Science|Business news & analysis

Welcome to the weekly Science|Business roundup of the most significant news in R&D policy and funding, tailored for our LinkedIn audience.

In this week’s main R&D policy news:

This week, the Science|Business news team was busy covering a string of launch events and conferences in Brussels, but also in Hamburg. At the European Commission’s Research & Innovation Days conference in Brussels, we learned that the Commission expects to adopt its AI in science strategy on October 7. Meanwhile, stakeholders say the research and technology infrastructure strategy the Commission launched this week needs more concrete actions to secure adequate funding in the next multiannual budget.

Also at the R&I conference, research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva said that she planned to present “an ambitious but realistic” proposal for the European Research Area Act next year to finally address the EU’s fragmented research system and barriers to mobility.

A few streets away in Brussels, at another Commission event, former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said that the proposed €175 billion budget for the next iteration of Horizon Europe was “welcome” but that the funding could “fall short” of its goal to boost EU’s competitive advantage in advanced technologies.

In Hamburg, we heard European Research Council President Maria Leptin warn that a Commission plan to standardise administrative processes for EU research funding could spell the “death” of bottom-up science funding.

Elsewhere, divisions are growing within the European Parliament over plans to let research and innovation projects with civilian and defence applications apply for funding in the next EU Framework Programme.

For European academia, there’s perhaps no more burning and divisive question than whether to continue collaborating with Israel. David Matthews summarised the growing concerns over links between Israeli universities and the military.

We finally honour the memory of Michael Kenward, a leading member of the original Science|Business news crew, and a former New Scientist editor, who has died at the age of 80.

Read the key highlights from this week’s Policy Bulletin:

• Single rulebook for EU research funding risks ‘death’ by inflexibility, warns ERC president
• EU research funding should focus on ‘sizeable priority programmes,’ Draghi says
• Commission to adopt AI in science strategy on October 7
• Parliament divided over dual use in next EU research programme
• New EU infrastructure plan needs more work on funding, research groups say
• Zaharieva plans ‘ambitious but realistic’ ERA Act
• Amid Gaza war, debate intensifies: is it wrong to collaborate with Israeli universities?
• In memoriam: Mike Kenward, inspirational journalist and colleague

In funding news:

We go behind the scenes of German innovation agency Sprind, whose latest challenge consists of finding fresh ways to save currently lost metals in electronic waste, and turn them into high entropy alloys, nanoparticles or other valuable, useful products that can be sold back to industry.

On a related note, the EU’s New European Bauhaus initiative is to develop a new line of activity helping the fashion industry transition towards more circular and regenerative practices.

Elsewhere, a growing number of initiatives are emerging at national and European level to track the implementation of open science, but not enough is known about whether open science practices are producing the promised benefits.

In the Funding Radar, we have a list of pandemic preparedness funding calls.

In the Data Corner, we look to determine how likely you are to secure a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) postdoctoral fellowship. The competition for MSCA grants is already fierce, but this year it is even more competitive, with worldwide postdoctoral researchers submitting a record 17,058 proposals.

Finally, in Insider’s View, Dutch top applied science organisation TNO explains how Europe’s drive for competitiveness is pushing research organisations to show the value they add to the economy.

Read the key highlights from this week’s Funding Newswire:

• Behind the scenes of a Sprind challenge
• Open science is gaining ground, but does it work?
• This week’s round up of pandemic preparedness funding calls
• New European Bauhaus tries on fashion industry for size
• How likely are you to secure an MSCA postdoctoral fellowship?
• Insider’s View: Why research organisations must measure their impact

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Funding Newswire, sent out every Tuesday to help you follow where the public and private R&I money is going and which collaborative opportunities you can pursue.

Our weekly Policy Bulletin, released every Thursday, brings you crucial R&D policy updates from Europe and around the world, with a focus on the EU Horizon programme.

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