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The wave of new EU digital regulation has revealed a particular blind spot in EU policy making. While these regulations are not specific to universities, they do have a considerable impact on the day-to-day running of these institutions.
The EU's next framework research programme should continue funding projects aimed at bridging Europe's research and innovation gap, Germany's largest research organisation said in a paper highlighting their priorities for the successor of Horizon Europe.
The European Research Council (ERC) introduced a more inclusive application form for applicants this year to give researchers on all career pathways a fair chance to demonstrate their excellence.
Patents remain an important way for research-intensive universities to exploit their work, but the commercialisation scene is changing.
In her State of the Union speech of 2023, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen underlined the fact that the European Green Deal is at the centre of the European economy and "unmatched in ambition".
At an informal meeting in Belgium, EU research ministers and research commissioner Iliana Ivanova agreed on the need to safeguard research funding, after €2.1 billion was cut from Horizon Europe.
For the first time, technology has been singled out as a flashpoint for global security. German science minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger will tell the conference she wants ‘increased action’ on research security.
A special report on the 40th anniversary of the EU’s flagship R&D programme – its origins, its evolution and the issues that will shape its next decade - has been issued.
With the war in Ukraine continuing to occupy minds across Europe, defence has become a central theme of discussions around the successor to Horizon Europe, Framework Programme 10.
Polish scientists have welcomed the government's move to separate the Ministry of Education and Science into a Ministry of Science and Higher Education and a Ministry of National Education, saying that science had been "hidden in the shadow of education".
The CERN Council has completed the midterm review of a feasibility study for a new particle accelerator that is set to replace the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), marking another step towards building the Future Circular Collider (FCC).
The Horizon 2020 programme had a huge impact on the European economy, its scientific output, and on society, but was short on budget, needed simplification and should have included better support for women researchers and entrepreneurs.
When it comes to research, Europe is divided. To bridge the gap, the EU is now running a Widening programme to help fifteen member states and a few associated countries catch up.
The European Commission is proposing to allow technologies with both civil and defence applications to be funded in Framework Programme 10, in order to boost the EU's strategic autonomy.
Some scientists want to scale back their research to reduce carbon emissions. Instead of this being equated with a need to scale down research infrastructures and data centres, we need to take action to ensure these facilities are sustainable.
Last year was the second in which the EU's €95 billion Horizon Europe research and innovation programme was fully up and running - and with a new year, comes a chance to see how 2023 shook out.
Leading academics defend EU research missions and say productivity growth should not be the direct goal of European investment in research and innovation.
After another year of conflict and war in 2023, there is a ray of hope for a peaceful New Year: the emergence of the EU's Horizon Europe programme as an extraordinary engine of global scientific cooperation.
The pressure for EU legislation to protect academic freedom ramped up towards the end of 2023 when the European Parliament's STOA panel for the future of science and technology set out its plan of action. Amongst other measures, STOA is calling for a formal definition of academic freedom and a monitoring system to ensure these principles are enforced.
