European Union News - Research & Innovation

"Destination Europe" is an initiative which includes a series of events held in different countries within and outside Europe aimed at highlighting the most attractive areas of research and innovation in the EU. It is a joint initiative between the European Union and its Member States in which they showcase their strengths in the field of research and technology transfer.

23 European highly innovative demonstration projects in the field of energy will receive €1.2 billion from the first call of the NER300 Programme. These projects will cover a wide range of renewable technologies such as bioenergy, concentrated solar power, geothermal, wind and ocean energy resources, or distributed renewable management – i.e., smart grids.

Despite the digital economy is growing at seven times the rate of the rest of the economy, its full potential development is still being refrained by a fragmented pan-European policy framework. In order to tackle these barriers for development, the European Commission has adopted seven priorities for the digital economy and society to be implemented over the period 2013-2014.

The European Commission announced that it will start a pilot programme that will suppose that grants of up to €2.4 million will be awarded to universities or research institutions in less developed regions in Europe. According to the Commission, this initiative will support universities and other eligible organisations to achieve the level of research excellence needed to be competitive at international level.

The European Commission presented the R&D Scoreboard that shows that despite the continuing economic and financial crisis, major EU-based firms continue to rely on R&D for their competitive edge. In addition, R&D-intensive sectors tended to show above average employment growth.

The Industry, Research and Energy Committee broadly supported six draft laws on the EU's framework research programme, Horizon 2020, to be financed under the new long-term budget for 2014 to 2020. According to MEPs, Europe needs further investment in research and innovation.

The creation of a specialized network for interdisciplinary training of researchers in advanced thin films photovoltaic (PV) technologies will represent a major boost for European research in this area. The proposed network is one of the objectives set forth within the EU funded Kestcells project.

During the first phase, the European Service Innovation Centre will provide personalized support to the six selected regions which include the Basque Country and the Canary Islands in Spain, Emilia-Romagna in Italy, Luxembourg, Northern Ireland and the region of Upper Austria. These six regions were selected further to an informal call for expression of interest.

The European Commission welcomed a delegation led by Nobel laureates Sir Tim Hunt and Professor Jules Hoffman that have presented an open letter, signed by 44 Nobel laureates and 6 Fields medallists, and 130,000 people from Europe and around the globe, which emphasises the importance of EU funding for research and innovation, and warns against the consequences of budget cuts in these areas.