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China, the US and the EU's race to control their own scientific advances and cut out supply chain dependencies could lead to a "decoupling" of research activities at a time when collaboration to solve global issues is crucial, says a stark report by the OECD.
Opinion: European universities still face "far too many" restrictions on their autonomy, hindering them from realising their full potential, according to a recent comparative scorecard on university autonomy.
A year ago, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine redefined geopolitics in a shockwave that is still reverberating through the science world. The EU research community was quick to cut ties with Russia and lend Ukraine a helping hand - but now it is grappling with resulting instability and uncertainty as the war climbs into its second year.
EU countries want to ensure the scientific publishing industry is fair and sustainable as it moves towards open access models, according to the first draft of council conclusions seen by Science|Business.
Now and throughout 2023, the European Commission is making its big, periodic push to revise its long-term research and innovation agenda, as implemented in the €95.5 billion Horizon Europe programme.
Germany universities should carry out risk assessments when collaborating with China on sensitive technologies, after a string of investigations revealed that German researchers have been working on projects useful to the Chinese military.
A year has passed since Russia started to wage a gruesome war against Ukraine. Aside from causing thousands of deaths, displacing millions and causing a pan-European economic crisis, the invasion triggered a fundamental rethinking of German policy.
Marc Lemaître, the new chief of the EU's research directorate takes office today, he will apply his experience in Cohesion policy to promote greater coordination between research funding and regional development funding, increasing the impact of both.
It takes at least 30 hours to fly halfway round the world from Brussels to Wellington, with several jetlagged stops on the way. In fact, with most of the EU exactly 12 hours behind New Zealand, even scheduling a Zoom call is a challenge.
This article is part of a series of opinions Science|Business is publishing on the EU's strategic autonomy agenda, and its impact on global R&D. A complete report will be published and discussed at the annual Science|Business Network conference 7 February.
Sweden kicked off a five-month push to deepen EU cooperation on research infrastructures and open data sharing, at an informal meeting of research ministers in Stockholm on Wednesday. The six-month Swedish presidency of the EU isn't introducing new topics to the table but homing in on two that have been discussed for years: research infrastructures and open science publishing.
Democratic countries are bound by economic reality to work together rather than put up barriers to cross-border collaboration. Companies must spearhead the R&D cooperation, argues the lead for a new Fraunhofer USA initiative.
Stronger research into policy innovation and behavioural change, new technologies to increase resource efficiency, and nature-positive food production innovation - these are three asks of European scientists by Sweden's climate minister Romina Pourmokhtari.
This article is part of a series of opinions Science|Business is publishing on the EU's strategic autonomy agenda, and its impact on global R&D. A complete report will be published and discussed at the annual Science|Business Network conference 7 February.
A new EU project is aiming to promote the role and use of scientific knowledge in policymaking in seven participating member states, after current shortcomings came under the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Horizon Europe is heading into its third year, and the latest statistics offer a glimpse of how the EU is spending its €95.5 billion research funding pot.
In an effort to get its big-spending programmes working better together, the European Commission named Marc Lemaître, currently head of its regional development funding, to run its big research and innovation programme.
Switzerland's president has discussed Horizon Europe association and Erasmus+ membership with Commission president, as the two sides try to revive broader negotiations that could unlock talks about the research programme.
The targeted research Missions set up under Horizon Europe are turning three years old this year, and their ambitious logic is facing its first test in an upcoming review at the midpoint of the EU's €95.9 billion research programme.
A new global organisation is trying to prevent dramatic advances in bioscience from unleashing engineered pathogens from the lab, and wants research funders, scientists and journals to help. The International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS) warns that scientists might be able to order the DNA of dangerous pathogens like smallpox from unregulated companies, and wants much tighter screening of the industry.
Effective Altruism (EA), a movement of rationalist do-gooders that has been growing in size and influence for just over a decade, hit the headlines worldwide in 2022 - although not quite as its supporters hoped.
The EU is to pilot a new initiative that aims to improve working conditions for young researchers, starting in 2024. The pilot will test how the European Commission, member states and industry could work together to coordinate financing and knowledge networks and strengthen and diversify research career paths by promoting links between academia and industry.
European research leaders have reacted with disappointment to Switzerland's expulsion from the body that coordinates scientific infrastructure across the continent.
The European Commission is making a big push to reform research assessment, but Germany's university leaders are not convinced the call for change from above is the right way to deliver it.
In a landmark decision this week, the European Research Council (ERC) announced changes to its application forms and evaluation procedures that will be implemented starting with the 2024 calls for proposals.
Of 174 UK-based ERC grant winners 23, or around one in eight, have decided to relocate, while only four of 66 researchers based in Switzerland did so.
The European Parliament is facing a reputation crisis after Eva Kaili, one of the its 14 vice presidents, was arrested over corruption charges last Friday. Kaili was one of four people arrested following 16 police searches in Brussels, during which €600,000 cash was seized. Following the arrest, Parliament president Roberta Metsola warned that "European democracy is under attack."
