Category Archives: News

Council Conclusions on International Co-operation in Horizon 2020

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As part of the discussions during last week’s meeting of EU countries’ science ministers in Brussels, the Competitiveness Council has issued a set of conclusions on the subject of international co-operation within Horizon 2020.

 The Competitiveness Council calls on the European Commission, member states and key stakeholders:

 to develop common principles on issues such as responsible research and innovation, research integrity; peer review; promotion of gender equality and the gender dimension in research and innovation; researcher careers; fair and equitable treatment of IP; and open access to publicly funded research publications and to research infrastructures;

 Acknowledging the crucial importance of international research collaboration, the conclusions emphasise that the European Commission should ‘systematically consider where international co-operation can add strategic value in implementing Horizon 2020 and could play a particularly valuable role in the Horizon 2020 work programmes’. The Council also invites the Commission, working closely with EU Member States, to identify priorities for international co-operation on the basis of Horizon 2020 and of the results of FP7 projects.

 The conclusions also underline the importance of preparing ‘multi-annual roadmaps for co-operation with the EU’s strategic partners, which will identify priorities and instruments for activities within Horizon 2020 for international co-operation on research and innovation’. The Council also states that Member States must be involved from an early stage in this process, and calls on the Commission to present the first roadmaps by the end of 2013.

 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/intm/137346.pdf

 

University attends the 5th University Business Forum, Brussels

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On 4th and 5th June the European Commission hosted the 5th  University Business Forum.  Over 300 registered delegates from across the EU listened to a number of high profile speakers including Jan Truszczyński, Director General of DG EAC and Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth.  From the UK perspective Sir Tim Wilson, author of A Review of Business–University Collaboration, February 2012 (click here to view) also gave a key note which was well received by the audience.

The role of University Business collaborations for growth was central to discussions.  The Commissioner highlighted the importance of University Business collaborations to address the challenges of high the levels of youth unemployment and an increasing skills gap facing Europe today.  Successful initiatives evolving from previous forums were also presented, including details of the Knowledge Alliance funding calls and the “Guiding Framework for Entrepreneurial Universities”; an online self assessment tool developed in cooperation with the OCED.

Staffordshire University’s Catherine Fehily also presented at one of the workshops ‘Design – a vital part of Innovation’, providing an overview of the excellent staff-student enterprise activity that FACT has achieved through Flux, High House and SPoTS atelier.  The Commission also paid for two of our FACT students to attend along with a handful of students to provide real time illustrations of the workshops to support the feedback process.

Should you wish to find out more information the event website has a full list of the speakers and recordings of the main sessions http://ubforum2013.teamwork.fr/.

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Erasmus Charter for Higher Education 2014-2020

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Staffordshire University submitted an application for an Erasmus Charter for Higher Education for the years 2014-2020. If the Unviersity is successful, it will mean the University is eligible to apply for funding under the new EU programme for education, training, youth and sport supports –Erasmus for All. The University had the same status for the 2007-2013 Lifelong Learning Programme.

The Erasmus for All programme has not yet been adopted by the European legislators. However, the Commission published the call for proposals in order to allow for a smooth implementation of the Programme as soon as its legal basis has been adopted.

The Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) provides the general quality framework for European and international cooperation activities a higher education institution (HEI) may carry out within the Programme. 188 UK institutions have applied for an ECHE under this call, with a total of 4,577 applications submitted in total across the EU.  A published list of institutions selected will be provided in December, we should be informed of our individual application result in November.  Further information is available at http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/funding/2014/call_he_charter_en.php.

Don’t Miss Out! Chance to win up to £200 towards your professional development

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A reminder for anyone who missed last weeks post, the External Projects Team have produced a short Qualtrix survey to gather your views on the Research and Funding Blog. This is a designed to take a few minutes of your time and once completed you have the option of leaving your name and being entered into a prize draw for up to £200 towards your professional development.

To take part in the survey please click on the link below:

http://staffordshire.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9NY2cw3PeDVn9Jj

The closing date for the questionnaire is the 5th June 2013. The winner of the prize draw will be contacted directly following the closing date.

Thanks for your support!

Banknotes

EU agrees top-up for 2013 programmes

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Image EU agrees top-up for 2013 programmes

By Laura Greenhalgh

15 May 13

European finance ministers have pledged to provide an additional €7.3 billion of funding this year, to pay bills for EU programmes including Framework 7.

At a meeting on 14 May, member states gave their political agreement to the funds, stating they would be used for “measures to support economic growth, create jobs and tackle unemployment”.

The €7.3bn-allocation is the first batch of money designed to top up this year’s budget, and meet payments already committed under EU programmes. The Commission has previously estimated that €11.2bn will be needed in total, including €678 million for Framework 7 and €126m for education and the Erasmus programme.

Finance ministers said they would consider a second payment to make up the funds in mid-October. The first tranche of additional money was agreed under qualified majority by the member states, although five countries—the UK, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands—opposed the move.

The Council of Minister’s positive signal on the 2013 budget means discussions on the 2014-20 budget framework can continue as planned. MEPs had previously stated they would be unwilling to agree a package for the next seven years, until member states agreed to honour commitments for this year.

However, at yesterday’s meeting, finance ministers said the formal vote on the extra €7.3bn will be postponed until the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament reach an agreement on the overall seven-year budget.

At a press conference following the meeting, the Irish minister for finance Michael Noonan said: “As you know, these discussions [on the 2013 budget] have been linked by the European Parliament to the discussions on the multiannual financial framework. Whilst we regret this link, we acknowledge this is a political reality.”

“Both the European Parliament and the Council have agreed to the principle that ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’”, stated the Council.

Discussions on the overall budget from 2014-20 began on Monday 13 May. EU representatives have said a swift agreement will be vital to prevent delay to programmes such as Horizon 2020, set to begin in 2014.

The president of the Committee of the Regions, Ramon Luis Valcárcel, welcomed the announcement of an extra €7.3bn, but emphasized the importance of a second top-up later this year. “Regions and cities need to be reimbursed for the money they have already spent on EU-funded projects,” he said.

However, MEP Ivailo Kalfin referred to the agreement as a “no-go” on Twitter, criticising the finance council for only agreeing to part of the additional budget and making it conditional on the Parliament’s consent on the MFF.

“Ridiculous, these are funds legally due,” he wrote.

Source: http://www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/europe/framework-7/2013/5/eu-agrees-top-up-for-2013-programmes.html

 

Up to £200 towards professional development up for grabs……

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The External Projects Team have produced a short Qualtrix survey to gather your views on the Research and Funding Blog. This is a designed to take a few minutes of your time and once completed you have the option of leaving your name and being entered into a prize draw for up to £200 towards your professional development.

To take part in the survey please click on the link below:

http://staffordshire.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9NY2cw3PeDVn9Jj

The closing date for the questionnaire is the 5th June 2013. The winner of the prize draw will be contacted directly following the closing date.

Thanks for your support!

 

New research-intensive alliance

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A new alliance of research-intensive universities has been recently been formed called the Science and Engineering South Consortium (SES-5).  This consortium involves the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Southampton, Imperial College London and University College London. Collectively, the SES-5 have a combined annual research spend of more than £1.3 billion.

The SES-5 will collaborate on research, innovation and training activities, whilst providing efficiencies of scale and shared utilisation of facilities for research in the physical sciences, bio-sciences, and engineering.  Further engagement with industry will be sought. 

Further information is available at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0513/130509-science-and-engineering-south-consortium.

EU budget discussions update

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Official negotiations between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament regarding the overall EU budget for 2014 to 2020 are finally scheduled to start on Monday 13 May, to try to reach agreement on the budget before the end of the Irish presidency on 30 June. These Multiannual Financial Framework negotiations will continue on the basis of the EUR 960 billion budget agreed at the European Council meeting in February 2013. The negotiations are looking to agree final budgets for the next generation of EU programmes due to be launched in 2014.

European Institute of Innovation and Technology launch PHD programme

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The climate arm of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology is launching a PhD programme to evaluate the effectiveness of its workings, as part of efforts to measure the impact of the EIT.

Four PhD studentships will be available to examine how the EIT’s knowledge and innovation communities, or KICs, operate. This will include one project to assess each of Climate-KIC’s three pillars of education, entrepreneurship and innovation, according to Mary Ritter, the chief executive officer of Climate-KIC. “After all, we’re an experiment ourselves, so we need evaluating,” Ritter told Research Europe during an EIT conference in Dublin, on 29 and 30 April.

The announcement is part of a growing effort by the EIT to justify a significantly increased budget from 2014-20, despite reduced public spending. The EIT received €300 million for its pilot phase under Framework 7, but the Commission has proposed to increase this to nearly €3.2 billion under Horizon 2020.

“Outcome results are kind of an obsession in the EIT,” said José Manuel Leceta, the institute’s director. At present, each of the three KICs—on energy, climate and ICT—produces a scoreboard of performance indicators, including subject-specific targets as well as core indicators such as the number of students, new start-ups and products. These are used by the EIT board to award funding, which is allocated each year on a competitive basis.

Since 2010, the three KICs have generated €1.6bn of investment from external sources, and 318 graduates and 108 start-ups have emerged from the programmes, the conference heard. “The figures are reassuring, and we should take this as an encouragement,” Leceta told conference participants. “But it’s not just about outputs, it’s also about long-term impact. This is still a work in progress.”

“Assessing impact is more complex,” said Ritter, particularly in areas such as societal impact and mitigation of climate change where qualitative assessment is needed. “Key performance indicators can only act as a proxy.”

“Far too often, KPIs end up a number game,” said Willem Jonker, the CEO of the ICT Labs KIC.

Another problem is the length of time it takes to achieve measureable results. “The EIT is the last mile of the innovation lifecycle,” said Jari Ahola, the head of service and finance at the EIT. “It’s not for funding basic research, it’s for catalysing innovation—which is an investment.” Many of the start-ups are still at the incubation stage in facilities funded by the KICs.

Climate-KIC’s doctoral assessments could prove useful for consortia preparing communities to be funded under Horizon 2020. The Commission is expected to open bids for KICs on healthy living, raw materials, and food for the future in 2014, with a possible fourth KIC on added-value manufacturing. At least two other KICs, on urban mobility and smart secure societies, are planned for 2018

Looking to promote your work?

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ideasforlife

Birmingham Science City aims to promote the strength of science, technology and innovation in and between the public, private and university sectors.  Staffordshire University are involved in Birmingham Science City (BSC) working groups and we are therefore invited to publicise our work through their networks. A recent call has gone out to request content for the BSC website, providing an opportunity to:

  • Advertise achievements, funding, networks, events, etc through the news and events sections
  • Promote ‘Did you know’ facts about science and technology developed or applied locally
  • Share case studies of collaborative activity in Low Carbon, Innovative Healthcare and Digital areas

If you have news you wish to promote via BSC, please contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk.

If you wish to find out more about the work of Birmingham Science City and its innovation community you can engage with partners via linked in Innovation Futures group or @Bham ScienceCity for Twitter.  Further details at (http://www.birminghamsciencecity.co.uk/).