Regional dimension of innovation

Understanding the human brain and its diseases is one of the greatest scientific and philosophical challenges. During the last few decades, brain research has made great progress on all fronts but much more is still to be discovered.

Advances in neuroscience are crucial to keep our ageing societies and our economy healthy. Some 165 million Europeans are likely to experience some form of brain disorder each year – from anxiety to depression to dementia – and treating these disorders now costs some €800 billion in Europe every year.

The European Month of the Brain is packed with activities to make a difference. There are more than 50 events in 19 countries:

• to increase our awareness of the importance of brain research and healthcare matters
• to showcase EU achievements
• to outline foresight research and policy
• to improve the resource allocation for brain research and healthcare within and between EU member states and associated countries
• to lift taboos around mental health

The first Instruct Biennial Structural Biology Meeting at EMBL Heidelberg Advance Training Centre, 22-24 May 2013, will showcase integrative structural biology and its impact on biological research.

The program includes sessions that represent recent structural biology highlights, emerging methods and technologies and results of biomedical importance.

Confirmed speakers include: So Iwata (Imperial College, Diamond), Dinshaw Patel (Sloan-Kettering Institute), Roger Sunahara (University of Michigan), David Eisenberg (UCLA), Philip Selenko (Leibniz Institut), Elena Conti (MPI Martinsried), Carol Robinson (University of Oxford), Stephan Sigrist (FU-Berlin) and Henry Chapman (European XFEL).

A special session, jointly organised with the ESFRI project Euro-Bioimaging, will focus on the bridge between structural and cell biology provided by recent developments in electron, light and X-ray microscopy. Confirmed speakers for this session include Gerd Schneider and Wolfgang Baumeister.

The ERANET ROAD 2010 call "Effective Asset Management Meeting Future Challenges" is organising its final event in Copenhagen, at which the results of the programme will be shared.

The Institution of Civil Engineers is holding its first national-level flooding conference. Focussing on developing flood resilient communities, the programme examines every stage; from planning, design and construction, drainage and insurance to engaging the puvlic.

This session will be dedicated to the potential of Ukraine and Europe research partnership in area of composite materials in the frame of EU Programmes for Research and Technological Development (e.g. FP7, HORIZON 2020). Participants will have an opportunity to learn more about available collaboration possibilities and running international projects, and also you are welcome to present your own experience in this area.

SEE Solar – South-East European Solar PV & Thermal Exhibition

A new report from the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) has pointed out that solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity continued its remarkable growth trend in 2011.

The solar market in South-East Europe is still small, but it is growing rapidly and has great potential to become a considerable part of the global renewables market.

The event includes an information session on the EU Project Install+RES.

Two other events are being conducted in parallel:

• 9th South-East European Congress & Exhibition on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
• 4th South-East European Conference & Exhibition "Save the PLANET" - Waste Management, Recycling, Environment

"Towards New Models in Efficient Management of Critical Materials"

Under the auspices of the European Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, the Third EU-US-Japan Trilateral Conference on Critical Materials will be organised in Brussels, Belgium on 29 and 30 May 2013. This year, the conference will focus on the development and implementation of new models in efficient management of critical materials.

During the first day, policy makers and executives of related industries from various world regions will present different strategies to manage critical materials in a more resource efficient way.

The targeted audience comprises officials, as well as scientists, industry, academia, research centres, analysts, economists and representatives of the civil society.

The second day will be devoted to a technical workshop to advance the trilateral cooperation. Workshop participants will be invited by the workshop organisers. The latter includes a discussion on how to involve joint cooperation in science and technology and thus accelerate the needed innovation in the field.

Additional information will become available in the upcoming weeks on this website.

For further inquiries, please contact RTD-Trilateral-Conference-2013@ec.europa.eu

What next for Big Data, the Cloud and High Performance Computing? How to extrapolate R&D value and turn technology into tangible business solutions? What role for Ireland? Fujitsu invites you to join the discussion with industry strategists, leading academia and state agencies at a unique, one day conference in Croke Park on Thursday, 30th May 2013 to find out how Ireland can best position itself to maximise innovation and R&D collaboration to drive commercial success.

The 1st OpenChina-ICT Thematic Workshop on Smart and Sustainable Cities is organised by the OpenChina-ICT project under the aegis of the European Commission through its FP7 research-funding programme, aiming at facilitating ICT related research cooperation between Europe and China. This event (free of charge) will be held in Guangzhou, P.R. China on May 31, 2013 and will bring together policy and main research stakeholders from Europe and China specialized on the ICT aspects of Smart and Sustainable Cities to create feasible research collaboration with the emergence of concrete projects.
The agenda, featuring high-level speakers from Europe and China, including representatives from the European Commission DG CONNECT, government officials, key research experts, researchers and many other speakers is available on the project website: www.openchina-ict.eu.

The 7th International Conference on the Fundamental Science of Graphene and Applications of Graphene-Based Devices (Graphene Week 2013) is devoted to the science and technology of graphene (atomically thin graphitic films – monolayers, bilayers, trilayers), investigation of its physical properties, advances in its growth and chemical processing, manufacturing graphene-based devices, and emerging applications of this new material.
Organised by the Graphene Community for the Graphene Community, it focusses on sharing the latest developments across disciplinary borders and connecting the international graphene community. The Conference programme will include invited talks by leading experts, contributed talks by young talent and poster sessions. The event will start with a Welcome Reception on Sunday, 2 June in the afternoon and end on Friday, lunchtime with a wrap-up and outlook session.
For more information and registration, please visit the conference website.

A five-day event bringing together the entire geothermal sector, examining both technological and socio-economic issues. Three days of conference and exhibition, with ISS short courses and conferences of EU-supported projects (Groundmed, Geoelec and Thermomap) running alongside.

EGC 2013 is a joint activity, organised by the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) under the auspices of the European Regional Branch of the International Geothermal Association IGA (IGA-ERB), and in cooperation with the national Italian Geothermal Association (UGI)

For over 30 years now, the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition (EU BC&E) has combined a very renowned international Scientific Conference with an Industry Exhibition. The EU BC&E is held at different venues throughout Europe and ranks on top of the world's leading events in the Biomass sector.

This EU BC&E is supported by European and international organizations such as the European Commission, UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Natural Sciences Sector, WCRE - the World Council for Renewable Energy, EUBIA - the European Biomass Industry Association, and other organisations. The Technical Programme is coordinated by the European Commission, Joint Research Centre JRC.

Targets and content of the EU BC&E

The Conference will discuss major issues for the biomass markets, in technical and business areas, from resource assessment to market and policy developments, drawing on leading experiences from all over Europe and worldwide. The event aims to encourage an international exchange of experience on policy, research and development, manufacturing and installation, and to be a showcase for the latest technologies. The conference is expanding its coverage on the growing issue of bioeconomy, a sector that has strong links to bioenergy where Denmark became a leading country.

Questions regarding the conference? Contact Maddalena Grassi: biomass.conference@etaflorence.it

Questions regarding the call for abstracts? Contact Maureen Yap: maureen.yap@etaflorence.it

For exhibition inquiries, contact Benjamin Pantani: biomass.exhibition@etaflorence.it

For press / media inquiries, contact Chiara Benetti: pressoffice@etaflorence.it For further information www.conference-biomass.com

With the theme of "Advanced and Innovative Construction and Maintenance", FIRM13 will feature sessions on infrastructure innovation, implementation and maintenance, including adaptation to climate change, knowledge transfer and asset management. The programme will also include sessions with innovation funding agencies and others, as well as a workshop on barriers to market uptake.

This key event, which is free of charge and in English, will gather more than 250 transport infrastructure innovation and research experts, including European and national policy makers, leading industry, standardisation agencies, SME's and the media. 

Contact Isabelle Lucchini, Events Officer, at isabelle.lucchini@fehrl.org with any questions about FIRM13 and we look forward to seeing you there!

Are you an SME currently developing innovative solutions to improve road infrastructure? If so, then come and exhibit your latest research and innovation results free-of-charge at the first Road Infrastructure Innovation Expo to be held in Brussels on 4-6 June 2013 within the scope of the Infravation programme.

We have just launched this call for exhibitors, which will be open until 15 March 2013. All research fields are welcome addressing the theme of “Advanced and Innovative Construction and Maintenance”.

The objective of this Expo is threefold:

• To raise awareness of Infravation and infrastructure innovation in general;
• To promote brokerage activities between innovative enterprises and potential Infravation project partners;
• To contribute to the development of the final call for Infravation proposals.

An exhibition space of up to 6 m² will be provided free of charge for SMEs who submit a successful proposal. Proposals from partner countries of Infravation are particularly encouraged : Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and the United States of America. All you have to do to apply is complete the application form at http://www.fehrl.org/?m=373 and send it to isabelle.lucchini@fehrl.org, FEHRL Events Officer, by Friday 15 March 2013.

The Expo will begin with an opening cocktail on the evening of 4 June and be organised in parallel with the FEHRL Infrastructure Research Meeting (FIRM13) conference (see http://www.fehrl.org/?m=369), which also features the theme of “Advanced and Innovative Construction and Maintenance”.

This year's Smart Cities Annual Conference will be a unique occasion for cities and solutions providers to meet and discuss the future shape of the European urban landscape.

The programme of the Smart Cities Annual Conference is rich and diversified: it alternates keynote speeches with workshops and networking sessions. The first day is fully devoted to discussing Key Innovations among the relevant stakeholders: technology providers on one side and cities as users on the other, with particular attention to matchmaking possibilities. The second day focuses instead on discussing achievements and developments of the Platform itself.

The conference will address the Innovation Union context of the 'Capacities' work programme, especially that of the Research Potential Programme, with emphasis on research and innovation as key drivers of competitiveness, jobs, sustainable growth and social progress.

It will provide the opportunity for regional authorities, funding agencies, representatives of the national research bodies, the applicant's parent organisation, and end-users (SMEs, industry, etc) to participate and thus to ensure synergies with local, regional and national policies.

The WIRE IV Conference will focus on: a) The Role of Regions in Internationalisation b) Growing Pains - Moving on from Cohesion c) How to design your Regional Programme.

The WIRE IV conference will be listed on the official calendar of events during the Irish Presidency of the EU in 2013.

The logistics innovation workshop will examine which are the real obstacles for investment and innovation for shippers and other players in the SC and how social media can lower those barriers. In particular, this event will address the role and impact on logistics innovation of social media and open innovation approaches.

Systems Biology is a stimulating field of application for computer scientists, mathematicians, physicists and a promising resource for biologists. The aim of this workshop is to gather researchers in formal, mathematical, probabilistic and computational methods that are interested in the convergence of Computer Science, Computational Science and Life Sciences.

Register now for a two-day, free of charge conference event that will give you unique insights on what it takes for a small to medium-sized enterprise to successfully innovate and grow, and learn about support opportunities that can turn businesses into constant innovators! Apart from keynote speeches on the inclusive economy, open innovation and sustainable growth for SMEs, the event will feature a session on SME promotion under the new Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020. Enrol now at http://eurosme2013.eu/register/ and join the Irish Presidency of the EU and the European Commission in Ireland for a discovery tour of the potential of innovation for SMEs! 

The AEBIOM Bioenergy Conference organized by the European Biomass Association is the forth edition of the growing series. The annual conference has grown ever since its first edition in 2010 and has quickly become Europe´s major occasion for discussion and networking amongst important industry leaders and policy makers. Bioenergy is the largest renewable energy source in Europe and we expect around 300 industry representatives to be present at this event which is one of the leading bioenergy conferences in Europe.
The 4th edition will be co-organized with the European Pellet Council, the Industrial European Pellet Suppliers and the European Biogas Association and it is organized in association with the Irish presidency of the Council of the EU.

EuroNanoForum 2013 focuses on the commercialisation of nanotechnologies, exploiting its potential for new applications and taking them further from enabling technologies to end products. It will also introduce the industry to new innovations for growth opportunities.

With Horizon2020 beginning in 2014, the conference will also show how nanotechnologies fit into the new structure within Europe’s key priority areas of excellent science, industrial leadership and tackling societal challenges.

ESOF 2014 Copenhagen is an open platform for debating science and a showcase for European and global research at all levels. The 2014 meeting is entitled “Science Building Bridges”.

The aim of this event is to raise awareness of science in the public and to strengthen the effective “bridges” between science and society.

The call for proposals is open until 9 May 2013.

The International Conference on Sustainable Intelligent Manufacturing aims at providing a major international forum for academics, researchers and industrial partners, from different backgrounds like engineering, architecture, design and economics, to exchange ideas in the field of sustainable intelligent manufacturing and related topics, to foster networking and collaboration among participants advancing knowledge and identifying major trends in the field.

Model cities are moving forward towards novel ecosystems, combining environmental, social and economic issues in more inclusive and integrated frameworks.

Sustainable intelligent manufacturing is regarded as a manufacturing paradigm for the 21st century, towards the next generation of manufacturing and processing technologies.

New business opportunities are emerging as sustainability has become a key concern for government policies, businesses and general public.

WOMS 2013 invites new contributions about the characterization of DOM in marine and inland waters using spectroscopic techniques, particularly fluorescence spectroscopy, coupled with advanced signal and image processing tools, among which improved data analysis, detection, clustering, separation, reconstruction, tracking and real-time monitoring.

The purpose of WOMS 2013 is to present new and effective approaches in the area of fluorescence spectroscopy for the analysis of environmental data. It is also to be a meeting place for both the signal processing community and the environmental organic matter community in order to strengthen their dialogue and interaction towards a mutual scientific topic.

The ESOF 2014 calls for proposals for the Science-2-Business Programme and the Career Programme are now open. The Science-2-Business Programme will include sessions on innovation, entrepreneurship and business development. The Career Programme will deal with career issues for researchers at all stages. Both calls will close on August 11, 2013.

The ISEE (International Society for Environmental Epidemiology), ISES (International Society of Exposure Science), and the ISIAQ (International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate) invite you to the 2013 conference in Basel, hosted by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (SwissTPH).

The conference aims at presenting recent scientific achievements in the field of exposure science and environmental health from all relevant disciplines and covering a broad range of topics.

It is the place where scientists from all continents will meet. This is the first-ever joint conference of three leading scientific societies dedicated to improving public health.

Key Topics

The conference will feature – among other issues – the following key topics:

• Assessing exposure to indoor and ambient air pollution, noise, chemicals, toxic waste and electromagnetic fields and evaluating long term health impact
• Methodological challenges for global environmental epidemiology
• Environmental risks in the context of rapid urbanization in resource-poor settings
• Environmental susceptibility and resilience due to genes, co-morbidities, and socio-cultural and socio-economic factors
• Life course environmental epidemiology
• Linking science and policy through impact assessment
• Indoor and outdoor environmental interventions to improve health
• Water, sanitation and health linkages
• Linkages between agriculture, environment and diseases of poverty
  Effect of climate change and climate variability on environment and health
• Health impacts of natural resources development and management (e.g. extractive industry, water-resource developments)

Presenting state-of-the art knowledge on the application of modern optical measurement techniques to measure the thermal and flow parameters in-flight.

The 5th Annual International Workshop on Harnessing the Power of Patents Data will cover the relation between patents (and other Intellectual Property Rights) and Research & Development and Innovation (RDI) and the factors affecting such relations. Based on the abstracts received from the Open Call for Papers, it will focus on the institutional aspects of patent systems, the methodological aspects of collecting and analysing data and the research outputs of patent analysis.

Smart Trusted Technologies & Services for the Networked Society

Chip-to-Cloud Security Forum is a wide-ranging technical event covering all aspects of all assets protection in embedded, mobile and cloud technologies. Its scope ranges from the cryptographic foundations up to the latest developments of trusted services

World e-ID Congress has become in eight years a key event gathering over 350 e-ID programs managers, government officials and technology experts around world’s major e-ID projects, policies trends and latest innovations. In 2013 the conference will strengthen its key features to help the participants to succeed in their e-ID plans: exploring further the most significant e-ID projects worldwide (20 countries scanned in 2012), highlighting best practices and concrete solutions, discussing worldwide policies, technology and market dynamics.

2013 conference highlights:
– Global approach reinforced with specific sessions on Africa and the emerging countries thanks to the partnership with the World Bank,
– Stronger focus given to the mobile ID applications and deployments by governments, enterprises and banks,
– With contactless at the heart of next generation e-ID, the conference will also benefit from the synergies of the co-located "NFC World Congress". The new "M2M Innovation World Congress" also co-located will add more content and networking opportunities,
– More interactive panels on hottest topics, e.g. on harmonization of policies, cross border issues, travel document vs. mobile ID with smartphones, etc.

The 4th European Conference on Corporate R&D and Innovation (CONCORDi-2013) will focus on "Financing R&D and innovation for corporate growth in the EU: Strategies, drivers and barriers". It will take place from 26 to 27 September 2013 at the premises of the JRC’s Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS) in Seville, Spain. The two-day programme will address the financial challenges affecting the link between innovation and growth of European companies.

This workshop will present cutting edge developments in rapidly developing fields such as beta cell programming, regeneration, epigenetics, non-coding RNAs, and genetic targets in Type 2 diabetes. It is a continuation of very successful meetings on related topics in Helsinki (2003) El Perello (2006), Peebles (2009), and Helsingor (2011).

We are happy to announce a panel of outstanding speakers, and hope to attract exciting oral presentations and poster discussions. The event will take place in Sitges, a priviliged seashore venue 34 Km south of Barcelona, immediately after the EASD annual meeting.

BioMicroWorld2013 will bring together researchers, engineers and scientists in the fields of industrial microbiology, biotechnology, environmental sciences, agriculture, food and medical microbiology, and other related fields, to communicate current research priorities and progress in those fields, and to identify new research approaches.

You are cordially invited to participate and submit abstracts to the conference.

Deadline for abstract submission: 2 July 2013 for oral presentations and 30 July 2013 for poster/virtual presentations

Contact details:

Aurora Solano, BioMicroWorld2013 Secretariat

Phone: +34 924 25 86 15

Fax: +34 924 26 30 53

e-mail: info@biomicroworld2013.org or bmw2013@formatex.info

The conference's purpose is to provide input to the European Commission on the future research needs in Horizon 2020. We are calling for abstracts within the three major themes:

• Climate action: mitigation and adaptation
• Resource efficiency: natural resources, ecosystems, raw materials
• Green economy: eco-innovation

Why should you attend?

• To show how your field of research can support solutions of the grand challenges facing society
• To help shape the future European Research Agenda in Horizon 2020
• To meet potential partners for future Horizon 2020 calls 

The Conference is being organised by Aarhus University together with the Partnership for European Environmental Research (PEER).

In the frame of EASN knowledge and innovation dissemination activities, this Workshop organized by the EASN Association offers the Aeronautics community a forum to present, discuss and give an updated state of the art of the research in Aerostructures in Europe and also to present new ideas and innovative concepts for future research and projects. The Workshop is co-organized by Politecnico di Milano and will take place in the Bovisa Campus of the Politecnico di Milano.

The ECITL (European Conference on ICT for Transport Logistics) is an established and well-known international conference where experts, practitioners and researchers in the field of Transport Logistics, Supply Chain Management and ICT meet. This years’ conference focus on “Logistics Research: IT Solutions and Innovations Facilitating Cooperation”. The conference consists by a scientific day and two industry day where new and innovative topics will be presented and discussed.

 The NEM Summit, organised every year since 2008 by the NEM Initiative in close cooperation with leading industrial and academic players worldwide, is the “not-to-be-missed” annual event for all those interested in Future Internet developments and in the fast paced evolution of the networked and electronic media industry.
Over the years, the NEM Summit has grown to become the key conference and exhibition to meet and network with the most active stakeholders, access up-to-date information, discover the latest technology and market trends, identify research and business opportunities, and find partners for upcoming EU-funded calls. The event traditionally involves up to 400 attendees, 20 sponsors, 50 exhibitors and 40 speakers and authors selected following a competitive call for papers.

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), the European Commission (EC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are proud to hold this international conference on regional climate science

HIGH LEVEL SESSION AND STAKEHOLDER DIALOGUE

The first day of the meeting will feature two important pre-conference events:

A High-Level Session with the participation of the European Commissioners for Research & Innovation Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard together with Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC where the key findings from the IPCC Working Group I Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis will be presented by Thomas Stocker and Qin Dahe, Co-Chairs of IPCC Working Group I.

This will be followed by a Stakeholder Dialogue where high level panellists will discuss how science-based regional climate information can best serve the needs of regional decision-makers. This will be featured by two keynote presentations conveyed by:

- Chris Field, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II
- Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the WMO

REGIONAL CLIMATE CONFERENCE PROGRAM

The second segment of the conference over the following three days is organised around daily themes. Each day will consist of plenary presentations followed by parallel and poster sessions. The poster sessions will have their own dedicated time for viewing thus avoiding overlap with plenary and parallel sessions.

Daily Themes

- Evaluation of CORDEX Regional Downscaling Present Climate and Future Change
- Methodologies for Regional Downscaling
- Applications of Regional Climate Information

Please see the detailed program

Venue: Charlemagne Building - Rue de la Loi 170 - B-1000 Brussels
Descriptions on how to get there can be found here.
Registration deadline: 20 October 2013 

During the Green Electronics workshop on Resource Efficiency in the Electric and Electronics Industry participants will learn about the approach of the FP7 ZeroWIN project and its achieved results over the past 4 years, and have the opportunity to influence the ZeroWIN policy recommendations to the European Commission. Keynote speakers will discuss the challenge facing industry to eliminate waste and become resource efficient.

This workshop is for Industry representatives (small or large) and policymakers with an interest in resource efficiency, reducing waste, CO2 emissions and water use, in particular those working in the following sectors: construction, electronics, automotive or photovoltaic.

The Future of Information Sciences (INFuture) is a series of biannual international conferences aimed at researchers and professionals from the broad field of information and communication sciences and related professions. The objective of the conference is to provide a platform for discussing both theoretical and practical issues in information organization and information integration. 

INFuture 2013: Information Governance is the fourth in a series of INFuture conferences focusing on theory and methodology of information governance, EU infrastructure integration, interaction between e-society and e-government, preservation of electronic records, language technologies and interdisciplinary education. The objective of the conference is to provide a platform for discussing both theoretical and practical issues.

This conference is organised by the Dpt of Transport and Regional Economics, the Research Unit on Public Administration & Management (Department of Political Science), the Law Faculty of the University of Antwerp, the Antwerp Management School, COST-Action TU1001 ‘PPP in Transport: Trends and Theory'.

Following a very successful launch of the first GRF One Health Summit in February 2012, GRF Davos is pleased to announce the 2nd GRF One Health Summit 2013 which will take place from 17 - 20 November 2013 at the Davos Congress Centre in Davos, Switzerland.

The 2nd GRF One Health Summit will further explore, advance and agree on the need for a global integrative risk management approach for One Health. Furthermore, the conference will identify ways to achieve added value by multi-sectorial and multi-stakeholder cooperation and promote enhanced public-private partnership models for risk-based financing tools.

The findings of the conference shall be used to make recommendations on policy and organisational changes and stimulate a more efficient collaboration between stakeholders. Registration and Abstract Submission are open now.

Submit your abstract today and present at the 2nd GRF One Health Summit 2013. We encourage you to explore our website and get further information on the One Health concept and the 2nd GRF One Health Summit.