta report underscored that “we really have a problem” in Europe with providing funding for companies to grow, and “need to do a much, much better job” of that, he adds.

In this area, Lemaître describes himself as a “great enthusiast” of the European Innovation Council, the funder launched under the EU’s 2021-27 R&I programme, Horizon Europe, to support research into breakthrough technologies and their commercialisation by growing companies. The EIC equity fund had a “slow start”, he acknowledges of the period before he took charge, which left dozens of companies waiting for a year or more to receive promised investments.

But the fund is “a real trailblazing instrument” and the Commission “had to make sure we got it right”, he says. The fund has by now made more than 120 investment decisions, and Lemaître describes its four-to-one leveraging of private investment as “a very good result”.

The demand for funding has resulted in the EIC having the lowest success rate in Horizon Europe, at about 5 per cent. One positive way to look at this is that it means the Commission can be choosy about which projects and companies to invest in, Lemaître points out, but he admits it is also “a sad situation of untapped innovation potential”.

Step backward

Another win-lose situation he flags up is that the Commission won politicians’ backing to increase the upper limit on the EU’s investments in companies from an initial €15 million cap on the EIC fund, but this came at about the same time that politicians cut €2 billion from the remainder of Horizon Europe’s then €95.5bn budget.

This somewhat undermined the Commission’s hopes for another funding scheme the EU created to support its competitiveness, the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform, which has been left pulling together comparatively meagre funding from existing programmes, including Horizon Europe. But the Commission “has not abandoned the political ambition of Step”, Lemaître says—it still hopes to mobilise some funding to support company growth on a larger scale, “before we make proposals for the next [R&I] framework programme”.

Asked whether Horizon Europe’s successor, Framework Programme 10, might also suffer from the same delays that hampered parts of Horizon Europe in its early years, Lemaître says a “precondition for having programmes up and running from day one is that decisions are made in a timely fashion” by politicians, and the last three seven-year EU budgets that underpinned programmes have been agreed “later and later”. He says: “I really hope that we will draw lessons from this.”

Economic security

Another hot topic in political circles at present, prompted by the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, is defence. For Lemaître, defence and competitiveness go hand in hand. “Competitiveness is a relative notion, and it’s of course in comparison with the rest of the world, so what certainly will be very much part of the reflection is our economic security,” he explains.

EU initiatives so far on research security—balancing the benefits of international cooperation on R&I with the need to prevent research being coopted or compromised by hostile powers—should be “the starting point for further reflections”, Lemaître says. This should include thinking about whether some of the recommendations that have been made to research institutions on security should be made “compulsory if they want to participate in the framework programme in the future”, he adds.

In response to a Commission consultation on how ‘dual use’ technologies with both civil and military potential should be funded by the EU, Lemaître says research institutions’ preference “clearly goes in the direction of keeping broadly the status quo” of limiting the main R&I programme to funding only civil applications, with a separate programme for defence R&I. But, from businesses, there is “more openness” to opening up some parts of the main programme to military applications.

On research security in general, the Commission has “a lot of thinking ahead of us”, Lemaître says.

Summing up the situation more generally, he says that, “yes, competitiveness has quite some influence on the ongoing work and the work ahead”. Given the range of potential impacts for research covered in just this interview—from the ERA to innovation, to security—that could well prove to be an understatement.

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In issue 611, Marc Lemaître interviewed, Switzerland’s ERC win, Iter delays, FP10 debate and more

For the latest issue of Research Europe we sat down with the EU’s top research and innovation official Marc Lemaître, who set out his belief that the bloc’s R&I funding needs a “major simplification”. In an expansive interview, he also discussed his views on economic competitiveness, research security and defence.

The nuts and bolts of EU research funding are also a focus for our comment writers, with a look at the implications of two-stage grant applications and the risk of wider R&I policy having unintended consequences for the next Framework Programme. Meanwhile, there’s good news for Switzerland-based researchers, who can start applying for more ERC grants—but bad news for fusion facility Iter, which is facing €5 billion in extra costs as delays to its operations mount.

MUST READ

Image: EU Science & Innovation [CC BY-ND 2.0], via Flickr 

Top EU official calls for major simplification of R&I funding

Marc Lemaître says European Commission will take seriously sector’s demands to reform “extremely complex landscape”

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EDITORIAL

Highs and lows for the EU’s R&I programme

Gains in collaboration come with warnings for the future

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BRIEFING

What’s going on in Europe: 5-18 July

This week: research integrity, space skills, advanced materials and more

Closing European innovation gap ‘requires systematic change’

Experts recommend long-term investment in education, infrastructure and skills to narrow divide

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Increased Swiss access to ERC grants hailed as ‘excellent news’

Swiss institutions now eligible for applications to host 2025 Starting, Consolidator and Synergy Grants

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Mission aims to aid defence against collisions with Earth

The European Space Agency is to begin preparatory work for a mission to help defend the Earth from collisions with asteroids.

Announced by Esa on 16 July, the mission, called Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses), would aim to launch a spacecraft to track an asteroid called Apophis as it makes a close approach to Earth in 2029.

Researchers would then study the 375 metre-wide asteroid as Earth’s gravity alters its physical characteristics.

On the defence

“Their findings will improve our ability to defend our planet from any similar object found to be on a collision course in the future,” Esa said.

The agency announced its approval for preparing the mission 30 years to the day after a comet collided with Jupiter, increasing global interest in planetary defence.

On 13 April 2029, Apophis will pass within 32,000km of the Earth’s surface. Although astronomers have ruled out any chance of an asteroid impact for at least the next century, the flyby offers a “rare” scientific opportunity, said Esa.

Reconnaissance planned

Richard Moissl, head of Esa’s planetary defence office, said: “Ramses will demonstrate that humankind can deploy a reconnaissance mission to rendezvous with an incoming asteroid in just a few years.”

Esa also highlighted that the Ramses mission would reuse much of the technology developed for its recent Hera mission, which examined asteroid deflection.

US space agency Nasa also intends to study Apophis with a craft called Osiris-Apex.

A decision on whether to fully commit to the Ramses mission will be made at ESA’s ministerial council meeting in November 2025.

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Roberta Metsola returns to lead European Parliament with backing of 562 of 699 MEPs

Roberta Metsola has been re-elected as president of the European Parliament, and has used her first speech to say the EU needs to invest in research.

The Maltese MEP (pictured centre) said on 16 July that her ambition, after securing the backing of 562 out of 699 MEPs who voted on the presidency, was to make Europe a “better place by doubling down on [its] competitiveness”.

“Deepening the single market, ensuring quality jobs, concluding global trade deals, completing our banking and capital markets union, and having implementable targets for industry—that keeps Europe’s businesses in Europe and gives us the ability to invest in our youth, in research, in education, in culture, in our communities and in the rest of the world,” Metsola said.

Her speech came as the Council of the EU published its plan to cut the proposed 2025 budget of the EU’s research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, by €400 million. The Parliament will agree its stance on the budget later this year.

Need to cut red tape

Metsola also said there was a need to cut back on unnecessary regulation and bureaucracy, to attract and retain talent. “The successes that our people remember the most are the ones where Europe has simplified their lives,” she said.

Europe should also provide “real solutions on climate”, she continued, adding: “I am convinced that we can remain a world leader and find a way to achieve our targets in a manner that keeps everyone on board. That allows for sustainable development to go hand in hand with the protection of our natural environment and heritage.”

Iliana Ivanova, European commissioner for R&I, congratulated Metsola on her reappointment on X, writing: “Best wishes for a successful term!”

Metsola has been president of the European Parliament since January 2022, and was re-elected for another two and a half years following parliamentary elections of MEPs that took place across Europe in June.

Her return to the role preceded a vote on the proposed re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission, which is set to take place on 17 July and is expected to be a much closer result.

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Commission finds programme including Earth-observation initiative is achieving its aims

The EU’s Space Programme and its dedicated delivery agency are performing well, according to a European Commission analysis.

The commission set out its views on the programme, which has a budget of almost €15 billion for 2021-27, and on the EU Agency for the Space Programme (Euspa) in a report prepared for the EU institutions published on 11 July.

The programme includes Copernicus, which is the EU’s Earth-observation initiative, the Galileo satellite navigation service and the nascent secure communications service, Govsatcom.

‘Critical’ importance and effective delivery

“The EU Space Programme is critical for the strategic autonomy of the EU and its member states, and to support the EU’s political priorities”, such as environmental sustainability, digitisation and security, the Commission report says.

It adds that the programme provides data and services that support developments in technologies such as artificial intelligence, and that it “plays a crucial role in addressing cross-cutting policy topics by fostering innovation, resilience and competitiveness of EU companies”.

The programme was created as a single legislative entity for the first time in the current EU budget period, pulling together various existing initiatives including Copernicus and Galileo. Euspa was created in 2002 but was expanded under the programme regulation, gaining a broad range of roles in addition to its existing focus on satellite navigation. 

In general the analysis confirmed that, over the evaluation period of 2021-23, the programme performed in alignment with its objectives and effectively met users’ needs.

“The programme has played a crucial role in enhancing the EU’s competitiveness and in the development of a robust EU space ecosystem,” the report says.

“[It] has been instrumental in driving innovation and technological progress within the EU, resulting in the creation of novel products, processes and business models, as well as the delivery of value-added services.”

Specific initiatives

Copernicus, which monitors land use, oceans, the climate and security matters, has exceeded its targets on average, the Commission found, supporting applications from climate change mitigation to disaster response.

The launch of a Copernicus satellite was delayed by a lack of launchers, but the impact of this was mitigated by adjusting other satellites, the report notes.

Galileo also met its objectives, while preparations for Govsatcom “have been implemented effectively”. Similarly, Euspa “has overall performed well and successfully achieved its objectives”.

The programme has provided financial benefits that have outweighed its costs, according to the analysis, although it called for improvements to prevent any future delays, such as those that affected Copernicus.

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Government officials discussed “shared interests” and risks around artificial intelligence

EU officials met with counterparts in the US last week to discuss best practice, risks and shared ambitions around artificial intelligence.

Officials from the newly created EU AI Office met with representatives from the US AI Safety Institute in Washington on 11 July.

According to the European Commission, the discussions “initiated a technical dialogue” intended to deepen bilateral cooperation and “foster scientific information exchange”.

The talks led by USAISI director Elizabeth Kelly and EUAIO director Lucilla Sioli focused on three main topics, the Commission said: content watermarking and authentication, computing infrastructure and use of AI for societal good.

Experts from the US National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration took part in the talks, which also covered weather modelling, along with experts from the Commission Joint Research Centre.

The talks reiterated a “shared ambition to develop an international network among key partners to accelerate the advancement of the science of AI safety”, the Commission said.

Laurie Locascio, US undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said the dialogue highlighted “the strength of our partnership to facilitate the exchange of the latest scientific approaches and techniques from our experts in order to promote safe and trustworthy AI internationally”.

Roberto Viola, director-general of the Commission communications department, said that “cooperation strengthens our mutual trust and paves the way for an international network among key partners for a truly global impact on trustworthy AI for societal good”.

The EU AI Office was launched within the Commission in June to foster research on trustworthy AI, oversee the EU AI strategy and monitor relevant investment.

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Ahead of European political summit, Labour ministers have suggested closer ties on R&D and students

The UK’s Foreign Office has declined to clarify the government’s ambitions on boosting student exchange with the EU ahead of the country hosting a European political leaders’ summit this week.

More than 45 leaders will meet with UK prime minister Keir Starmer on Thursday at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire to discuss migration, energy and connectivity, and defence at a meeting of the European Political Community.

The European Political Community was set up in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to provide a forum for discussions among politicians at a wider level than the EU. Although the meeting was scheduled to take place in the UK before Starmer won power, the prime minister wants it to assist him in his quest to improve UK relations with Europe.

Starmer said: “I said I would change the way the UK engages with our European partners, working collaboratively to drive forward progress on these generational challenges, and that work starts at the European Political Community meeting on Thursday.”

The meeting follows comments made on 7 July by David Lammy, the foreign secretary, who has called for a championing of student exchanges with the EU.

Lammy said the UK was “absolutely committed to a close partnership with our European neighbours” and that the new government “will reset relations with Europe as a reliable partner, a dependable ally and a good neighbour”.

Among the key areas of shared concerns, such as security and defence, Lammy also mentioned the climate emergency and energy networks.

“We must do more to champion the ties between our people and our culture,” he said. “Holidays, family ties, school and student exchanges, the arts and sport…Thanks to this, our citizens benefit from the rich diversity of our continent.”

But Labour has rejected an EU offer to reconsider its position on rejoining the Erasmus+ student exchange programme, and has repeatedly ruled out freedom of movement between the UK and EU—even if it were only for youth mobility programmes.

The Foreign Office declined to comment on the issue when asked for clarification on its stance to student mobility.

R&D ties 

Starmer has said his intended improved relationship with the EU includes “closer ties in relation to research and development”, among other things.

This, he added, would be subject to “many discussions to be had”.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has confirmed it is already working to boost cooperation with the EU.

“We are working on improving our collaborations with European partners on R&D, including in key technology areas,” a Dsit spokesperson told Research Professional News.

They declined to give any specifics about what that involves at this stage.

The new science minister, Patrick Vallance, suggested last week that closer ties with the EU on science are needed, in addition to lower visa costs for scientists to move to work in the UK.

Responding to Vallance, a government spokesperson said: “As we have said, we are not reversing Brexit and there will be no return to freedom of movement.”

On immigration, they said: “We are determined to bring down historically high levels of legal migration and tackle the root causes behind it.

“The scale of international recruitment for work reflects the need to tackle skills shortages here at home.”

Resetting relations

Also this week, the UK’s new minister for European Union Relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, will travel to Brussels to meet European Commission executive vice-president Maroš Šefčovič.

Thomas-Symonds was appointed by Starmer to “lead future UK discussions with the EU and to reset the UK-EU relationship”.

The government has said the meeting aims to “set the ground for further discussions between the UK and EU as the UK seeks to reset its relationship with the bloc and build closer cooperation on shared issues”.

Thomas-Symonds said: “With war in Europe, and shared global challenges in areas such as climate change and illegal migration, a strong UK-EU alliance is vital.

“I expect to be engaging with [Šefčovič] and EU colleagues much more in the coming months, as we work together to help make our continent safer and more prosperous.”

Šefčovič said he was looking forward to receiving Thomas-Symonds to “discuss ways to strengthen our cooperation, while making the most of our existing agreements that form the cornerstone of our partnership”.

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Group representing leading global economies agrees closer ties on infrastructures and advanced technologies

Science ministers from the G7 group of leading global economies have agreed on the need for stronger collaboration among themselves and more broadly, on a range of research matters.

Ministers from the member nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US met in Bologna and Forlì in Italy on 9-11 July with the aim of increasing collaboration.

“To face our current challenges, we need to foster stronger collaboration among like-minded countries. This meeting reaffirmed our shared commitment to promote progress in research and innovation, aligned with the principles of openness, security, freedom and integrity,” the EU R&I commissioner Iliana Ivanova (pictured right), who also attended the event, said in a statement.

The meeting culminated in the adoption of a joint communique covering issues including research security, infrastructures, nuclear research, space and collaboration with Africa, and which opened with a condemnation of the Russian war against Ukraine.

At the meeting, Italy’s science minister Anna Maria Bernini (pictured left) announced that, in 2025, her country will host an international conference focused on supporting research in Ukraine and rebuilding the country’s R&I ecosystem.

Security and infrastructures

In keeping with their invitation to Maria Leptin, the president of the European Research Council, to give a keynote speech on research security, the ministers said in the communique that greater awareness is needed of the risks of foreign interference in research and innovation.

“G7 members are united in the implementation and enhancement of effective, proportionate and appropriate risk mitigation measures within our domestic systems to promote trusted research collaboration,” the communique says.

Researchers must be able to independently choose their questions and methods, it asserts, adding that the G7 supports collaboration among its members and more broadly on the open dissemination of research results.

The communique also says that the G7 intends to continue strengthening collaboration on large research infrastructures and building on existing international research initiatives.

“We acknowledge the value of facilitating the pooling of experiences and sharing of best practices, while also fostering networking and relationship-building among G7 research infrastructure managers,” the communique says.

“In light of this, we propose to pilot an initiative aimed at facilitating a dialogue among managers of large research infrastructures across G7 members…This initiative has the potential to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency and collaboration capabilities of large research infrastructures, thereby contributing to advancements in scientific research.”

New technologies, nuclear power and space

The communique says there is a need to foster advancements in new technologies, to help tackle pressing challenges including climate change. It singles out artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, quantum technology, advanced materials, biotechnologies, nanotechnologies and robotics.

Part of the meeting took place at the Bologna Technopole, which hosts the largest computing centre in Italy and one of the largest in Europe: the high-performance computing department of the Cineca research consortium. This is home to the supercomputer Leonardo, which is focused on AI and funded in equal parts by Italy and the EU.

Leonardo is currently available to the Italian and European research community, but agreements are being developed to grant access to researchers and students from less developed countries, the president of Cineca Francesco Ubertini told Research Professional News.

More research on nuclear fission is needed to help roll out advanced reactors with increased flexibility and safety, according to the communique, which also calls for more collaboration on the less-developed efforts to harness nuclear fusion as an energy source.

Space also presents opportunities for collaboration, it says, including talks on the impact of large constellations of satellites on astronomy.

Africa, waters and upcoming conferences

The communique devotes considerable space to collaboration with Africa, an area in which Italy has been a driving force.

Bernini welcomed the positive reception given to an Italian plan for science diplomacy in Africa. This Piano Mattei per l’Africa plan covers health, education, agriculture, water, energy and infrastructures.

Finally, the communique also stresses the importance of seas, oceans and their biodiversity, and the need for international partnerships in these areas.

Soon after the ministers’ meeting, the first of four high-level conferences promoted by the Italian G7 presidency discussed Mediterranean and Atlantic ocean health and coastal resilience.

On 2 October, a conference on research and capacity building with Africa will be held in Trieste, while on 29-30 October a conference on large research infrastructures will be held in Sardinia.

On 5 December, a conference on the security and integrity of global research is planned at the Politecnico di Bari.

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European Research Council president Maria Leptin issues warning in keynote speech to G7 research ministers

The research sector may not be ready for the challenges it faces around security, the president of the European Research Council has warned.

Maria Leptin (pictured, centre) issued the warning in a keynote speech she was invited to give at a meeting of research ministers from the G7 group of leading global economies on 10 July.

Geopolitical trends mean that researchers are set to have to “protect” some of their findings against being “compromised”, she said, reflecting movements already underway.

But she added: “I am not sure we and our institutions are sufficiently prepared and equipped for that, or that the task of assessing security risks should be imposed on researchers or institutions.”

Questions to be answered

Leptin expressed her fear even though she said most countries are so far adhering to the principle that their research should be “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”.

“Tough decisions will need to be made” regarding where to apply security restrictions along the continuum of basic to applied research, she warned, saying it was “important to distinguish” between the poles of this continuum.

“Basic research—often driven by pure curiosity and the desire to understand the world, and less immediate in its applications—must remain open. For applied research, closer to market…the risks may be more immediate,” necessitating higher levels of safeguarding, she said.

Other questions that need addressing, according to Leptin, include: “Are we going to restrict collaborations with specific countries, organisations or individuals? On particular technologies? Will scientists need to disclose their meetings, travel and affiliations?”

There will be costs to restricting research, she warned, including slowed progress. Excessive restrictions could lead talented researchers to relocate to more permissive countries, she suggested, and could also hamper international collaboration.

Balanced approach needed

Leptin called for “a balanced approach” that, as much as possible, would retain the international collaboration she said is particularly required for tackling global challenges such as climate change.

Responding to the speech on social media, League of European Research Universities secretary-general Kurt Deketelaere said he “fully agreed”, while Mattias Björnmalm, secretary-general of the Cesaer group of European science and technology universities, described it as an “excellent speech”.

Meanwhile, the European Economic and Social Committee, a formal consultative body for the EU comprised of representatives of workers’ unions and economic and cultural organisations, adopted its view on the European Commission’s proposals for EU measures on research security, put forward in January.

Echoing Leptin and the proposals themselves, the EESC said “a fair balance should be struck between the need for security and the need to maintain the international openness” of R&I. It cited a need to address a lack of guidance on matters such as risk profiling and the drafting of international agreements.

ERC awards

During a busy period for the ERC, following the publication of its 2025 work programme and the launch of its 2025 funding call for Starting Grants, the funder also announced the results of the 2024 call for its Proof of Concept scheme, which provides already-funded researchers with an extra €150,000 to help them explore the commercialisation of their results.

The call is funding 100 grants, the ERC announced, with researchers in the UK getting the most (15), followed by researchers in the Netherlands (14) and Italy (12). Among the winners, the ERC said that Nanda Rea, an astrophysicist at the the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Spain, received the 2,000th award under the scheme.

“This milestone reminds us once again that many researchers seek to bring their research results to market,” Leptin said in a statement. 

“The ERC initially introduced its Proof of Concept funding because frontier research often generates radically new ideas that drive innovation and business inventiveness. We must invest seriously in such curiosity-driven frontier research, if Europe is to be able to lead.”

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EU food regulator confirms proposal to deregulate some gene-edited crops is based on best evidence

The European Commission’s plan for the EU to reduce its regulatory oversight of some gene-edited crops “is scientifically justified”, the bloc’s food regulator has confirmed.

The plan, which is being considered by EU politicians, is intended to make the EU’s decades-old rules on genetically modified foods better reflect the reality of more than 20 years of scientific progress since they were last updated. This in turn is intended to enable the EU to benefit from crops with better traits, such as increased resistance to pests and drought.

It proposes two categories for crops produced using so-called new genomic techniques, which are tools that enable precise modifications to an organism’s genetic code. One category would be treated the same as crops derived from traditional farming techniques because scientific evidence indicates that they are essentially the same. The other category, with more edits, would be subject to more stringent regulation.

The plan was based on the opinions of scientific experts and has been supported by scientific groups including the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities. But the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (Anses) cast doubt on its scientific rationale and called for clarification. The European Parliament then asked the European Food Safety Authority for an opinion on the Anses stance.

‘Plan is scientifically justified’

On 10 July, Efsa published that opinion, which states that regulating category 1 gene-edited crops the same way as conventionally bred plants is indeed scientifically justified, as per the Commission proposal. Efsa reiterated that it could identify no additional risks for these crops as compared with conventional breeding techniques.

The Commission’s proposal that category 1 crops could have up to 20 genetic modifications “is based on a risk-management decision” and is “conservative given the data available in the scientific literature”, Efsa concluded. A similar degree of genetic change arises through conventional breeding, it stressed.

Efsa did, however, agree with Anses on the need for clarifications in the Commission proposal, including those relating to the site targeted for gene editing.

The Parliament has already largely backed the Commission proposal, although it wants some changes, including a ban on category 1 crops being patentable.

EU member state governments have yet to agree their position on the proposal, and some have cited the Anses stance when expressing reservations about it.

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Unesco would provide secretariat in effort to align scholarly publishing initiatives

A consultation process has been launched to plan the creation of a global alliance to shape the development of ‘diamond’ open-access scholarly publishing.

Under the diamond model, papers are made openly available at no cost to readers or authors, through platforms funded at an organisational level. 

The model is seen by many as the most equitable form of scholarly publishing because it does not disadvantage readers or authors who are unable to pay subscription or publication fees. It is also viewed as being more financially sustainable than other models because companies tend to be involved as service providers rather than initiators making large profits.

Diamond open access is well established in some parts of the world but, in general, not in the regions considered to be research powerhouses. In those territories, subscription-based publishing remains common and other models of open access predominate, namely the author-pays and institutional-repository models. But these regions are increasingly being convinced of the merits of the diamond model and the need for more support.

The idea for a global alliance emerged from the first Global Summit on Diamond Open Access, which took place in Mexico in 2023. At the meeting, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization expressed a willingness to provide a secretariat for an alliance, and it was Unesco that announced the launch of a consultation on the subject in a webinar on 10 July.

Aiming for a fair ecosystem

“Diamond open access has become a transformative force in scholarly publishing, challenging conventional methods to sharing knowledge,” Unesco’s director-general for communication and information, Tawfik Jelassi, said in the webinar. This is because charging authors to make papers openly available “hasn’t solved the issue” of inequality in scholarly publishing, he said, adding: “We must level the playing field.”

Jelassi said the aim of the planned alliance is to create a “sustainable, fair and open academic publishing ecosystem…by leveraging the support and expertise of different stakeholders [to] maintain the high standards of scholarly publishing without imposing fees on authors or readers”.

He said that the global alliance “will not only foster greater collaboration and innovation, but also strengthen the foundation of open, transparent and accountable research”. He called on “governments, researchers, publishers, librarians, policymakers and the public to join in”.

Bhanu Neupane, a programme manager for ICT and open access at Unesco, said the alliance “will be a bottom-up effort, by and for open-access communities”, and based on “existing best practices”.

“Today’s announcement marks the start of a collaborative and inclusive global dialogue. Together we will define the vision, mission, objectives and governance” of the alliance, he said, adding that Unesco hopes to “finalise” the dialogue at a second Global Summit on Diamond Open Access in Cape Town in December, with the alliance itself launching in 2025.

Funding and sovereignty

Other speakers included Arianna Becerril-García, executive-director of Redalyc, a diamond open-access journal network for Latin America. She pointed out that the diamond model is already “the default” in that region, but said there is a need for funds to support it “because it cannot survive only through commercial models”.

Neupane said that financial support for diamond open access is “not part of the alliance per se”, but that, nonetheless, those involved are looking at how funders could provide support, for example, to convert journals to the model.

Martine Garnier-Rizet, director of digital strategy and data at French national research agency ANR, said funders like hers could play a “key” role in supporting diamond open access. She pointed out that the ANR has promised €850,000 to support diamond initiatives, including €250,000 for the creation of a European capacity hub.

Lidia Borrell-Damián, secretary-general of the Science Europe group of major research funding and performing organisations, flagged up that among her group’s members, in addition to the commitments from the ANR, the German research foundation DFG is establishing a service centre to consolidate the national diamond open-access landscape, and a Nordic centre is also being created. 

In a question-and-answer session, Dimitrii Kochetkov, a researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands who said he is also the managing editor of a diamond open-access journal, warned that there will be a need to ensure that funders of publishing infrastructure do not gain control over the “editorial sovereignty” of the platforms.

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Consortium successfully launches rocket after repeated delays, ending reliance on foreign powers

Europe has restored its independent access to space, sector leaders said after they successfully launched the continent’s new Ariane 6 rocket for the first time.

Ariane 6 was launched from Europe’s space port in French Guiana on 9 July following years of delays and with another European space vehicle, Vega-C, having been sidelined by technical faults.

These issues made Europe reliant on other global powers for launching satellites and other spacecraft, a situation worsened by the loss of access to Russian launchers following that country’s invasion of Ukraine.

“A completely new rocket is not launched often, and success is far from guaranteed,” said European Space Agency director-general Josef Aschbacher. “I am privileged to have witnessed this historic moment…effectively reinstating European access to space.”

Capability demonstration

The inaugural flight was a demonstration of Ariane 6’s capabilities that involved the release of several satellites and associated experiments from companies, universities and other organisations. Other parts of the demonstration included showing that Ariane 6’s upper stage could restart its Vinci engine to offload payloads into different orbits and de-orbit itself to not add to space debris.

The rocket’s first commercial flight is expected to take place this autumn.

A company called Ariane Group was the main contractor for the construction of Ariane 6, while a launch facility was custom-built for the rocket by France’s space agency, CNES. That agency’s chief executive, Philippe Baptiste, said: “With this first successful launch by Ariane 6, Europe has finally recovered its capacity to access space,” while Ariane Group’s chief executive, Martin Sion, proclaimed a “new era”.

Ariane 6 is a collaboration between 13 countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The EU has been considering how best to boost its space sector, with the Council of the EU adopting conclusions on competitiveness in space in June, and set to discuss conclusions on space science skills.

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Draft conclusions recommend improving training schemes to upskill young space talent

The EU is considering which scientific skills it will need to support to boost the competitiveness of its space sector.

Draft conclusions developed for the Council of the EU member state governments to adopt, published on 9 July, invite the European Commission to suggest which skills are needed.

The conclusions highlight the importance of space to the EU’s economy, security and social objectives, and add that, to build an agile and innovative space sector, the EU “needs a robust strategy for upskilling, reskilling, attracting and retaining talent”.

Technical, strategic, regulatory and diplomatic skills are all needed, according to the draft conclusions, as is investment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

They say that businesses, academia and public authorities all have critical roles to play in advancing competitiveness, and that there is also a need for intersectoral skills “bridging the gap between research and its practical applications”.

Initiatives that support space-related entrepreneurship, such as the Cassini scheme, should be “reinforced”, and job placements and training schemes should be enhanced, the conclusions urge.

They welcome the creation of national competence strategies, but say that national initiatives should be “well coordinated and mutually reinforcing”.

The draft is due to be discussed by national representatives on 12 July, ahead of their later adoption by ministers. It is likely to be revised before being adopted.

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International demonstration facility’s new construction and operations plan involves finding “shortcuts” in schedule, says leader

The international nuclear fusion research facility Iter has been delayed by several years in various elements of its operations, at an estimated extra cost of €5 billion.

The scale of the challenge facing the facility was laid bare in a ‘baseline’ schedule presented to the governing board in June and detailed to the media by Iter’s director general, Petro Barabaschi, on 3 July.

“There is no denying that there is a delay, but I believe we are doing the right thing in getting there with more attention to risks and minimising the overall delay to the long-term objective of the project,” Barabaschi said.

He said the new plan aims to “somehow take some shortcuts” and considers “the big picture on how to get as fast as possible to real research”.

New schedule

The project had been aiming to achieve ‘first plasma’ in 2025, ‘full magnetic energy’ in 2033 and the start of the ‘deuterium-tritium operation phase’ in 2035.

Now, no specific date is being given for the first of those milestones, the second has been delayed by three years and the third has been delayed by four years.

But information provided to the press downplayed the delay to first plasma, saying that it had been “designed as a brief, low-energy machine test”. Instead of focusing on that goal, “the new baseline has been redesigned to prioritise the start of research operations”. That is planned for 2034, using “a more complete machine”.

Iter had already suffered from delays and cost increases under previous schedules. The latest delays are being attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic and technical issues with components. The pandemic hindered construction and quality inspections, said Barabaschi, adding that the latter might indirectly “have been one of the causes of some quality issues that need to be fixed”.

The new baseline includes the use of materials that better reflect contemporary science. Iter is also reorganising as part of attempts “to moderate and control cost”, Barabaschi said.

Members still onboard

Nonetheless, those extra costs are expected to total €5bn, and the initiative’s members are yet to approve the new plan. Barabaschi said that “there is still very strong support from the members on this project”.

Iter has been under construction in France since 2010 and is intended to provide participating countries, and the wider world, with new knowledge to hasten the development of commercial nuclear fusion power.

It is a collaboration between the EU, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. Barabaschi said Iter remains a “peace project which brings together parts of the world” and that geopolitics lies beyond its scope.

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In issue 610, Iliana Ivanova interviewed, ERC grant erosion, AI running research projects and more

Hi Research Europe readers,

Our Research Europe email has a new look this week—we hope you like it. In our lead story, research commissioner Iliana Ivanova adds her voice to calls for the EU to up its spending on R&I. She also spoke to us at length about her unfinished business. How long she has left in her role will depend on changes unfolding following the EU parliamentary elections. Meanwhile, the research sector has expressed concern about the Hungarian presidency in its early days.

With budgets in mind, we’ve taken a close look at how the value of European Research Council grants has been eroded. And our contributors give their takes on how universities can help researchers do more to aid society, how to nurture serendipity in R&I and whether AI could assist in running research projects.

Sarah Richardson, editor-in-chief

MUST READ

Image: European Union

EU R&I programme ‘must have budget to match its needs’

EU research and innovation commissioner urges “shared commitment” to increase investment.

Full story

EDITORIAL

Shortfalls in EU research investment reveal wasted potential

The gap between the EU’s R&I funding and its ambition is in the spotlight again

Full story 

BRIEFING

What’s going on in the Europe: 21 June to 4 July

Hungary’s EU presidency worries research sector

Orbán government’s stance is causing concern, but R&I and education priorities are considered promising

Full story

R&D groups await detail of EU’s new political cycle

Much remains to be decided despite initial agreement on top jobs and overarching priorities

Full story

University leader criticises EU over Horizon-Israel ‘risks’

Commission accused of making “no effort” to support universities on Israeli institutions’ involvement in projects

Full story

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

Image: European Union

Ursula von der Leyen has been nominated by the leaders of the EU member states for a second term as European Commission president. She will need to win the backing of a majority of MEPs in the European Parliament in a vote expected later this month.

FOCUS

Image: Grace Gay for Research Professional News

Slow erosion: Why ERC grants aren’t what they were

Intense demand and limited budgets have made European Research Council grants fall behind inflation

Full story

INTERVIEW

‘Fully focused’: Iliana Ivanova on her unfinished business

Despite her role potentially ending, the EU’s R&I commissioner is looking to the future

Full story

COMMENT

AI’s next frontier in research is managing projects

Automating steering and coordination can free up human expertise, say Henry Sauermann and Maximilian Köhler

Full story

Universities must do more to help researchers help society

Infrastructure and incentives for engaged research are still lacking, say Candice Carr Kelman and colleagues

Full story

Academics need the freedom to make their own luck

The best research environments cultivate serendipity—and the REF should recognise that, says Matthew Flinders

Full story

NATIONS

Silos in EU R&I must end, say French university heads

University leaders call for greater integration of training and innovation in Horizon Europe successor programme

Full story

Universities plan overhaul of academic posts

Proposals aim to help secure more permanent positions in German academia

Full story

Cúram research centre adds over €750m to Irish economy

Science Foundation Ireland centre was established in 2015 with initial €65 million investment

Full story

Genomic field trial attacked by vandals

Researcher leading Italian trial of new genomic techniques says she aims to try again

Full story

Controversial policy levels gender balance of academic intake

Eindhoven University of Technology hails impact of preventing men from applying for jobs

Full story

Foreign researchers in Norway will have to learn language

Oslo wants to prevent English from becoming leading language on campus, despite strong pushback

Full story

Perfect storm: The threat of university job cuts

How a crisis in higher education funding is hitting those working in UK universities

Full story

INTERNATIONAL

Australia’s Horizon Europe talks called off without association

Dismayed universities and businesses urge Australian government to restart negotiations

Full story

Republican aims to streamline ‘sprawling and siloed’ NIH

House committee chair says “uncoordinated” growth of National Institutes of Health is causing “research duplication”

Full story

Stellenbosch deliberates fate of ‘racist’ student residence

University mulls closure of accommodation block where white supremacy symbols were found this year

Full story

FUNDING INSIGHT

Opportunity profile: Bringing the skin research community together 

The Leo Foundation launches a Research Networking Grant scheme

Full story

Europe funding at a glance: 14-27 June

This week: EU investment strategy, medical treatments, Swiss national centres and Cost Actions

Full story

AND FINALLY

Inside out: While some things change, others don’t

Back page gossip from the 4 July issue of Research Europe

Full story

Find the archive issues of Research Europe here

The post Research Europe – 4 July 2024 appeared first on Research Professional News.

This week: Horizon Europe, reform recommendations, regional innovation and more

Framework Programme 10

The EU’s next research and innovation programme should play a “stronger leading role” in promoting the bloc’s competitiveness, according to a group that advises the union on its R&I policy. This should involve the programme “offering solutions and responding to the challenges and emerging priorities of our times”, said the European Research Area and Innovation Committee, an advice body formed of representatives of the EU member states and the European Commission. Framework Programme 10, which is due to start in 2028, should “contribute to a better life for European citizens through science-informed policies and added societal value brought by R&I”. It should also “foster the creation of job opportunities and a stronger and more resilient EU economy”, Erac said in an opinion paper.

Full story

Horizon Europe

The EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme is in line for a year-on-year budget cut of €160 million under a European Commission proposal. It should have a budget of just over €12.7 billion in 2025, says the proposal, down from around €12.9bn in the current financial year. Iterations of EU R&I programmes normally ramp up their spending over their seven-year durations, but earlier this year politicians decided to cut €2bn over the remainder of Horizon Europe to help fund other priorities including support for Ukraine. Of that €2bn, €377m is being found in 2025, once the year’s share of a €100m return of unspent funding is factored in.

Full story

European Universities Initiative

The EU has announced funding for 14 more cross-border alliances as part of its European Universities Initiative, bringing the total to 64 alliances involving more than 560 institutions. The EUI uses EU funding to help higher education institutions in different countries collaborate on projects including joint campuses and courses. Each of the new alliances will receive €14.4 million over four years from Erasmus+, the EU’s academic exchange programme. “The EUI alliances bring together a new generation of Europeans and allow them to study and work in different European countries, in different languages and across sectors and academic disciplines,” the European Commission said.

Full story

Innovation network

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology has been given the go-ahead by the European Commission to establish a network for water, marine and maritime sectors and ecosystems. Created in 2008, the EIT bridges gaps between business, research and education by funding networks in thematic areas, called Knowledge and Innovation Communities, which are intended to eventually become self-sustaining. The water KIC will join nine others, covering climate, digital, energy, health, raw materials, food, manufacturing, urban mobility and culture and creativity. It is likely to be launched in 2026 in response to a call for proposals expected next year.

Full story

EIT setup

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology should be “revitalised”, including by refocusing it on its core mission, the Cesaer group of European universities of science and technology has urged. In a position paper, Cesaer said that the EIT has a “commendable” aim to strengthen innovation ecosystems and foster entrepreneurial skills, but it complained that “in recent years the administrative burden and overregulation have grown, along with increased co-funding and backflow requirements, which detract from the EIT’s primary focus”. It said funding criteria “act as barriers for universities to participate in innovation projects”.

Full story

R&I policy

The EU needs to adopt a “more systemic” approach to its research and innovation policy, considering not only traditional elements of competitiveness but also factors such as environmental and social sustainability, according to a group of independent experts. The Expert Group on the Economic and Societal Impact of Research and Innovation, which advises the European Commission and is chaired by oceanography professor Katherine Richardson, made the recommendation in a policy brief. Policies for R&I and competitiveness are becoming “increasingly intertwined” with policies around climate and welfare, it said, arguing for a “systemic perspective on competitiveness”.

Full story

Reform recommendations

EU countries should increase their investments in research and innovation and implement reforms to improve their competitiveness, the European Commission has said. A lack of investment in R&I has contributed to slower productivity growth since the early 2000s, it said when presenting the European Semester Spring Package, a set of general and country-specific advice for boosting economic growth. Countries should “implement ambitious reforms to build integrated R&I ecosystems, focusing on governance, public research systems and infrastructures, science-business collaboration and knowledge transfers”, as well as attracting and retaining researchers, the Commission said.

Full story

Picture of the week

Image: European Union

Ursula von der Leyen has been nominated by the leaders of the EU member states for a second term as European Commission president. She will need to win the backing of a majority of MEPs in the European Parliament in a vote expected later this month.

Transformative journals

Coalition S, a group of funders requiring immediate open access to papers reporting research they have supported, has confirmed that it will end its support for ‘transformative journals’ this year. The group coined the phrase for journals that agreed to participate in an initiative to shift their content away from subscription-based paywalls towards open access at a certain rate. In an update, head of strategy Robert Kiley said there had been “positive” developments, such as 78 journals becoming fully open access, but the “most striking” development was that most journals had failed to hit their targets.

Full story

Diamond open access

A “good mix” of top-down and bottom-up policies at institutional and national levels is needed to support the ‘diamond’ model of open-access publishing, according to the EU-funded Diamas project, which is developing a set of related policy recommendations. The model, which makes up a fairly small part of the scholarly publishing landscape at present, involves research papers being made openly available to readers with no charge to them or to authors, through institutional support for the publishing platform. Diamas said that challenges include a lack of sustainable funding, incentives, rewards and professional staff.

Full story

Intellectual property

EU governments have adopted a stance on compulsory licensing of intellectual property, which would allow the EU to override IP rights as a last resort in emergencies. The issue of IP rights hampering the response to emergencies came to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the ability to create and manufacture vaccines depended on patented information. The Council of the EU member state governments wants several changes to the proposal from the European Commission, “to protect the rights of the IP rights-holders and ensure that they are better informed”. For example, it wants the EU to be able to remunerate rights-holders beyond a cap proposed by the Commission of 4 per cent of their revenue. The Council will negotiate on the proposal with the European Parliament in the coming months.

Full story

Medical research

The EU should have a database of health-related research and innovation needs, its member state governments have said. The Council of the EU said that current EU R&I “partially fail[s] to stimulate solutions for priority health-related needs”. This is due to “a lack of evidence” on what the highest unmet needs are or “a lack of commercial or public interest” in them. Structured scientific evidence on needs is therefore necessary to direct public and private investment in health R&I, it said, adding that the database should gather information related to diseases and healthcare systems from existing national and international sources and present it in a standardised format, based on a framework from independent researchers and with input from policymakers, patients and healthcare providers.

Full story

Space agency

Slovenia is to join the European Space Agency, having signed an accession agreement that now just needs to be ratified by national politicians. “This signature is a key milestone, not only for Slovenia but also for Esa, which proves to still be attractive 50 years after its creation,” said the agency’s director-general Josef Aschbacher. Slovenia has been working with Esa since it signed a first cooperation agreement with the agency in 2008. But being an Esa member state will bring “advantages and new opportunities, as well as additional obligations in terms of funding and workforce management”, according to the agency. Benefits will include access to programmes on science and technology.

Full story

Regional innovation

The European Commission has identified 151 potential Regional Innovation Valleys under a new scheme intended to link up innovation activities in different areas—and it has allocated €116 million to the first projects. The RIV scheme is intended to help regions with lower innovation performance build on their strengths by teaming them up with higher-performing ones. Some of the 151 regions are outside the EU, including the entire countries of Montenegro and North Macedonia; Innlandet and Vestlandet in Norway; the Ivano-Frankivsk and Kyiv provinces in Ukraine; and the West Midlands, the Highlands and Islands and all of mainland Scotland in the UK.

Full story

University cooperation

A “substantial leap forward in supporting transnational university cooperation” is needed from European and national policymakers, according to the European University Association—not only for the cross-border alliances formed under the EU’s European Universities Initiative but more broadly. “The goal…until 2030 must be to create a strategic, transparent and smooth system of transnational university cooperation that benefits the entire university sector,” the EUA said. Such cooperation is crucial to promote high-quality research and education, it said, in turn enabling universities to help increase Europe’s sustainability and competitiveness.

Full story

Science diplomacy

The EU should do more to support science diplomacy, according to the Cesaer group of European universities of science and technology. It made recommendations in three areas: the use of science in broader diplomacy; the use of science as a diplomatic bridge-builder; and international scientific cooperation in general. It said that existing means of incorporating scientific evidence into diplomacy “are not yet disseminated and used to their full potential, as they are not yet structurally incorporated into the academic sector nor yet aligned with the activities of embassies and foreign affairs offices”.

Full story

Science advice

The Spanish government has announced an overhaul of how the country’s policymakers draw on scientific advice, involving the creation of what it described as a new science advice ecosystem. A National Office for Scientific Advice is being created to strengthen government decision-making, a new support unit is being set up at the National Research Council and each government ministry will have its own scientific adviser. Together, these measures will result in more than 50 scientific advisers being appointed as government officials, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities said. Prime minister Pedro Sánchez described the move as “transformative”.

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Space debris

The European Space Agency has contracted three companies to develop technologies to prevent future satellites from adding to the debris surrounding the Earth, which is posing a growing threat to orbiting craft. Airbus Defence and Space, OHB and Thales Alenia Space will work on platforms for low-Earth orbit satellites “as a first step towards building zero-debris production lines”. Platforms are the parts of satellites that equipment such as scientific instruments can be attached to. Esa said that the companies had been its “long-time partners” in efforts to achieve zero space debris from new launches by 2030.

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