European Union News - Research & Innovation

On September 21 took place the celebration of World Alzheimer's Day. The sufferers of this disease condition around the world have been honoured and recognised in a drive to push Alzheimer's research to the top of policymaker agendas. This event was also an opportunity to take stock of the research being funded by the European Commission.

A team of scientists of the ATPBone project, the largest European bone biology and osteoporosis research project, was able to demonstrate that physical activity and other stimuli to the bones induce the release of the biochemical compound ATP, which compound regulates bone turnover through action on the so-called purinergic receptors, which have been shown to be present on bone cells. Findings from EU-funded research have demonstrated how the exercise prevents osteoporosis and it could lead to new treatments for osteoporosis sufferers.

The European Commission published a communication in which it invites to public and private actors to join forces at European level to apply research and innovation solutions to major challenges facing society. Furthermore the Commission works in some proposals in this sense that will form part of the Commission's Horizon 2020 package later this year.

The EU's scientific and technical research committee (CREST) and the European Research Advisory Board (EURAB) have published two reports on recommendations for enhancing research and innovation. The EU's scientific and technical research committee (CREST) has published a set of 14 recommendations to help Member States and Europe's regions to better exploit the synergies between the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and Structural Funds to boost research and development (R&D) performance. In addition, the EURAB has called for measures to increase the use of Structural Funds for enhancing research and innovation.

A new Commission communication on using research and innovation to boost regional competitiveness highlights the need to exploit synergies between the EU's regional policies and research and innovation programmes. In the communication, the Commission points out that ultimately, the EU's research and regional policies have a common goal, namely creating jobs and growth.

An EU-funded pan-European initiative to operate a sustainable infrastructure for managing and safeguarding biological information in Europe has been given the go-ahead by five European countries. The Memorandum signed represents a first step towards the implementation and construction of a sustainable infrastructure for managing and safeguarding biological information in Europe. The researchers of this initiative hope that it will support life science research and its translation to related fields in medicine, the environment and bio-industries.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation to find out how the European research environment can be improved. The European Commission wants the scientific community and other interested groups and individuals to contribute to this consultation in order to redefine the research landscape in Europe. This will enable researchers, research institutions and businesses to circulate, compete, and co-operate across borders, increasing growth potential.

The yearly report on Alternative Methods to Animal Tests in the Field of Cosmetics presented by the European Commission to the European Parliament and Council stresses the continued commitment to find alternative approaches. Despite this commitment and progress in research finding alternative methods for testing these remaining complex endpoints will not be possible by the 2013 deadline.

The European Research Council (ERC) announced its funding programme for the next five years, which will benefit hundreds of early-career researchers across Europe. In its fourth year, the estimated total budget for the whole programme has increased by nearly 15% from last year and also the applications submitted, a 42%.

Parliament approved detailed rules governing the future public regulated service of the Galileo, the European satellite navigation system Galileo which will provide GPS signals for government users such as the police, military or security services in addition to signals for navigation devices for cars and shipping from 2014.

Two new studies as part of an EU-funded project, the STEP project, have published their findings on the ways to conserve Europe's pollinators and to ensure they continue to deliver pollination services to crops and wildflowers.