Research & Technology in the EU

Latest news about research policy in the European Union.

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EU awards first Marie Curie research prizes — 05 November 2012, 20:01 CET

Greek, British and Israeli scientists on Monday received the European Commission's first Marie Curie prizes for scientific research, a statement said.

Marie Curie Prize 2012 — 05 November 2012, 14:12 CET

The first winners of the European Commission's new Marie Curie Prize for outstanding achievement in research were announced on 5 November at a ceremony in Nicosia, Cyprus. The three winners are Dr Gkikas Magiorkinis from Greece, in the 'Promising Research Talent' category, Dr Claire Belcher from the United Kingdom, for 'Communicating Science', and Dr Sarit Sivan from Israel, for 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship'. Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, presented each scientist with a trophy at the ceremony. This is taking place in the context of a conference focused on the future of the Marie Curie Actions and Horizon 2020, the Commission's proposed €80 billion programme for investment in research and innovation. Under the proposal, over €5.75 billion would be allocated to the Marie Curie Actions in 2014-2020. The scheme has supported the training, mobility and skills development of more than 65 000 researchers since its launch in 1996.

Safety and Security Engineering (Rome, from 17 September 2013, 00:00 CET to 19 September 2013, 00:00 CET) —

The Fifth International Conference on Safety and Security Engineering will take place from 17 to 19 September 2013 in Rome, Italy.

Agents and Artificial Intelligence (Barcelona, from 15 February 2013, 00:00 CET to 18 February 2013, 00:00 CET) —

The Fifth International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence will take place from 15 to 18 February 2013 in Barcelona, Spain.

EU warns Microsoft over new Windows 8 — 24 October 2012, 18:24 CET

The European Commission warned Microsoft on Wednesday that it risked an investigation into its new Windows 8 software if the company did not meet commitments on web browser choice.

European Patent Office issues patents on chimpanzees — 22 October 2012, 13:47 CET

In 2012 the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted three patents on genetically engineered chimpanzees as recent research carried out by No Patents On Life shows.

EU data bodies tell Google to fix privacy rules or face fine — 16 October 2012, 22:37 CET

European data protection agencies on Tuesday said Google's new privacy policy does not comply with EU laws and told the US Internet giant to fix it within months or face legal action.

EC measures to tackle biopiracy and facilitate nature-based research — 04 October 2012, 19:59 CET

Researchers and companies in the EU received a boost today with a new proposal that should provide reliable access to genetic resources from outside the Union. The proposal – a draft Regulation that would implement the 'Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-sharing' – is designed 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.

EU nanotechnology plan: tiny focus on consumer protection — 03 October 2012, 19:23 CET

Everyday products from clothes to children’s toys contain nanomaterials. Regrettably, the European Commission today disregarded calls from the European Parliament, consumer groups and environmental NGOs to force nanomaterial producers to be transparent about the substances they use and improve pre-market testing.

Safe use of nanomaterials: a case by case approach — 03 October 2012, 18:38 CET

Nanotechnology is delivering major advances today and also has the potential to allow “game changing” technological breakthroughs and rekindle economic growth. In recognition of this fact, the European Commission on 3 October adopted a Communication on the Second Regulatory Review on Nanomaterials, which also includes the Commission’s plans to improve EU law to ensure the safe use of nanomaterials. The Communication underlines nanomaterials' diverse nature and types, ranging from everyday materials that have been used safely for decades (e.g., in tyres or as anticoagulants in food) to highly sophisticated industrial materials and tumour therapies. There is an increasing body of information on the hazard properties of nanomaterials, which are difficult to generalize and justify specific risk assessments. Therefore, rather than putting all nanomaterials in one basket, a case-by-case approach to risk assessment should be applied, using strategies based on indications of potential risks, either in terms of exposure or hazard.

EU eyes a cloud computing heaven — 27 September 2012, 21:58 CET

With the cloud computing business still in its relatively early days, the European Union has moved to secure a toehold in a potentially lucrative market it says could deliver 2.5 million new jobs.

Cloud computing: new strategy to drive European business and government productivity — 27 September 2012, 13:51 CET

The European Commission's new strategy for "Unleashing the potential of cloud computing in Europe" outlines actions to deliver a net gain of 2.5 million new European jobs, and an annual boost of EUR 160 billion to EU GDP (around 1%), by 2020. The strategy is designed to speed up and increase the use of cloud computing across the economy. 'Cloud computing' refers to the storage of data (such as text files, pictures and video) and software on remote computers, which users access over the internet on the device of their choice. This is faster, cheaper, more flexible and potentially more secure than on-site IT solutions. Many popular services such as Facebook, Spotify and web-based email use cloud computing technologies but the real economic benefits come through widespread use of cloud solutions by businesses and the public sector.

Microsoft faces fine over browser commitment — 25 September 2012, 17:05 CET

US software giant Microsoft faces yet more heavy fines after it promised to offer clients a choice of web browser but has failed to do so, the EU's competition commissioner said Monday.

Enhancing and focusing EU international cooperation in research and innovation: A strategic approach — 18 September 2012, 11:05 CET

The European Commission has set out a new strategy for developing international cooperation in research and innovation. The strategy proposes to further focus cooperation on EU strategic priorities while maintaining the tradition of openness to third country participation in EU research.

International Cooperation in Research and Innovation — 18 September 2012, 11:14 CET

The European Commission has set out a new strategy for developing international cooperation in research and innovation. The strategy proposes to further focus cooperation on EU strategic priorities while maintaining the tradition of openness to third country participation in EU research. This includes addressing global challenges, but also making Europe more attractive as a location for research and innovation, and boosting industrial competitiveness.

European patent law at crossroads — 11 September 2012, 13:57 CET

In total, 70,000 signatures against patents on plants and animals were handed to the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, today. The signatures were collected by the coalition No Patents On Seeds, which is being supported by several hundred organisations from all over Europe.

Galileo Satellite Navigation Agency now based in Prague — 06 September 2012, 17:21 CET

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) inaugurated its new premises in Prague on 6 September. Previously headquartered provisionally in Brussels, the GSA moved its seat to Prague over this summer, as had been agreed by the EU Heads of State and Government on 10 December 2010.

Football: Euro 2012 a watershed for cyber-fans, UEFA says — 05 September 2012, 17:10 CET

The 2012 European football championships marked a watershed in the way fans enjoy enjoy sport online, with at least half of surfers opting for smartphones and tablet computers, UEFA's tech chief said Wednesday.

Promoting the shared use of radio spectrum resources in the internal market — 04 September 2012, 23:36 CET

In its Communication on "Promoting the shared use of radio spectrum resources in the internal market", published on 3 September, the European Commission pushes and supports EU Member States to move to an enhanced innovation-friendly internal market framework for the shared use of spectrum. Meeting the growing spectrum needs resulting from the exponential growth in wireless data traffic and the increasing importance of wireless connectivity in the economy, is limited by the absence of vacant spectrum. However, says the Commission, the radio spectrum is a unique resource that can be re-used more efficiently with advances in technologies. This makes additional spectrum resources available and lowers the spectrum access hurdles for new users. To cope with the demand and to attract investments into new technologies, the EU needs a supportive regulatory framework that enables legally binding spectrum sharing contracts between users to encourage wireless innovation in the internal market.

Marine Knowledge: digital seabed map of European waters — 29 August 2012, 19:35 CET

The oceans and seas that surround Europe offer new opportunities for growth and jobs to meet the Europe 2020 goals. To best tap this potential, there is a need to know more about what is happening under the sea. The European Commission is proposing to create a digital seabed map of European waters by 2020 by collecting all existing data into one coherent database accessible to everyone. In a Green Paper on "Marine Knowledge" adopted today the Commission launches a consultation as to how this could be achieved. It poses a number of questions such as "how can ongoing efforts in Member States be incorporated into a common EU effort?", "how can new cheaper observation technologies be developed?" and "how can the private sector contribute?"

Marine knowledge 2020 — 29 August 2012, 19:26 CET

Marine Knowledge 2020 brings together marine data from different sources with the aim of: Helping industry, public authorities and researchers find the data and make more effective use of them to develop new products and services. Improving our understanding of how the seas behave.

The 2012 EU SURVEY on R&D Investment Business Trends — 21 August 2012, 23:18 CET

The report contains the main findings of the seventh survey on R&D investment business trends based on 187 responses of mainly large companies from the 1000 EU-based companies in the 2011 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. These 187 companies are responsible for R&D investment worth almost €56 billion, constituting around 40% of the total R&D investment of the 1000 EU Scoreboard companies.

Central and Eastern Europe Beyond Transition: Convergence and Divergence in Europe — 27 July 2012, 21:41 CET

The focus of the Forward Look project is on Central and Eastern Europe ‘beyond transition’: the objective being to define the extent to which social science research agendas need to address issues that are specific to this region, and the extent to which pan-European research agendas need to pay more attention to the specific dynamics of change in this region. The last 25 years have witnessed some of the most profound political, social and economic changes in Europe’s history. The fall of communism at the end of the 1980s not only reshaped relationships within the continent against a background of rapidly increasing globalisation, but also provided fascinating insights into the potential for, and limitations of, the large-scale reshaping of society. The Forward Look ‘Central and Eastern Europe Beyond Transition: Convergence and Divergence in Europe’ aimed both to identify the developments in CEE which would, could or should become hot research topics in the study of CEE as a part of European society and as such be promoted and endorsed by national and European grant institutions; and to outline ways in which foresight on CEE can contribute to the development of the social sciences in general and input important topics into transnational research.

EU hails Google's proposals in antitrust probe — 24 July 2012, 23:00 CET

The EU hailed on Tuesday proposals that Google has made after regulators launched an anti-trust probe into whether the Internet search giant had abused its dominant market position.

EU regulators suspect worldwide cartel in CD, DVD drives — 24 July 2012, 22:49 CET

The European Commission has sent a "statement of objections" to 13 firms suspected of taking part in a cartel for optical disk drives, used to read or write data on CDs and DVDs.