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The European Commission adopted a New European Innovation Agenda to position Europe at the forefront of the new wave of deep tech innovation and start-ups. It will help Europe to develop new technologies to address the most pressing societal challenges, and to bring them on the market.

On 24 June 2022 the European Commission has launched the 'Alliance for Zero Emission Aviation'. The Alliance aims to prepare the aviation ecosystem for the entry into service of hydrogen- and electric-powered aircraft, to ensure that air transport contributes to Europe's 2050 climate neutrality objective.

Today, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) announced its Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) on Culture and Creativity, adding to the already existing eight Communities, which address a pressing societal challenge: climate, digital, energy, health, raw materials, food, manufacturing, urban mobility.The EIT launched a call for proposals for the new KIC in October 2021, inviting applicants to submit their vision for how EIT Culture & Creativity could bring about change in the sector. The winning consortium ICE - Innovation by Creative Economy, led by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, consists of 50 partners from 20 countries, presenting a wide geographical coverage. The Bavarian cultural and creative industries will also certainly contribute to numerous cooperations here.
 

• After construction completion in October 2021, the plant underwent a thorough commissioning process and has successfully started  production
• The offtake of the entire production has been contracted to global energy company Shell for several years
• The flagship plant will process approx. 250,000 tons of straw to produce approx. 50,000 tons of cellulosic ethanol per annum
• The production start at this first sunliquid® cellulosic ethanol plant proves the commercial viability of Clariant’s innovative technology and with that supports the licensing business strategy

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On 10 June 2022, EU Research Ministers adopted Council conclusions on research evaluation reform and the governance of Horizon Europe missions. These provide for a quality and impact-focused scientific environment and synergies between all societal actors to efficiently address global challenges in the context of Horizon Europe missions.

On 9 June 2022, the Horizon Europe Association Agreement with Ukraine entered into force. The agreement applies retroactively from 1 January 2021.

On 17 May, representatives of the European University Association (EUA) and fellow university associations in Africa, the Americas, the Arab region and Asia came together in Barcelona to formally constitute the Global University Associations Forum (GUAF).This initiative was first conceived in 2020 as a platform for more systemic exchange between member associations. As such, the Forum will explore ways for the higher education and research sectors to address global challenges by mobilising the collective capacity of universities.

Since 1 June 2022, Marjolijn Brussaard, Prof. Em. (Vereniging Hogescholen) is the new Chair of UAS4EUROPE and together with Dr Heidi Fagerholm (Arene) forms the Executive Committee of the network until May 2024.

The European Commission has presented the REPowerEU Plan, its response to the hardships and global energy market disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Today, the Commission has adopted the amendment to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2021-2022, increasing the budget by nearly €562 million to further support EU Missions towards innovative solutions to green, health and digital challenges and more actions to boost the European innovation ecosystem. The programme's budget for 2021 and 2022 now reaches a total of nearly €16 billion.