The European Commission is piloting the potential of a Cloud of public services for the development and the delivery of more flexible public services by combining building blocks and allowing service sharing between public and private providers. Discover in this brochure which projects have been and are funded in this domain.
The role of the media in guaranteeing that citizens have the information and tools they need to fully engage with democratic processes has been put into the spotlight in recent years. While the freedom of journalists and media organisations to report the truth has largely been taken for granted in democratic societies, new challenges and difficulties are raising new questions about how these freedoms can remain resilient.
Thanks to the PARTERRE project citizens can now influence urban & environmental planning of their community more easily. During several years PARTERRE has demonstrated and validated its business potential. New e-participation methods and tools for spatial and strategic planning at the European level are now more reachable.
eEnviPer is an integrated web-based platform for the application, administration and consultation of environmental permits. By making the environmental permits process more transparent, accessible and efficient, eEnviPer helps to reduce the environmental impact of economic activities with the implementation of a cost-effective environmental permits process.
Data collection and exploitation is a growing phenomenon; in response to industry and grassroots demands the European Commission is calling on national governments to wake-up to this “big data” revolution. One of the main concrete proposed actions to solve these problems is the creation of an open data incubator (within the Horizon 2020 framework), to help SMEs set up supply chains based on data and use cloud computing more.
e-SENS - European Simple Electronic Networked Services is a large-scale cross-border pilot project (LSP) in the area of digital public services (eGovernment) that has been active since April 2013. e-SENS encompasses all previous piloting domains of the LSP family (e-CODEX, epSOS, PEPPOL, STORK and STORK 2.0, SPOCS) thus striving to bring interoperability and standardization to the EU e-Services sector.
ESOF2014 offers a platform where researchers, journalists, policy makers, students and organisations can meet and debate European research and global challenges.
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 scientific programme, covering 8 themes, consists of keynote lectures, seminars, workshops and engaging formats for debating the latest research.
In 30 years’ time, there will be 150 million older people living in the EU. Where will you live? What kind of shape will you be in? Will you still be healthy and independent? Society is ageing. But making sure our golden years are happier and healthier is not just down to the individual, it’s also down to the whole society, public and private sectors together. Improving the quality of life of older people is a priority for the European Commission.
Would you like to help researchers understand the workings of our sun, or discover how large crowds of people can work together? While you may think such breakthroughs are the preserve of highly-specialised scientists with expensive equipment, the EU-funded project SOCIENTIZE allows you to lend your skills and time to some exciting research.
Whatever we think about it, it is clear that surveillance has increased – it is hard to ignore as the topic frequently hits the headlines. But does it matter? The EU-funded IRISS project is intent on finding out. The team is looking at whether surveillance changes our behaviour, and how it impacts our basic rights. The conclusions will be presented to policymakers, together with recommendations.
Europe is the second-biggest aid donor to the Pacific Island nations, but understanding of the islands themselves – their people and needs – has been limited in Europe. The EU-funded ECOPAS project is helping to change that, using a combination of anthropology, climate research and the performing arts.
An EU-funded study has resulted in the most comprehensive picture yet of the widening income gap across Europe between top earners and other workers – and how it affects societies. It will help policymakers make informed decisions on how best to reduce the gap – and support those who are falling behind.
This short video animation will guide you through the first steps you will need to take to apply to Horizon 2020.
Find out more about Horizon 2020 in this three minute animation clip which will give you a general overview of the programme specifics.
This Audio-PowerPoint presentation of ‘Science with and for Society’ has been conceived for general information and training purposes. It will allow you to have a broad understanding of the ‘Science with and for Society’ programme for 2014 and 2015 in slightly more than half an hour.
Improving science teaching and encouraging more young people into the sciences have been key government objectives in Europe for years. The European Union (EU) funded S-TEAM project tackled the issue by looking at the teaching side of the equation. Completed in 2012, it was one of the first EU research projects to focus on Inquiry-Based Science Teaching (IBST) as a method of improving take-up in the sciences.
Europe’s religious mix is part of its rich history and culture, but even today there continues to be tensions about the rights and responsibilities of faith-based communities. Laws and traditions vary across Europe, and there are no easy answers to some disputes
Europe has always been a blend of cultures and communities, with a regular churn of people across the continent. Yet the mix can be complex, and some find the changes difficult. While there may be no perfect way to manage Europe’s ethnic and religious diversity, the European Union (EU)-funded research project ACCEPT PLURALISM has developed a guide to help deal with the challenges as they arise.
The EUBORDERSCAPES is a European research project co-financed by the EU’s 7th Framework Programme. Launched in June 2012, the project tracks and interprets conceptual change in the study of borders. The central objective is to analyse the evolving concept of borders in relation to fundamental social, economic, cultural and geopolitical transformations that have taken place in the past decades. The major research task lies in understanding the complex construction of borders and their impacts in Europe.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), physical and social environments are key determinants of whether people can remain healthy, independent and autonomous long into their old age. Creating age-friendly environments is therefore one of the most effective approaches to respond to demographic change. To support this approach, the AFE-INNOVNET thematic network on innovation for age-friendly environments (AFE) has now kicked off with the support of the European CIP ICT PSP Programme and will run for two years.
