Science meets Parliaments/ Science meets Regions - results of the call for projects

The JRC has selected 23 event proposals across the EU regions and Member States, in the framework of the 'Science meets Parliaments/ Science meets Regions' pilot project, funded by the European Parliament.

Informing policy makers with the best scientific advice possible is at the core of the JRC activities.

The objective of the "Science meets Parliaments and Regions" initiative is to promote this concept not only at EU level, but also at national, regional and local levels.

The project will bring together scientists, policymakers and citizens to explore locally relevant issues with the help of scientific evidence.

The events, organised at the initiative of local stakeholders, are meant to show what science can do for policy, also at a very local and concrete level, with impact on people's everyday lives.

The JRC will facilitate the events and provide scientific expertise where needed.

Topics in the spotlight

Public authorities representing cities, regions, national parliaments and ministries have put forward topics relevant for their particular constituencies / audiences. They range from:

• natural risk management (e.g. in Tyrol region in Austria),
• sustainable and eco innovation, jobs and growth (e.g. City of Sofia/Bulgaria, City of Zagreb/Croatia),
• coastal and maritime tourism, green and blue sustainable growth (e.g. Guadeloupe/France, West Finland region, Balaton region/Hungary),

through

• migration related issues (Hellenic Parliament, Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia),
• demography topics (Central Denmark EU office will focus on malnutrition among hospital patients and elderly people, German Bundesland Sachsen-Anhalt will focus on ageing population in the rural context),
• artificial intelligence and its challenges and opportunities for policy makers (Flemish administration of Economy, Science and Innovation/Belgium),
• energy and environment (Spanish Comunidad de Navarra together with Bulgarian Region of Gabrovo will join forces on energy efficiency and waste prevention and handling),
• smart cities and urban development (e.g. City of Nijmegen/NL with Gent/BE, county of Ilfov/Romania)

to

• using of space data to inform environmental policy making (Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Research of Luxembourg), and
• sustainable olive oil production, organised by Ragusa province in Italy. 

All events will have science for policy as a core and leading topic. The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of Slovenia and the Estonian Parliament will specifically look into the challenges of evidence-informed policy making.

The first event to take place in the frame of the pilot project will be in Poland on 12 December 2018, organised by the Wielkopolska region.

The region is covered by a pilot initiative of the European coal regions in transition, and experts together with policy makers and regional stakeholders will analyse the possibility of a transition to a hydrogen-based energy system.

The rest of events will take place throughout 2019.

The full list of selected events, together with the interactive map is available here.

Official launch of the pilot project

The pilot project will be officially launched on 6-7 February 2019, in Brussels, during the annual "Science meets Parliament" conference, co-organised by the JRC and the European Parliament's Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel (STOA) and the Committee of the Regions

Science meets Parliaments and Regions – origins

The "Science meets Parliaments" project was launched in 2015 by the JRC together with the European Parliament.

In line with the JRC's overall mission, the project aimed to foster evidence-informed policymaking by building closer links and regular dialogue between scientists and policymakers.

Regions and cities are key partners in implementing European legislation, policies and financial instruments.

They also have the power to catalyse change and enable citizens' involvement.

About 70% of EU law and 80% of EU funds are implemented at subnational level. "Science meets Regions" was launched in collaboration with the Committee of the Regions in 2016.

The success of these projects prompted the European Parliament to fund the pilot "Science meets Parliaments/ Science meets Regions" project in 2018/2019, expanding the scope of the initiative to more European countries and regions.