Week 25

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Laertes Bochat (BR): In your experience what are the benefits of participating in EU research projects?
    You are sitting on the shoulder of a giant… You are able to access the means of production, something that, without the support of a powerful institution like the EU, you would never get it!

• Research Headlines
  • A better system for aircraft de-icing
    The EU-funded ON-WINGS project has tackled the dangerous effects of ice on aircraft surfaces, a phenomenon that is becoming more common as air traffic increases. The result is a new and more efficient de-icing system that is better suited to next-generation composite airframe structures.

Monday, 17 June 2013

• Events
  • ENSEA Networking Event - 25 June 2013, Brussels
    

    To reach the “20-20-20” climate goals, Europe is increasingly generating renewable energy through technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines. Renewable resources are, however, dependent on weather patterns and therefore generate variable amounts of power over time. In order to provide secure energy systems which delivers energy when we need it, renewables have to be used in conjunction with ‘back up’ power sources, which can ramp up generation quickly to meet peak demands, while managing demand by using smart grids and by hydro-based balancing services. Goal of the ENSEA Networking Event is to introduce the project to an European audience, exchange with other Regions of Knowledge (energy) projects and to connect to other European funds.

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Valérie Toniazzo (FR): How do you see research and innovation making a difference for a better future?
    Well, Europe is a big producer of waste and more and more scientists are now interested in transforming and valorizing this waste, being from food, from textile, or from whatever type of product. And polymer science and the new type of producing polymers and soft matters are now interested in using this waste. And also, recycling is another possibility to try to get rid of the resources coming from oustide Europe, for example.

• International Cooperation
  • New publication
    'Overview of international science, technology and innovation cooperation between Member States and countries outside the EU and the development of a future monitoring mechanism'

• Research Headlines
  • United response to nuclear safety
    Radioactivity as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in the 1980s is still present in the environment. But 17 national emergency management organisations and 33 research institutes have come together to prevent or minimise the impact of such a thing happening again. Their objective has been to ensure that Europe can respond better to similar emergencies in the future.

• Social Sciences and Humanities
  • Final SEARCH Academic Conference, Barcelona, 10-11 February 2014
    Bringing together 17 partners from a variety of countries, SEARCH is working to improve implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy. While paying special attention to the cohesive potential of the European Research Neighbourhood, the project is mainly aimed at strengthening the integration process between the EU and the Neighbouring Countries.

Sunday, 16 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Joao A. S. Bomfim (BR): How do you see research and innovation making a difference for a better future?
    Right now, in the materials science field, we are trying to reduce the environmental impact of the materials we use in our everyday life. So we're trying to recycle plastics more and more, trying to make materials which are hard-recyclable, trying to reduce the impact of production, cutting on fuel consumption, on CO2 emissions, reducing the energy needed to create and transform materials. If we manage to have all of that, - and it's on its way - you can have a cleaner environment, you can have a more competitive industry and have a better future, for us and for all our children.

Week 24

Saturday, 15 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Ghislain Sillaume (FR): What is needed to exit the crisis and help Europe's economy to grow?
    I think that, in a way, a very optimistic one of course, the crisis should be a chance for the European citizens. I think they can probably leverage on the crisis to think about a new model. I'm thinking, for example, about new generations and younger people who can, maybe, think about a kind of social innovation and try to reinvent, in a way, the way we are living now together. I think many people think purely in terms of financial economy, but one thing that is very important for all of us, is the wellbeing of Europe and it's not purely economic.

Friday, 14 June 2013

• Events
  • 3rd European Energy Conference (E2C 2013) - 27-30 October 2013, Budapest, Hungary
    

    The topics of the 3rd European Energy Conference (E2C 2013) will cover chemistry, physics and material sciences related to energy technologies. To harness safely and efficiently the energy of the Sun both directly and indirectly, as well as the nuclear and thermonuclear power generation are in the centre of the conference programme. Energy storage in chemical and other forms, hydrogen infrastructure and energy transfer by photosynthesis will also be discussed. The aim of the conference is to lead to effective and fruitful communication between the research, government and industrial communities for a more sustainable and efficient European energy policy.

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Dr. Nuray Unlu Bohn (TR): What is needed to exit the crisis and help Europe's economy to grow?
    As Europeans, we all have to change our mindset first. When you look at the U.S. they have completely different mindsets, when it comes to, especially, innovation and commercialization of innovation and to put the product and goods into the market. And also the investors have a completely different mindset than in Europe. So first we have to change our mindset and, first of all, we have to unify and we really have to create a single market in Europe because we are all talking about a single market in Europe, but unfortunately, it doesn't exist yet. We have to cut the borders. I mean, it seems as there are no borders, no customs, yes but when it comes to the other standards and applications, it still exists. We really have to create a single market in Europe.

• Research Headlines
  • Solving the mystery of the off-beat heart
    Modern medicine has come a long way, but the mere thought of having a heart defect can still rattle us to our very core. The heart is a human body’s engine room. Each time its beat propels blood through our bodies, it is a reassuring affirmation of our existence.

Thursday, 13 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Gerhard Bethscheider (DE): What is needed to exit the crisis and help Europe's economy to grow?
    I'm missing the common will to develop towards a Europe, not only without frontiers, that we have already today, but a Europe where people think in the same direction openly and respectfully... That is what I'm missing to a certain extend at the moment.

• Research Headlines
  • Learning what Europeans really think
    What do Europeans think of big issues affecting their lives, from schools to policing and healthcare? While elections and opinion polls offer a snapshot of thought on particular topics, they do not delve into the deeper feelings, hopes and fears of Europeans on key questions. The ESS charts changing attitudes and behaviour patterns of the diverse European populations on key policy issues, shedding light on the complex relationships between citizens and institutions.

Wednesday, 12 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Berhard Peters (DE): How do you see research and innovation making a difference for a better future?
    We need to have an interdisciplinary approach for research and innovation. That means, we need to get teams together that include disciplines from different fields, like, for example, engineering, economy, politics or physics and these teams, they will be able to construct a more complete framework or solutions from which the society benefits and is as well for better future for the next generations.

• Research Headlines
  • Laying down markers for future cancer treatments
    Targeting existing proteins in the human body which contribute to the growth of cancerous cells can help researchers develop tailor-made treatments. A team of EU researchers is working on ways to trick the proteins which ordinarily aid cancer growth into delivering therapeutic treatments directly to the cancerous cells.

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Cristina Florean (IT): How do you see research and innovation making a difference for a better future?
    So I think research and innovation can play a major role for improving the future, of Europe or the world. And the thing that is important is that we have to focus on what's really importantand not watse time and resources in less important matters: they have to focus on human wellbeing and society wellbeing. And I think the question is: what matters?

• International Cooperation
  • Conference “Strengthening international cooperation in Research & Innovation - Experiences from Latin America and the Caribbean, and Mediterranean Partner Countries”, 17-19 June 2013, Marseille, France
    The Institute of Research for Development organizes from 17 June to 19 June 2013, in Marseille, France, the 4th INCO conference and the annual meeting of the National Contact Point for the international cooperation activities funded by the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The Conference brings together a diverse range of research managers, funders, and other experts, from all over the world. The main objective of the conference will be to discuss the future of international cooperation in European and international Research and Innovation programmes. This year, the regional focus emphasizes experiences from Latin America and the Caribbean and Mediterranean Partner Countries.

• Press Centre
  • Brussels conference gives strong endorsement to Human Frontier Science Program
    The European Commission today hosted an intergovernmental conference to set out a new, three-year year budgetary framework for the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), the only truly global programme funding frontier research in the life sciences.

• Research Headlines
  • Metal oxides: building blocks for future nanoelectronics
    We human beings breathe oxygen to live. But oxygen is also part of a class of materials - transition metal oxides - which have excited academics and industry alike. Little is understood of their properties. EU-funded researchers, led by Trinity College Dublin, are keen to change that. The team has developed modelling tools for investigating the behaviour of potential micro- and nanoelectronic devices using transition metal oxides.

Monday, 10 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Nicolas Baygert (BE): What is needed to exit the crisis and help Europe's economy to grow?
    Well, I think we have, of course, the economic crisis on the one hand. And the economic crisis, of course, needs to rethink solidarity, solidarity between European citizens and not so much about people, nations, about states, but think about Europe as an entity. Some people think about a federal sate, about a superstate, European state. Well it's not so much about that. It is about finding our place on the world stage, where other forces, other continents, other political bodies now, are having a much more important role on the world stage. So that's one thing. On the other hand, we have to rethink European branding: we need a European narrative and, for this European narrative, we need good stories and these stories do not exist for the moment we are still thinking on a nation-based conception, so we need to find a European story that really includes everyone.

• Press Centre
  • New partnership to fight poverty-related diseases
    The European Union and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have today pledged to work together to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other poverty-related diseases that together affect more than 1 billion people worldwide. The agreement, signed in Paris today by foundation co-chair Bill Gates and European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, creates a new strategic partnership for research in the area. Between 2007 and 2011, the foundation and the European Commission have contributed around 2.4 billion euro (3.1 billion USD) to research and development focused on poverty-related infectious diseases, supporting the development of more than 20 new and improved products.

• Research Headlines
  • Scientific fitness trials show exercise helps fish reach sexual maturity
    Exercise has been proved to make farmed fish happier and healthier, in turn providing consumers with better-quality food. Now, a team of European researchers have applied the fitness model to reproduction studies in fish in a bid to speed up their sexual maturity and increase stocks. The research has already shown increases in rates of growth in zebrafish.

Sunday, 09 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Yumma Mudra (FR): What is needed to exit the crisis and help Europe's economy to grow?
    My personal belief about this crisis is that it is a crisis that is much deeper than only economic and political. I think it is a crisis about how the human being is using its own creativity and intelligence.

Week 23

Saturday, 08 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Larry Moffett (US): How do you see research and innovation making a difference for a better future?
    Well, I think research and innovation are critical. I think Europe invests a lot in research but we are maybe not still getting the results that we hope for is in innovation, and having a real impact on the economy. And so I think we have to work on developping a spirit of innovation among young people in particular.

Friday, 07 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Morgane Stok (BE): How do you see research and innovation making a difference for a better future?
    In 2050, the earth will reach like 9 billion people, so in my opinion, we need to keep innovating and trying to find solutions to just be able to, first, spare our planet and secondly, to be able to feed all those people, so I think we need to find alternatives as far as energy is concerned, for example, and try to find solutions to, just slow overconsumption down and... well I think that without research and development, we just won't be able to survive.

• Press Centre
  • Statement on the Court of Auditors Report on FP7
    The European Court of Auditors has today issued a special report into the functioning of the European Union's seventh research framework programme (FP7) and made several recommendations for improving EU research funding in the future. Michael Jennings, European Commission Spokesperson for Research, Innovation and Science, says that the European Commission considers the Court's report is a reasonable assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of FP7.

• Research Headlines
  • Major pan-European study conducted on ocean acidification
    More than 160 researchers across 10 European countries joined together, in what is being hailed as the first international project to focus on ocean acidification and its consequences.

Thursday, 06 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Thomas Bouissaguet (FR): How do you see research and innovation making a difference for a better future?
    Actually, I'm really really passionate about science. I don't understand anything at all in science, but every time I hear about a scientific bridge or something like that I feel glad for humanity, because we manage to find something in the infinitely small or infinitely big, in the sky, or elsewhere. I don't understand it, but I feel glad with it, like the Higgs Bozon, for example, I was happy without knowing why, but I love when science evolves.

• Press Centre
  • EU rewards 9 innovative public initiatives in Europe
    The European Commission today announced the winners of the European Prize for Innovation in Public Administration. This prize celebrates the most innovative, forward-looking public initiatives which benefit citizens, firms, or the education and research sector. Nine initiatives from Croatia, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain (two winners), Sweden and the UK were awarded EUR 100 000 each (MEMO/13/503). Winning initiatives included integrated healthcare information accessible on a phone, a web-based platform for funding opportunities for firms, and a nationwide plagiarism detection system for higher education institutions.

• Research Headlines
  • Addressing aircraft hazards through cutting-edge simulation
    While advances in safety technology have made aviation one of the safest forms of transport, researchers are constantly striving to make testing ever more rigorous. An EU-funded project has successfully developed a cost-effective simulation for extreme icing conditions, which should benefit both industry and passengers.

• Success Stories
  • Flood alert
    Dams that protect urban areas from flooding sometimes fail, resulting in catastrophic damage. But what can be done to prevent such disasters?

Wednesday, 05 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Melissa Rancourt (US): What is needed to exit the crisis and help Europe's economy to grow?
    It's a good question, I don't think there's an easy answer to that. I would like to see entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities be given more focus, in Europe as one area. In many areas of the world there is a variety of different entrepreneurship activities that is promoted and encouraged by the governments and by society because it's a need going forward. If we could do the same in Europe, perhaps that could help with getting through the economic crisis.

Tuesday, 04 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Talheh Daryanavard (BE): What are your main concerns for the future?
    Because of my political opinions, I'm much more concerned about the environment and culture in Europe because I believe that environment and culture can be the base of development, of course of political development, and economic development in Europe. So, I believe that environment can be the future of Europe.

• Research Headlines
  • Finding a cure for a rare and debilitating genetic disease
    DevelopAKUre is a European Union (EU)-funded research project which is working to establish a safe, reliable treatment for a rare and hitherto incurable disease. Caused by a genetic mutation, Alkaptonuria (AKU) leads to a severe and early-onset form of osteoarthritis and can also cause heart problems.

Monday, 03 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Linda Schellekens (NL): What is needed to exit the crisis and help Europe's economy to grow?
    The main thing we have to think about is working together. We are all one big Europe so there is no need to just pray for your own little region. We have to come out of this problem together, all of us, so I think it is important for all the leaders to work together, to no distrust each other as much as they might be doing now and also think about the good in people. The people and the countries that are struggling, I know some of them and they really want to work, they want to solve the problem. So, we should make it sure they get the opportunity to actually help to solve the problem as well.

• Public Health Research
  • Impacts, challenges and limitations of EU-funded public health research - Priorities for future research
    Report of the Independent Expert Group on the Future of European Public Health Research.

• Research Headlines
  • Safer buildings, lower risks: reducing the damage caused by earthquakes in Europe
    Nothing can be done to prevent earthquakes from occurring, and researchers are limited in forecasting when and where they will strike and how strong they might be. Fortunately, a great deal of progress is being made to ensure that buildings throughout Europe are designed and built to withstand major earthquakes when they strike.

• Success Stories
  • Burn fat, not energy
    There are around 1.5 million sporting facilities in Europe helping people have fun, stay healthy, and have fun.

Sunday, 02 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Steve Detry (BE): What are your main concerns for the future?
    I think we can be concerned about the future. For example, there is an incertain future and we don't know what we're gonna have next what is the next challenges and I think it corresponds to a certain way of thinking nowadays: when you are planning programmes, budgets and so it's always for the next 5 - 10 years and we don't see further than 5 - 10 years and I think it's a big challenge for us, because we are always thinking in short terms.

Week 22

Saturday, 01 June 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Johanna Store (FI): What is needed to exit the crisis and help Europe's economy to grow?
    I think we need to find new economic models that are more inclusive and more sustainable, again, and for that, we need to appeal to our creativity, which is actually a good opportunity, I think.

Friday, 31 May 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Simon Sticker (DE): How do you see research and innovation making a difference for a better future?
    I mean science is... When you take science as creating understanding for something, then science is the most important thing: we have to understand what is the problem before we can solve it.

• Research Headlines
  • Unlocking the biofuel potential of algae
    Biofuel extracted from algae could provide a much-needed solution to the world’s increasing energy needs. The Marine algae as biomass for biofuels (Mabfuel) project is working on ways to optimise growth processes and oil yield on a commercial scale with future energy demands in mind. Early results show two specific species of algae have higher oil content when produced outdoors and thus could help address these demands.

Thursday, 30 May 2013

• Events
  • You’re all invited to the Green Week! - 4-7 June 2013, Brussels
    

    The 2013 edition of Green Week, the biggest annual conference on European environment policy, will take place from 4 to 7 June at The Egg Conference Centre in Brussels. This year's theme is Air quality and it will showcase relevant examples of FP7 projects....

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Joëlle Boisaubert - Taylor (FR): How do you see research and innovation making a difference for a better future?
    Yes, I see it as being very important but I'm a little bit scared that it becomes an added, not gimmick, but added tool for even more consumerism. And that, I find quite worrying, because we are in this throwaway society and I think we have to step back a little bit and just maybe, you know, think: do we need this product? Yes, new technologies, yes new ideas but used wisely.

• Press Centre
  • Remarks on Horizon 2020 by Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn at the Competitiveness Council
    I would like to thank all delegations, and in particular Minister Sherlock and his team, for their continued efforts over the last five months on the Horizon 2020 package...

• Eleven EU research projects shortlisted for nanotechnology prize
  Eleven EU-funded nanotechnology projects have been shortlisted for the "Best Research Project Award" to be announced at the next EuroNanoForum  (ENF2013), Europe's largest Nanotechnology and Materials Conference, in Dublin.

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

• Horizon 2020 - video testimonials
  • Nicolas Baygert (BE): How do you see research and innovation making a difference for a better future?
    Well, the first thing we have to keep in mind is that it is not a solution to outsource science. What I mean with that is that we see that a lot of very good scientists and very successful students are more and more leaving Europe to study elsewhere, study in the US or even in Asia, and that is a big problem for the future. So we have to make the surrounding the environment in which they can pursue their research, more attractive. We have to give them some interesting environment, in order to want to stay in Europe. So, that's the first problem. And then, I think that science was always at the heart of the European project. Why? Because innovation is something that is deep rooted in the European mind. Innovation, really belongs to the way we think, the way we function as Europeans, so, definitely it is essential for the European future.

• Research Headlines
  • Major human drug trial underway for Alzheimer's
    A potentially ground-breaking human drug trial is currently underway, which aims to discover whether blood pressure medication can slow or halt the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). This is the latest in EU-funded studies, which are being made public to highlight the European Month of the Brain.