European Union News - Research & Innovation

Experts and computer scientists from Europe and Israel have begun to work on a project that seeks to resolve the problems of interoperation between electronic services. The ACSI ('Artifact-centric service interoperation') will examine the viability of interoperation hubs and dynamic artefacts as ways to improve the process whereby e-services are merged into one dynamic system.

The European Research Council has now funded over 1000 innovative ideas within its three years of activity. Among the package of funded projects, ERC covers a vast range of scientific disciplines, public policy areas and commercial sectors. There is currently a further 661 M € envelope still available for early-career researchers which has been launched within the FP7 Calls for proposals in 20 July 2010. These grants will be awarded over the next 14 months and are expected to create more than 165.000 jobs.
 

€1.85 million of EU funding helped the researchers to explore how dozens of databases from different organisations can be linked via peer-to-peer technology to improve response time and avoid duplication of efforts in cases of emergency.

During the informal meeting of the EU Competitiveness Council, held in Brussels between 15 and 16 July 2010, representatives from European research sector had the opportunity to transmit to ministers the opportunities that EU R&D can provide to European economy. This meeting was also an important step to support the Research and Innovation Plan to which will officially be presented  in September.

The European Commission has adopted a proposal to deploy 100 M€ in 2012 and 360 M€ in 2013 from the 7th Framework Programme for Research, in order to secure the financing of ITER project as it goes forward. Besides, the Commission also proposed an initial transfer of unused funds of 400 M€ from other EU budgets to the budget financing ITER.

The new Calls for Proposals on ESPON Projects for potential beneficiaries will be presented during an event which will take place in Brussels on 8th September 2010.

European rail operators have a new tool available to allow them to reduce delays on trains and and handle disruptions, as they happen in real time, more effectively while maintaining the same level of safety. Thanks to ARRIVAL, a research project funded by the European Union, it will now be possible to ensure more effective use of rail networks, in terms of both timetabling and dealing with unforeseen disruptions.

According to a special report published on July 12th by the European Court of Auditors and published in the OJEU on July 13th , the Design Studies (DS) scheme mainly met its objectives whereas the Construction of New Infrastructures (CNI) scheme was judged to have provided low added value.

The EU, fighting against brain cancer, is reinforcing this effort by providing funding to an Italian scientist who is pioneering a new treatment that could help squash this disease.

Since 2nd July and until 7th July, Turin is hosting the Euroscience Open Forum, a meeting which aims to boost scientific research and to study its impact on the European society.