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This article is part of a series of opinions Science|Business is publishing on the EU's strategic autonomy agenda, and its impact on global R&D. A complete report will be published and discussed at the annual Science|Business Network conference 7 February.
Sweden kicked off a five-month push to deepen EU cooperation on research infrastructures and open data sharing, at an informal meeting of research ministers in Stockholm on Wednesday. The six-month Swedish presidency of the EU isn't introducing new topics to the table but homing in on two that have been discussed for years: research infrastructures and open science publishing.
Democratic countries are bound by economic reality to work together rather than put up barriers to cross-border collaboration. Companies must spearhead the R&D cooperation, argues the lead for a new Fraunhofer USA initiative.
Stronger research into policy innovation and behavioural change, new technologies to increase resource efficiency, and nature-positive food production innovation - these are three asks of European scientists by Sweden's climate minister Romina Pourmokhtari.
This article is part of a series of opinions Science|Business is publishing on the EU's strategic autonomy agenda, and its impact on global R&D. A complete report will be published and discussed at the annual Science|Business Network conference 7 February.
A new EU project is aiming to promote the role and use of scientific knowledge in policymaking in seven participating member states, after current shortcomings came under the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Horizon Europe is heading into its third year, and the latest statistics offer a glimpse of how the EU is spending its €95.5 billion research funding pot.
In an effort to get its big-spending programmes working better together, the European Commission named Marc Lemaître, currently head of its regional development funding, to run its big research and innovation programme.
Switzerland's president has discussed Horizon Europe association and Erasmus+ membership with Commission president, as the two sides try to revive broader negotiations that could unlock talks about the research programme.
The targeted research Missions set up under Horizon Europe are turning three years old this year, and their ambitious logic is facing its first test in an upcoming review at the midpoint of the EU's €95.9 billion research programme.
A new global organisation is trying to prevent dramatic advances in bioscience from unleashing engineered pathogens from the lab, and wants research funders, scientists and journals to help. The International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS) warns that scientists might be able to order the DNA of dangerous pathogens like smallpox from unregulated companies, and wants much tighter screening of the industry.
Effective Altruism (EA), a movement of rationalist do-gooders that has been growing in size and influence for just over a decade, hit the headlines worldwide in 2022 - although not quite as its supporters hoped.
The EU is to pilot a new initiative that aims to improve working conditions for young researchers, starting in 2024. The pilot will test how the European Commission, member states and industry could work together to coordinate financing and knowledge networks and strengthen and diversify research career paths by promoting links between academia and industry.
European research leaders have reacted with disappointment to Switzerland's expulsion from the body that coordinates scientific infrastructure across the continent.
The European Commission is making a big push to reform research assessment, but Germany's university leaders are not convinced the call for change from above is the right way to deliver it.
In a landmark decision this week, the European Research Council (ERC) announced changes to its application forms and evaluation procedures that will be implemented starting with the 2024 calls for proposals.
Of 174 UK-based ERC grant winners 23, or around one in eight, have decided to relocate, while only four of 66 researchers based in Switzerland did so.
The European Parliament is facing a reputation crisis after Eva Kaili, one of the its 14 vice presidents, was arrested over corruption charges last Friday. Kaili was one of four people arrested following 16 police searches in Brussels, during which €600,000 cash was seized. Following the arrest, Parliament president Roberta Metsola warned that "European democracy is under attack."
The EU is working on defining a new agenda for science diplomacy in the face of increasing geopolitical instability on the continent.
In recent weeks, the European Commission outlined its health strategy and the steps needed to be in a better position to tackle future health emergencies.
The EU and US have set out a joint roadmap to find common ways to define and evaluate artificial intelligence (AI), though critics say they are still not going far enough to make sure AI protects democracy and human rights.
The European Commission's acknowledgement that research and innovation have the potential to generate environmental harms can be viewed as a landmark in the history of research policy.
Along with New Zealand, Canada will soon be the first country to join Horizon Europe under new rules that allow "like minded" democracies with strong science systems to associate, regardless of where they are in the world.
The European Parliament has launched a permanent forum to debate new policies and laws to protect academics in the EU against interference from government or other sources, after experts raised the alarm over the erosion of academic freedom in Europe.
Increasing investments, transforming research culture and boosting talent attraction - these are the recommendations for a more equal European R&I landscape outlined in a new paper by Science Europe.
For years, big advances in science and technology have propelled economic growth world-wide. Now, as geopolitical tensions mount, leaders of the US scientific community fret that rising government security measures may kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
Ukrainian researchers are planning for a brighter future for their country, despite ongoing bombing and electricity shortages. A delegation from Ukraine's research community, led by first deputy minister for education and science, Andrii Vitrenko, came to Brussels last week for the first joint meeting on research and innovation with the European Commission.
Arctic scientists are scrambling to modify projects that had involved Russian researchers as the war in Ukraine wears on, leaving questions about whether a data gap from such a key partner might be harmful to the ongoing body of scientific knowledge in the region.
