European Union News - Research & Innovation

The results of the European Commission Innovation Union Scoreboard 2013 show that while the most innovative countries have further improved their performance, others have shown a lack of progress. Sweden remains at the top, followed by Germany, Denmark and Finland. Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are the countries that have most improved since last year.

The proposal presented by the Commission responds to the need to give the Union a legislative framework that would maximize its ability to attract talent. Current rules applied to visa award for students or researcher willing to come to Europe are unclear and lack from unity between Member states. The recast proposal presented by the Commission aims to put an end to this situation.

The European Commission has launched the first of the six parts that form the StartUp Europe campaign. The key objective of the plan is to interconnect the existing ecosystems of innovation and entrepreneurship in the European Union by facilitating the dialogue and the exchange of experiences. The first step of this plan has been taken by creating the Startup Europe Leaders Club.

MEPs at the Budgetary Control Committee in the European Parliament approved the European Commission's management of EU spending under the 2011 budget. MEPs also underlined that spending by member states' administrations under the "shared management" regime - accounting for 80% of the EU budget - had not improved.

The European Commission published three calls for proposals that inviting bids for the final tranche of Marie Curie fellowship grants, and to support the mobility of researchers within and beyond Europe - as well as helping to attract the best foreign researchers to work in the EU. The application process runs until 14 August 2013.

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) hosted a round table on the potential applications of quantum science and the development of new technologies in the areas of computation, simulation, communication, metrology and sensing. Dominique Ristori, JRC Director-General, stressed the potential of new quantum developments to boost growth and jobs in the EU.

The European Commission proposed a new industrial policy for the European space sector, and to set up a European satellite collision avoidance system. With these measures, it intends to face the increasing competition from emerging industrial actors in countries such as China and India - competition posing a challenge to the further development of the EU's industry.

European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes announces new EU research grants in 2013 to develop '5G' technology, with the aim to put Europe back in the lead of the global mobile industry. Overall, from 2007 to 2013 EU investments amount to more than €700 million for research on future networks.

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) Director stressed in a roundtable on "Scientific support to Internal Market" that the JRC stood ready to build on its current research and contribute, along with policy Directorates General, both to short and long term efforts to improve the functioning of the single market.

The European Space Agency (ESA) welcomed the Council decision to secure the Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme (GMES) EU funding through 2020. Within the new multiannual financial framework, €3786 million was allocated for GMES. ESA highlights that this amount covers GMES Services, In-Situ Component (a network of sensors on the ground, at sea and in the air) and the Space Component, securing funding for the programme’s long-term operational phase.