Good morning,

Many of us make good resolutions for a new year. If your resolution is learning new skills, I have good news for you. On 10 January, I announced the new EIT Campus, an online platform for easy access to over 60 courses of the European Institute for Technology and its nine Knowledge and Innovation Communities. They tackle different themes from climate, to food, health and raw materials, while keeping an eye on innovation and entrepreneurship. More courses will be added over time to cover themes such as energy, digital, agriculture, manufacturing, urban mobility, culture and creativity, always with an eye on innovation and entrepreneurship. The EIT has invested more than €350 million in its education offer between 2018 and 2022 alone and created interesting educational and skills development opportunities for pupils, students and professionals. The Campus is not to be missed, and I invite all of you to make use of its offer, mostly all free of charge!

Innovation was under the spotlight in Davos at the World Economic Forum on 18 January when I invited business and public actors to ensure the rapid and effective implementation of the New European Innovation Agenda. To be at the forefront of the new wave of deep tech innovation and startups, and ensure a resilient recovery and strong competitiveness business environment I promoted two new initiatives: the Coalition of the Willing and the European Sounding Board for Innovation. Through the Coalition, public and private organisations are proposing concrete initiatives to co-implement the New European Innovation Agenda’s flagships. The goal here is two-fold: to give visibility to best practices and to facilitate collaboration. While, to make sure the Innovation Agenda is adapted to the rapidly changing global environment, the Sounding Board will be intellectually focused, soliciting ideas and recommendations from the business, scientific and academic communities.

Work is going on to address climate change as well. On 24 January, the European Commission published the new European Research Area (ERA) industrial technology roadmap for circular technologies and business models. This new roadmap identifies key circular technologies and innovation needs for the textile, construction and energy-intensive industries. In today’s world, where the impact of climate change is tangible, I believe the transition to a circular economy is not an option but a necessity. This roadmap calls for a comprehensive approach to develop and adopt circular technologies at all stages of the materials and products life cycle, contributing to reducing pressure on natural resources and to the EU's climate neutrality target for 2050.

Furthermore, in an unprecedented effort to unite and align pan-European, regional and national investments for marine and maritime research and innovation, the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership kicked off on 25 January in Rome. With the ambition to transform the blue economy – the blue arm of the Green Deal - it spans all sea basins (Mediterranean, Black Sea, Baltic and North Sea and Atlantic Ocean). The EU Partnership will contribute to the goals of the EU Mission Ocean & Waters by boosting the transformation towards a climate-neutral, sustainable, productive and competitive blue economy by 2030, while creating and supporting the conditions for a healthy ocean for all by 2050. It will pool research and innovation investments of €450 million over 7 years for a just and inclusive transition to a blue economy in harmony with nature. The EU Partnership will allow shaping the profound economic and social transformation, for the benefit of all EU citizens. Six co-funded calls will be launched over the seven-year timeframe, with the first one coming this month.

Europe is set to be a worldwide leader in the next wave of deep-tech innovation thanks to its unique talents, intellectual assets, and industrial capabilities. And together, we can establish a truly pan-European innovation ecosystem where no one is left behind. That’s why, on 26 January, I launched the first European Innovation Ecosystems projects to support the Commission's New European Innovation Agenda. Under the Horizon Europe programme, the projects will contribute to three flagships of the Agenda: scaling up deep-tech innovative companies; enabling innovation through experimentation spaces and innovative public procurement; and strengthening innovation ecosystems across the EU and addressing the innovation divide.

The sky is the limit for our ambitions. On 24 January, I delivered the closing speech at the European Space Conference together with the Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, the first female European commander at the International Space Station. I highlighted the role of the New European Innovation Agenda in enhancing Europe's strategic autonomy and explained how the space programme under Horizon Europe can address our major societal challenges. At the same time, the world's most accurate positioning service, Galileo's High Accuracy Service became operational. The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission contributed to the definition, testing and validation of this service.

As education and the ambition to realise a European Education Area by 2025 is a priority in my agenda, on 31 January, I had the pleasure to meet again the 44 rectors of the European Universities alliances to discuss current achievements and future opportunities. We have a brilliant vision for the future of European higher education, and I am delighted by how far we have come already. And we have kicked off the process to make the next two milestones of our vision a reality. I announced the selection of ten Erasmus+ pilot projects to test a joint European degree label and a legal status for university alliances. Both initiatives will contribute to strengthening the European dimension and cooperation in the field of higher education. I am very much looking forward to the results these projects will present us in a year time.

With very best wishes for the month ahead,

Mariya Gabriel