European Union News - Research & Innovation

The European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on March 19th 2009, notice of the launch of 2009 Call for proposals under the work programme of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking. Interested applicants must present their Project Outlines by May 6th 2009, and Full Project Proposals will have reach ENIAC before September 3rd 2009.

The OJEU has published three calls for proposals to support research within and outside the European Union through the Marie Curie Fellowships. The grants are targeted to researchers from third countries wishing to carry out their work temporarily in the EU, Europeans who want to go to a high-level research organisation in a third country and who want to investigate in any Member State.

The European Commission adopted on October 22nd 2008 a Decision on setting up a European Cluster Policy Group with the aim to explore how to better assist Member States in supporting the emergence of more world-class clusters in the EU. Following a call for applications, the members of the Group have now been appointed.

Making Europe the world leader in ICT is the goal of the new strategy proposed on March 13th 2009 by the European Commission. In its Communication, the Commission proposes a strategy to establish Europe's industrial and technology leadership in information and communication technologies (ICT), to make Europe more attractive for ICT investments and skills, and to ensure that its economy and society benefit fully from ICT developments.

Danuta Hübner, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, announced on March 9th 2009 that 105 billion Euro will be invested in the "green economy" through the EU Cohesion Policy. The funding, which represents more than 30% of the regional policy budget for 2007-2013, offers a solid platform for job creation and a significant boost for regions and cities in their quest to maintain Europe's global leadership in the field of green technologies.

The European Defence Agency (EDA) Steering Board has agreed to approve a project for the next generation European military earth observation satellites. This Multinational Space-based Imaging System (MUSIS) project has been launched by six European Union Member States: Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Italy and Spain. The project has now become an EDA Category B project and will be open to participation of other EDA participating Member States, if their proposed contribution is acceptable to the existing contributing Members.

The European Commission has launched a new online tool for easy access to the results and details of EU-funded projects in the fields of education, culture, youth and citizenship. EVE (Espace Virtuel d'Échange) was officially presented by European Commissioner Ján Figel' on March 2nd at a conference and exhibition on creative and innovative projects funded by the EU.

The European Parliament has adopted a report that claims that the Commission recognizes as legally binding the target of getting a saving objective of 20% by 2020. Also, this report proposes to follow the national action plans of Member States, to introduce energy efficiency standards in public procurement procedures and to support the compulsory use of smart energy meters.

A test platform for a remote handling system essential to the future functioning of the ITER fusion reactor has been officially inaugurated in Tampere, Finland. The full-size test facility DTP2 (Divertor Test Platform for ITER) is said to be a significant step forward both for the international ITER project and for nuclear fusion research in general.

The Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, has published on January 31st, 2009 the Conclusions reached by the Council on the definition of a “2020 vision for the European research area”. Following these conclusions the Council adopts such definition aiming at boosting the complete achievement of the European Research Area (ERA).

The Council of the European Union has published in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU on January 30th 2009, a report with its conclusions concerning joint programming of research in Europe in response to major societal challenges. These conclusions recognize the need for a common response to certain issues within an ever more global framework.