Tag: Research

Research institutions must realise that there are smarter ways to use the funds they have. The entire focus of the European Gender Summit is to highlight gender as a tool for making research more effective and for achieving results of a higher quality, says Curt Rice.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a review of scientific studies and risk assessments related to the decline in bee populations worldwide and in Europe. A final report next year will identify information gaps and research needs in the field.

Supporters of a big increase in the EU's research budget fear innovation will slip down the agenda as talks over the next seven-year budget heat up, a new survey suggests.

EU scientists and member states will decide over the next six months which future high-tech industries – from a choice including robot servants and nano clothing – should receive a €1 billion European funding boost.

The European Union has bet big on innovation as a source for growth, but on the ground, the finances of many regional research agencies and competitiveness clusters are endangered by conflicting public finance rules. EurActiv France reports.

Under the European Commission’s new proposal for funding the eighth framework programme – Horizon 2020 – the European Research Council (ERC) is set to see a 77% boost in funds to €13.2 billion. ERC President Helga Nowotny tells EurActiv that Horizon represents a validation of its success.

Portuguese MEP Maria da Graça Carvalho (European People's Party) is calling for more structural funds to be used for research in a new report to be discussed at a Parliamentary workshop later this month. She is a firm believer that Europe needs to spend more on science and research to emerge from its current economic malaise.

Deciding how to carve up the newly boosted research budget – expected to reach at least €80 billion in the post 2013 Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) – is likely to cause internal power struggles at the European Commission, according to MEPs.

Climate change, energy, health and SMEs will form the centre of European Commission proposals for research funding within the new Common Strategic Framework (CSF), which will be renamed today (10 June) at a 700-strong stakeholder event.

Prototype solar-powered military uniforms, skyscrapers built from energy-harvesting glass and waterways covered with floating panels are all being developed as innovators seek to match photovoltaics and industrial demand.

Obesity should be formally recognised as a chronic disease, campaigners urged this week, saying Europe is in the grip of an "obesity epidemic" with half its citizens overweight.

An EU-funded research programme has claimed a breakthrough in malaria research, opening the door to a possible cure for the lethal disease.

The European Commission on Wednesday (9 February) requested public recommendations on how to cut the duplication and bureaucracy that hobble innovation in Europe. 

European development funds should be tapped to build research labs and bio-banks in Africa, according to a leading African research expert. Scientists are also urging policymakers to invest in Europe's own scientific infrastructure in order to maintain global competitiveness.

University researchers have criticised the €2 billion public-private Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), claiming their participation is at risk unless major changes are made to financial and intellectual property arrangements. 

The EU commissioner for research and innovation, Ireland's Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, announced yesterday (19 July) nearly €6.4 billion of investment in research and development to be spent by the end of 2011.

Applying the EU's target of raising investment in R&D to 3% of GDP by 2020 is seen in the Czech Republic as attainable, even at national level. Surprisingly, the caretaker government proposed a 2.7% national target, higher than the more modest 2.3% proposed by the European Commission. EurActiv Czech Republic reports.

Polish politicians are questioning the merits of the EU's aim to increase investment in research and development (R&D) to 3% of GDP in the EU as a whole by 2020, but the issue could at least raise awareness of the fact that the country is lagging behind in innovation. EurActiv Poland reports.

Bulgaria will try to reduce the target of investing 3% of GDP in research and development (R&D) established by the 'Europe 2020' strategy – or at least the impoverished country will aim to sharply reduce its national share, writes Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner publication in Bulgaria.

Europe's new Research and Innovation Strategy will be "fundamentally different to what we've done before," EU Innovation Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Scientists will face less paperwork under a new bureaucracy-cutting plan outlined by the European Commission yesterday (29 April), which also aims to make it easier for small businesses to tap into European research funds.

Researchers from across Europe gathered in Sweden yesterday (15 April) to develop a new pan-EU strategy for taking neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease.

The European Commission has unveiled plans to pour €18 million into research projects on influenza. The news comes as MEPs from across the political spectrum call for a European Parliament inquiry into the handling of the swine flu pandemic.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has unveiled three major new innovation clusters focusing on climate, energy and information technology. Each of the initiatives will bring together academia and industry at several locations across Europe.