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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.

For Europe to remain competitive internationally, all economic sectors must be able to reap the benefits of digital transformation. Building on a European network of Digital Innovation Hubs, the Commission aims to help companies improve their processes, products and services through the use of digital technologies.

The M-ERA.NET Call 2021 was opened today. 45 funding organisations from 32 countries are participating with a total budget of approximately €60 million, including an EU contribution. M-ERA.NET aims to strengthen the contribution of materials research and development to energy-related applications wherever possible. The call aims to fund ambitious transnational RTD projects addressing materials research and innovation, including materials for low-carbon energy technologies, future battery technology and related production technologies.

The UK is expected to soon become an associated country to the EU’s R&I Framework Programme Horizon Europe. The UK will therefore have the same rights and obligations as other countries associated to the Programme. The EU has recently published a Q&A document on this topic, which you can view here.