European Union News - Research & Innovation

During the European Parliament Part Session held in November, the Chamber passed a resolution backing the EU "innovation partnerships" scheme, which aims to bring together EU, national and regional players across policy areas and industries to tackle specific societal challenges. Following this path the first partnership on "Active and Healthy Ageing" should be launched in early 2011.

A team of engineers from the University of Almería (UAL) in Spain has developed a methodology to help meet the EU's ambitious target to significantly reduce the number of road deaths in the bloc. The EU's White Paper on Transport, adopted in 2001, calls for the number of deaths in road accidents to be halved by the end of 2010. The study was presented in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention.

A new Eurobarometer survey on life sciences and biotechnology shows that Europeans are optimistic about biotechnology. 53% of respondents believe biotechnology will have a positive effect in the future, and only 20% a negative effect. The survey also reveals important knowledge gaps, pointing to a need for more communication.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the successor to the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme 2007-2013 (CIP). The CIP is the main EU budgetary instrument targeting competitiveness outside the research and skills areas. The consultation which will be open until 4 February 2011 will gather stakeholders' opinions on what the priorities of future competitiveness and innovation EU funding should be.

All internet users have at some time or another complained about slow surfing speeds or a tiresome wait for a video to load. A group of European engineers from Spain, Hungary and Sweden decided to try to counter such problems by monitoring traffic and tailoring services to meet demand. A number of leading communication companies have already taken up the newly developed methodology used for traffic measurements.

At least this seems to be the result from a consultation launched by the European Commission in June 2010 which has gathered opinion from 318 stakeholders from all levels of the value chain who provided input to the consultation. Although the consultation did not reveal a widespread call for further EU legislation, there is an expectation that additional guidance may be needed in the future.

The 1,000 Genomes Project, an international initiative that is probing genetic variation in humans and which received EU funding through Health Theme of 7th Framework Programme, has released the results of its pilot phase. The initial findings already shed new light on the nature of genetic variation as well as its influence on disease, human history and evolution.

The Official Journal of the European Union published on 6 November 2010 Commission's Decision C(2010) 7499, laying down the criteria and measures for the financing of commercial demonstration projects that aim at the environmentally safe capture and geological storage of CO2, as well as demonstration projects of innovative renewable energy technologies under the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community.

European Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) contribute 50 billion Euro to the EU economy, according to a new study published on October 27. The report, put together by European research organisation the Technopolis Group, reveals that in addition to boosting economic growth, RTOs help tackle key challenges facing Europe, such as the need to develop innovative renewable energy supplies.