News

The last year of the Horizon 2020 programme offers a plethora of opportunities to photonics projects, encompassing several actions to tackle environmental and health issues while boosting European competitiveness. The session at the Digital Excellence Forum @ ICT Proposers' Day 2019 will provide all the details!

A European approach on AI will boost the European Union’s competitiveness and ensure trust based on European values. The European Commission has already invested significant amounts to bring benefits to our society and economy. This factsheet provides an overview of AI in Europe.

The Commission has announced the budget plan for the year 2020 for Horizon 2020. Over the next year, the Commission will seek greater impact of its research funding by focusing on fewer, but crucial, topics such as climate change, clean energy, plastics, cybersecurity and the digital economy.

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding programme will enter its second generation in 2021, for the seven-year period of 2021-2027. The European Commission’s Directorate General for Content Networks and Technologies is organising a public consultation to gather the views of stakeholders on the priority areas for EU digital infrastructure investments and the best ways to address existing connectivity needs with Connecting Europe Facility support.

Atlàntida Film Fest kicked off its 9th edition on 1 July. This festival made in Spain but with a strong European dimension is supported by Creative Europe MEDIA and organised by the Video-on-Demand platform Filmin, a MEDIA beneficiary. It offers an exciting programme designed around European cinema, European history and European culture with more than 100 films participating coming from 25 countries.

From 1 July, citizens and businesses in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia will pay less while using their mobile phones when they are roaming within the region. Consumers will see a substantial reduction of their roaming charges within the region, with calls becoming up to eight times cheaper and costs for data dropping on average from €3/MB to €0.20/MB. The new regional roaming agreement is a first step towards the introduction of “roam like at home” within the region, with further reductions of roaming charges expected as of 1 January 2020.

Fast and secure digital connectivity is an essential element of the reforms required for creating a market- and investment-friendly environment in the Western Balkans. Under the initiative of the European Commission, the EU and the Western Balkans partners have started a process to boost connectivity in the region and improve access to the digital economy and society.

This summer, European film classics will be screened in some of Europe's most iconic cultural heritage venues. From tomorrow until the end of September, classic films from across the EU will be screened free of charge in a wide variety of venues in 13 EU countries – from small towns to capital cities – highlighting Europe's rich and diverse cultural heritage. As part of the wider restoration and digitisation of heritage films, the event series “A Season of Classic Films” is supported by Creative Europe MEDIA programme.