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The European Commission has set up an independent advisory group for the EU's next research framework programme, officially kicking off the design process for the 10th Framework Programme. Chaired by former Portuguese Science Minister Manuel Heitor, the 15-member expert group has now started its work to inform the ongoing discussions on FP10 (from 2028). The new expert group is modelled on the 12-member expert group chaired by Pascal Lamy, former EU Trade Commissioner and Head of the World Trade Organisation, which advised the EU Commission on the development of "Horizon Europe" with its LAB-FAB-APP report in 2017. The German expert in the group is Georg Schütte, Secretary General of the Volkswagen Foundation and former State Secretary at the BMBF. The expert group's proposals are due to be published at the end of 2024. A battle is already brewing over the size of the FP10 budget: The European Parliament, together with the R&I community, has launched a campaign for a dedicated research budget of €200 billion, while member states are actively considering cuts to the existing €95.5 billion programme.

The Strategic Plan of the R&I Framework Programme is published twice per programme period and forms the basis for the preparation of work programmes and calls for proposals. The Commission is currently working on the Horizon Europe Strategic Programming for 2025-27, which should be finalised before the European elections.

With the participation of representatives of the European Commission and numerous stakeholders coming from all across Europe, the newly developed DESCA (Development of a Simplified Consortium Agreement) 2.0 Consortium Agreement model was published in Brussels on 6 February 2024.

Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation programme running from 2014 to 2020 with a budget of nearly €80 billion, made a major contribution to building an EU society and economy rooted in knowledge and innovation and benefitted Europeans far beyond what could have been achieved at national or regional level.

Today, the Commission has launched a package of measures to support European startups and SMEs in the development of trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI) that respects EU values and rules. This follows the political agreement reached in December 2023 on the EU AI Act – the world's first comprehensive law on Artificial Intelligence – which will support the development, deployment and take-up of trustworthy AI in the EU. In her 2023 State of the Union address,

The new Bavarian research association “Family Life in Bavaria – Empirical Insights into Transformations, Resources and Negotiations (ForFamily)” started work in January 2024. Its co-spokespersons are Paula-Irene Villa Braslavsky, Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at LMU, and Rita Braches-Chyrek, Professor of Social Pedagogy at the University of Bamberg.

The European Commission wants your opinion on a common European higher education qualification, appropriate quality assurance and recognition systems and attractive and sustainable careers in higher education. To this end, it has published consultations aimed at all interested parties - from the higher education sector to partners in its ecosystem, trade unions and employers' organisations, businesses and SMEs, research and innovation institutions, civil society, citizens and Member States (local, regional and national authorities).

The 'EIT Higher Education Institutions (HEI) Initiative' will be extended until 2027. The initiative supports change processes in universities in order to increase their entrepreneurship and innovation potential. During the test phase, 359 universities and 179 institutions from the non-academic sector received 69 million euros in funding. In 65 projects, more than 40,000 students, academic and administrative staff received training on innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition, more than 1000 start-ups and scale-ups were supported.

From 1 January to 30 June, Belgium will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. During its Presidency, Belgium will be responsible for coordinating the activities of the Council and promoting cooperation between the Member States. All this will be done under the Presidency's motto "Protect, Strengthen and Prepare".

Our office will be closed from 22 December 2023 to 5 January 2024. We will resume our services on 8 January 2024.

For urgent matters, you can reach us from December 27, 2023, until January 5, 2024, either by email at administration@bayfor.org or by phone at + 49 89 9901 888-0 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Season's Greetings and a Happy New Year!

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