European Union News - Research & Innovation

The journal Science published a study by researchers from United Kingdom and Spain and financed from EU funds concludes that ecological restoration in areas of high environmental degradation can help stop the loss of global biodiversity. Also showed that the conservation work that are most effective when the restoration is intended to ensure the quality of "ecosystem services" such as drinking water, food production and carbon storage.

The European Commission has published several calls for proposals in various thematic areas of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), under three of the specific programmes that develop it: Cooperation, Capacities and Ideas. 

The Official Journal of the EU on July 31, 2009 includes the publication of Regulation (EC) No 663/2009 of the European Parliament and Council on establishing a programme to support economic recovery through the granting of Community financial assistance projects in the field of energy.

According to the latest report issued by the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and 20,382 are citizens of the EU and EFTA countries affected by H1N1 virus. In addition to these confirmed cases, there have been 35 deaths. England is the country with more infected: 11,159 confirmed cases.

In recent years the EU has mainstreamed sustainable development into a broad range of its policies. In particular, the EU has taken the lead in the fight against climate change and the promotion of a low-carbon economy. Three years into the implementation of the EU's Sustainable Development Strategy the Commission has taken stock of developments at EU level and launched a reflection on how the EU strategy could be taken into the future.

The European Commission has adopted concrete proposals to tackle Alzheimer’s disease, dementias and other neurodegenerative conditions. These shared health and social challenges in Europe call for coordinated actions to ensure efficient prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for those affected. In addition, European countries are also invited to pool their resources and better coordinate their research efforts in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, and Alzheimer’s in particular, by programming their research investments jointly for the first time, instead of each separately.

The Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry has issued a  tender by which it intends to conduct an analytical study of the competitiveness and climate change-related aspects of industry, technology and trade.

Environmentalists are taking a bite out of pollution thanks to one of the largest monitoring campaigns ever launched in Europe. A total of 20 research teams from across Europe have set up sites in Île-de-France, a region containing the Paris metropolitan area,to investigate sources of particulate pollution in the urban environment. Their objective is to quantify and describe these sources using diverse methods such as ground-based observations at permanent sites or from mobile platforms.

The European Commission and CERN signed on July 17th 2009 a Memorandum of Understanding  which aims to enhance the long-standing partnership between the two organizations. The MoU will provide a structured framework for cooperation across a broad range of issues of common interest, with emphasis on consolidating and further developing the European Research Area and facilitating the implementation of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, as defined by the CERN Council.