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More women in science and research, fewer gender gaps in the labour market, more inclusion, a more balanced participation of women and men in different sectors of the economy and other gender equality initiatives – all of this is what the European Union wants to achieve, among other things through the introduction of a "Gender Equality Plan" (GEP) which will become mandatory in all Horizon Europe applications for calls with a deadline in 2022.

On Friday 8 October 2021, UAS4EUROPE, the leading network of European Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS), handed over its Action Plan for Innovation to EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel. The Action Plan for Innovation contains twelve concrete recommendations from the field of applied research to realise the planned European Innovation Area (EIA).

The first "Cooperation Lounge" to intensify scientific cooperation between Bavaria and Tunisia, which took place from 4 to 6 October 2021, met with great interest. For three days, 140 stakeholders from Tunisia and Bavaria discussed potential paths and instruments for successful cooperation between the two regions for joint research projects in various fields of the humanities, economics, natural sciences and engineering.

The Commission launched today five new EU missions, a new and innovative way to work together and improve the lives of people in Europe and beyond. EU missions aim to tackle big challenges in health, climate and the environment, and to achieve ambitious and inspiring goals in these areas.
 

On 15 September 2021, the European Commission adopted a Communication presenting the concept of the New European Bauhaus (NEB). The initiative is an ecological, economic and cultural project with a view to realising the European "Green Deal". It aims to combine design, sustainability, accessibility, affordability and investment to make Europe climate neutral by 2050.

Freising, Germany – CIRCULAR FoodPack aims to facilitate the circular use of plastic packaging addressing the most sensitive product category: Food. The food packaging sector constitutes of 87%¹ of all European flexible plastic multilayer-composites. Such composites are used to fulfil the high requirements for food preservation and safety. Since such material combinations are inseparable, the multi-layer composites cannot be recycled into high-quality materials by state of the art recycling technologies, which counteracts the intentions of a circular use.

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Switzerland can currently only participate as a non-associated third country in the first calls for proposals of the EU framework programme for research and innovation Horizon Europe. The European Commission has made this clear in the list of eligible countries published on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

The European Commission has published a Program Guide to Horizon Europe. In it, applicants will find background information on the structure of the framework program as well as the related policy priorities of the European Union, such as the European Partnerships, the missions, international cooperation, Open Science or digital key technologies.

Together with industry representatives, the EU Commission launched 11 new partnerships earlier this week to increase investment in research and innovation to address major climate and sustainability challenges. The partnerships will receive more than €8 billion from Horizon Europe, the EU's new framework program for research and innovation, from 2021-2027.

The Commission has adopted the main work programme of Horizon Europe for the period 2021-2022, which outlines the objectives and specific topic areas that will receive a total of €14.7 billion in funding. These investments will help accelerate the green and digital transitions and will contribute to sustainable recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and to EU resilience against future crises. They will support European researchers through fellowships, training and exchanges, build more connected and efficient European innovation ecosystems and create world-class research infrastructures. Moreover, they will encourage participation across Europe and from around the world, while at the same time strengthening the European Research Area.

Further information can be found here.

Source: European Commission