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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

The joint call of ERA-NET Smart Energy Systems and GEOTHERMICA ERA-NET focuses on the energy transition in heating and cooling. The call addresses technology development, system integration and innovation.

Are you an established, leading researcher seeking long-term funding for a groundbreaking, high-risk project? If so, you can now apply for the ERC Advanced Grant. Applicants for ERC Advanced Grants - called Principal Investigators (PI) - should be active researchers with significant research accomplishments over the past 10 years.

Brussels - On 11 May 2021, UAS4EUROPE, the informal network of European Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS), held its biennial Networking Conference, this time as a virtual event, with high-level keynote speeches, a political discussion, interactive workshop sessions, face-to-face matchmaking and a virtual exhibition.

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The Commission is mobilising €123 million from Horizon Europe, the new EU research and innovation programme, for urgent research into coronavirus variants. This first emergency funding under Horizon Europe adds to a range of EU-funded research and innovation actions to fight the coronavirus and contributes to the Commission's overall action to prevent, mitigate and respond to the impact of coronavirus variants, in line with the new European bio-defence preparedness plan HERA Incubator (HERA = European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority).

The European Commission wants to increase the visibility of European “Advanced Technologies for Industry (ATI)” technology centers that are offering services to enterprises and SMEs. European ATI centers are invited to be included in the online map of this initiative. The aim of the initiative is not only to increase visibility, but also to strengthen cooperation opportunities among themselves and with small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe.