European Union News - Research & Innovation

Researchers from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland believe in a new pan-European study that changes in both temperature and precipitation will affect the range of most tree species. According to them, the change would be from 11% to over 28% under the mild scenario, and to more than 40% of the forest land under the extreme scenario.

The Council reached an agreement on a partial general approach on a draft regulation laying down the terms and conditions for the participation in research projects funded under Horizon 2020. Ministers also reached the same approach on a draft regulation amending the rules of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). This draft regulation will enable the EIT to be an integral part of Horizon 2020.

In line with the scientific advice, the European Commission proposes to increase total allowable catches (TACs) for 3 stocks, a decrease for 13 stocks, and maintain TACs at the current level for 8 stocks (including zero TACs for 6 stocks), in EU and international waters of the North-East Atlantic for 2013-2014.

The European Union and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reached a new deal that will boost cooperation, dialogue and help to share information and best practice. The new partnership sets out clear, strategic priorities and encourages increased policy dialogue on areas of mutual interest between the two organisations, such as education, culture, science and technology, maritime policy and freedom of expression.

European Ministers for maritime policy and the European Commission adopted the new Maritime Agenda for growth and jobs. They adopted a declaration that proposes a marine and maritime agenda to back the Europe 2020 strategy. The agenda proposes a dynamic and coordinated approach to maritime affairs enhances the development of the EU's 'Blue Economy' while ensuring the health of seas and oceans.

The European Commission made a proposal to tackle 'biopiracy' and facilitate nature-based research. In particular, the proposal intends to protect the rights of countries and of indigenous and local communities that allow their genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge to be used, while also giving researchers in Europe improved, reliable access to quality samples of genetic resources at low cost with high legal certainty.

The European Commission made a proposal in a form of Communication on the Second Regulatory Review on Nanomaterials, which includes the Commission’s plans to improve EU law to ensure the safe use of nanomaterials. In the Communication, the Commission underlines nanomaterials' diverse nature and types. There is an increasing body of information on the hazard properties of nanomaterials, which are difficult to generalize and justify specific risk assessments.

An EU-funded research project, the Eurocloud project, looks set to drastically cut the electricity and the installation costs of servers in cloud computing data centres. It has adapted low-power microprocessor technologies, typically used in mobile phones, to work on a much larger scale. Preliminary measurements show that using these technologies reduces power needs by 90%, compared to conventional servers.

For Galileo, the European GPS system, public awareness is 57% in average, while in 2007 it was 40%. For the Global monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme the awareness is 38% whereas it was only 22% in 2009, says a recent published Eurobarometer. Also, most Europeans are very positive about space activities in general.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) published a report which analyses the development of a set of indicators to measure progress against targets to halt biodiversity loss. The agency stresses that the continuing loss of biodiversity is a matter of growing concern in Europe. Yet measuring the extent of the loss and the threat it poses is a huge challenge.