European Union News - Research & Innovation

Open Days University has started with a conference that has affected the role of regions as engines of growth in times of crisis, and the importance of innovation for this growth.

From today until Thursday, Brussels is the center of European regional policy through the OPEN DAYS 2009, the biggest event of the EU regional policy in the year, which will bring together more than 7,000 policy-makers, professionals and officials from academia, business and civil society at European, national and regional levels. The innovation and development as engines of growth will be a key point in the seminars and events being held in the Belgian capital.

The European Commission has declared the official start of operations by EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, with its Open Service now available for free to businesses and citizens. EGNOS is Europe's first contribution to satellite navigation and a precursor of Galileo, the global satellite navigation system that the European Union is developing.

Among the 100 projects submitted, the jury of this first design competition of Economic and Social Committee has chosen the "Bee House" (House of bees) Irish James Ennis, as the winner of the first European Award for a Sustainable Present. The project will be awarded with 10,000 euros and will be produced in the EU according to sustainability criteria and creativity.

After a year of work, the European Foresight Expert Group 'The World in 2025' has now presented their findings at conference in Brussels on 24 September. Meeting the challenges of the near future, they write in a new report, may mean moving towards a new production and consumption model, new rural-urban dynamics, and a new gender and intergenerational balance.

To cope with the economic crisis, innovation is emerging as a feasible mean of recovery. In fact, is one of the points that takes into account the Lisbon Strategy. Therefore, the Council met on 24 and 25 September and discussed the innovation policy of the EU.

"Culture in motion" conference and European Culture Forum will congregate in Brussels hundreds of people from all over the world in order to examine past, present and future of culture projects in the EU. During the Culture in motion conference, winners for the EU Prize for Literature will be presented.