News

Taking good care of our water, soil and air in a rapidly changing world is a serious challenge. Although much progress has been made, the European Union’s fight against pollution needs to be more efficient and make better use of innovative solutions. In this report, the European Commission shows the contribution of six selected Horizon 2020 projects to achieve zero pollution.

Urban smog is a major threat to human health. Discover how the EU-funded projects MappingAir and e-shape are developing affordable air quality mapping platforms to measure and reduce urban air pollution.

The EU-funded project MERLIN has launched their Innovation Awards 2023, a prize that recognizes new and market-ready applicable solutions for restoring or enabling financial benefits for freshwater ecosystems. There are two different categories open: Product of the Year and Service of the Year. All companies that are taking part and are confirmed as eligible, will be able to place their product/service free of charge for 2 years in the MERLIN Marketplace (which will be launched during 2023). Submit your proposal by 22 December 2022.

On 8-11 November, REA took part in ECOMONDO, the world conference on circular economy and technological innovation. REA colleagues answered questions about Horizon Europe and held a session on how funded projects are contributing to the EU Plastic Strategy. At the fair, 16 projects managed by REA showed their innovations in the fields of material recovery, energy and sustainable development. One of them, the CIMPA project, explains in an article why participating in ECOMONDO was a positive experience.

The Commission received 78 proposals under a €95 million Horizon Europe Mission Soil call. Evaluations of eligible proposals are ongoing, and applicants will know if their proposals have been selected in the coming weeks.

The next calls for proposals under Horizon Europe ‘Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment’ cluster will open soon. An Info Day will take place on 13-14 December to explain to potential applicants how to prepare a quality project proposal. If you wish to meet potential cooperation partners to submit your proposal, you can attend the Brokerage event on 19 December. Register now.

Following the fruitful high-level mission, led by Commissioner Wojciechowski to Singapore in July, the EU hosted a successful pavilion at Food and Hotel Asia 2022 in Singapore. 14 EU Member State pavilions along with co-funded EU programmes and EU companies, promoted EU agri-food and quality schemes at one of the largest food and beverage fairs in Asia.

In September, an EU pavilion welcomed thousands of visitors for four days at the Fine Food Australia (FFA) trade event. Shows and tastings of 85 different EU agricultural food and beverage products from all across the EU aimed to encourage businesses to import, distribute or use EU agri-food produce in Australia.

EU promotion campaigns on agricultural products in South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and China have recently won various awards at the 19th Annual International Business Awards, under the category Communications/PR campaign of the year: "European Food: Share the Shades of Excellence” campaign in China: Gold prize, Food & Beverage; “European Food: Share the Shades of Excellence” campaign in China: Silver prize, Social Media Focused; “Colours by Europe. Tastes of Excellence” campaign in South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia: Bronze prize, Food & Beverage

From 28 September to 1 October , “A Trip to Europe in Every bite” campaign accompanied five Mexican journalists and influencers to Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to find out more about EU fruits, vegetables, meat, beer and wine production. They could see how EU farmers and producers applied different safety, quality and sustainability standards for food and beverage production ensuring their products’ authentic character. In addition, they could taste exquisite meals cooked with local and fresh EU ingredients.

41 proposals were submitted to the 2022 call for proposals for multi programmes. 28 programmes will be supported with a budget of EUR 67.8 million.

116 proposals were submitted to the 2022 call for proposals for simple programmes. 55 programmes will be supported with a budget of EUR 85 million.

Info Days are planned on 1 February from 13.30 to 17.00 and on 2 February from 8.30 to 14.00. These will be hybrid events taking place online, as well as onsite at the Albert Borschette Congress Center, Rue Froissart 36, Brussels. More information will follow.

The European Research Executive Agency is searching for experts to help evaluate proposals submitted for EU funding. All are welcome to apply, including people with backgrounds and expertise in security, terrorism, crime, privacy, extreme weather events, and border management. Apply today!

Europrivacy was endorsed by the European Data Protection Board as the first Data Protection Seal under GDPR. The Seal will enhance privacy for citizens and facilitate GDPR-compliance for businesses. Europrivacy received EU funding and it is a prime example of how EU research programmes make a positive real-world difference.

The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is held every year on October 13. Find out about how EU-funded projects managed by the European Research Executive Agency are working on improving risk awareness and planning, building resilience in communities, and exploring how social media can be used as an effective disaster-warning tool.

October is the annual EU-backed Cyber Security Month. Plenty of projects managed by the European Research Executive Agency support the aims of this month: promoting citizens’ and business’ safety online. Read about these projects, with a focus on this year’s theme of ransomware and phising.

Thirty projects signed grant agreements with the European Commission under Horizon Europe – Civil Security for Society. The projects will research reducing crime, enhancing privacy, and managing responses to natural disaster. They will contribute to and support EU research and innovation policy, priorities, and Missions.

A call for applications for funding under Horizon Europe – Civil Security for Society is open until November 23. A specific call for Cybersecurity closes on November 16. Apply for the chance to receive EU funding for your security-related projects!

The third Project to Policy seminar for security research was held on June 30 and July 1. Policymakers and project organisers shared knowledge on emerging trends in the field of security research. The event was co-organised by the European research Executive Agency and the European Commission’s Directorate-Generals for Home Affairs and Communications Networks. Watch the video below for a summary of the event.