Innovation News

In a renewed call for a bigger budget, 93 research associations argue that two thirds of Horizon Europe money should be ring fenced for global challenges and boosting industrial competitiveness.  In an unprecedented show of strength, European research and innovation associations are jointly calling for the EU to raise the budget for Horizon Europe […]

The incoming president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, nominated Bulgaria’s Mariya Gabriel to take charge of research, innovation and education, but has scotched research from the name of the brief for the first time, relabelling it the ‘Innovation and Youth’ portfolio. While it won’t be in the job title, Gabriel will take over […]

Pressure is building to find greener alternatives to plastic food packaging. While millions of tonnes of almost indestructible plastic enter the world’s oceans each year, malleable packing films are burned or sent to landfill after use, causing further pollution. In an ideal world, the oil-based polymers used to pack food and drink would be swapped […]

EU innovation performance has been improving for four years in a row! The European Commission’s 2019 European Innovation Scoreboard and Regional Innovation Scoreboard  published today show that the EU’s innovation performance has been improving for four years in a row. For the first time ever, Europe’s innovation outperforms that of the United States. However, the […]

 The planning process for the implementation of Horizon Europe has begun, with a first meeting of the shadow programme committee, responsible for overseeing the preparation of the plan. A preliminary outline of the plan, dated 8 May, was prepared by the Commission for consideration by EU member states, and will be subject to substantial […]

The political pundits are calling the EU elections a vote for change generally – to left or right, depending on your viewpoint. But for Horizon Europe, the EU’s next big R&D programme, the vote resulted in most of the key legislators winning re-election and  likely continuing their work on the programme.  For complete article […]

 The 2nd  stakeholder consultation round on the new Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda of the Forest-based Sector (SRA 2030) has been launched today. Contributions to the 1st stakeholder consultation have been crucial to the work of the SRA Editing Team and the new draft is now available for comment. Deadline Tuesday 21 May, 15.00h […]

The next FTP conference will take place on 27 November 2019 in Helsinki, Finland, under the auspices of the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This one-day conference will be the launch event for the revised Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda 2030 and will be held at Aalto University, Espoo, on the […]

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) explains the expansion of multi-storey wood buildings in the world. Gerhard Schickhofer is awarded  the 2019 Marcus Wallenberg Prize for research and knowledge transfer behind the stable and eco-friendly material. Professor Gerhard Schickhofer, the Institute of Timber Engineering and Wood Technology at Graz University of Technology, Austria, has laid the scientific and […]

EU budget for 2021-2027: The EU institutions have reached a partial political agreement on Horizon Europe. Investing in research and innovation is investing in Europe’s future, in knowledge and new solutions to maintain and improve the European way of life. That is why the Juncker Commission has set a new level of ambition to deepen […]