On Tuesday 7 September ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher took Commissioner Breton on a tour of ESA’s European Space Technology and Research Centre, ESTEC, at Noordwijk in the Netherlands.
They looked in at ESTEC’s Navigation Labaratory, which includes the complete navigation module of a Galileo satellite, kept in cleanroom conditions for technical experiments and trouble shooting.
Commissioner Breton also inspected the six Galileo ‘Batch 3’ satellites currently being tested for space at ESTEC’s Test Centre, the largest satellite test facility in Europe. Two of these Galileo satellites are due for launch later this year.
Commission adopts proposal for a Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe
On July 16th, 2021, the European Commission adopted its proposal for a Council Recommendation on “A Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe” to support the implementation of national European Research Area (ERA) policies.
The Pact proposal defines shared priority areas for joint action in support of the ERA, sets out the ambition for investments and reforms, and constitutes the basis for a simplified policy coordination and monitoring process at EU and Member States’ level through an ERA platform where Member States can share their reform and investment approaches to enhance exchanges of best practices.
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The Department of Geoinformatics – Z_GIS is honoured to host the 12th International Symposium on Digital Earth – ISDE12 – July, 6-8 2021. Scheduled within our annual ‚GI-Week‘, this special event will bring together policy makers and scientists and will explore pathways towards the vision of a ‘Digital Earth’.
The Commission has adopted themain 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.
The Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) is a website that enables the submission of novel ideas for space technology and applications. The platform supports individuals, businesses, universities, organisations who wish to contribute to European space research and interact with space industry experts. It also encourages ideas from legal entities interested in interacting with ESA and gaining funding or support for new research activities.
Ariadna is a mechanism for collaborative joint research projects between ESA’s internal research think tank, the Advanced Concepts Team and academia. It was established in 2004 as an initiative to establish closer link with the European academic community in advanced space technology research.
STATEMENT BY THE EIC ADVISORY BOARD AND THE ERC SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL
A joint statement was issued on 18.05.2021 by the EIC Advisory Board and the ERC Scientific Council, which can be found on the European Research Council website.
“The societal benefits of successful research and innovation are so high that public investment in this sector remains essential for the future of our society. At the European level, this was recognised in 2007 with the establishment of the European Research Council (ERC) to fund the highest quality curiosity-driven research, and in 2021 with the founding of the European Innovation Council (EIC) to support ground-breaking innovations. Both institutions aim to nurture the best talent in research and in innovation. Their presence under the same framework programme, Horizon Europe, recognises that many ERC researchers are also innovators and many EIC innovators also are researchers.”
Action Plan on Synergies between civil, defense and space industries
On 13 April, the ITRE had a presentation by the Commission on the Action Plan on Synergies between civil, defense and space industries, which aims to further enhance and shape these interfaces to the maximum extent.
During the ITRE committee meeting, the Commission presented the action plan that is built upon three overall objectives:
enhancing complementarity between relevant EU programmes (synergies)
promoting EU funding for research and development on defense and space for the economy at large
facilitating the use of civil industry research achievements and civil-driven innovation in European defense cooperation projects
To this end, the Commission proposes the launch of three flagship projects as possible game-changers:
EU drone technologies
EU space-based global secure communications system
2 billion Galileo-enabled smartphones sold until today
The Galileo programme has reached an important milestone, with an estimated 2 billion Galileo-enabled smartphones sold until today. The first Galileo-enabled smartphone hits the market in 2016 and since then has expanded rapidly.
GSA Guerric Pont, Acting Head of Galileo Services Department said: “2 billion smartphones sold is a remarkable achievement, and bears testimony to the fact that the market understands and appreciates the added value that Galileo brings in terms of availability, robustness and reliability’’.
1. How to prepare a successful proposal in Horizon Europe (Webinar on 24 March 2021): Link: Recorded Session
2. A successful proposal for Horizon Europe: Scientific-technical excellence is key, but don’t forget the other aspects (Webinar on 21 April 2021): Registration here This webinar is a continuation of the session on “How to prepare a successful proposal in Horizon Europe”, held on the 24th March 2021. It provides additional details on the preparation of a proposal for Horizon Europe, like open science, gender dimension or dissemination, exploitation and communication aspects.
Establishing the space programme of the Union and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme
RECOMMENDATION FOR SECOND READING on the Council position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Union Space Programme and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme and repealing Regulations (EU)
European Ways Forward for Space Traffic Management
SPACEWAYS intends to create a common understanding of the guidelines and standards necessary to develop a Space Traffic Management concept for the European Union. The 18-month program aims to analyse the policy, legal and economic context of STM.
SPACEWAYS intends to provide guidelines to support European policy making thereupon.
SPACEWAYS will identify stakeholders and users’ needs by associating them with the project through a networking platform.
Moreover, specific attention will be devoted to mega constellation management, on-orbit operations or launch and re-entry future activities.
Conference on the future of Europe – campaign materials
The Conference on the Future of Europe is a chance for all Europeans to make their voices heard. Use the recommended tools and get involved in shaping the EU’s future.
The EU is looking for your ideas on what Europe’s future should look like as part of its Conference on the Future of Europe initiative.
The European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) manages European programmes and initiatives on behalf of the European Commission, and it works closely together with its parent Directorate-Generals such as DG CNECT, DEFIS, GROW, RTD.
The HaDEA addresses the European Commission’s ambition to help rebuild a post-COVID-19 Europe at its heart, which will be greener, more digital, more resilient and better fit for the current and forthcoming challenges.
The expected total budget managed by the HaDEA will amount to over €20 billion over the 7 years period of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework.
Europlanet supports evidence-based policy, informing policy makers on the scientific, industrial and socio-economic impacts of planetary science, at European and national level. Europlanet is also engaging with the planetary science community raising awareness of political developments and encourages its engagement with policy makers and industry across Europe.
Since 2010, Europlanet has had an active programme of engaging policy makers with the cutting-edge science and technological challenges of planetary science and exploration. We have organized one-to-one briefings, dinner debates and other events aimed at Members of the European Parliament, European Commission officials and key industry and policy groups.
Resources
Check out the Europlanet Society policy briefing sheets, the Science for Policy Handbook, and ESPAS (European Strategy and Policy Analysis System).
First calls under Horizon Europe to be launched by the European Research Council ERC Kicks off Horizon Europe
The EU institutions reached a political agreement on Horizon Europe on 11 December 2020 and set the budget for Horizon Europe at €95.5 billion in current prices. On this basis, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU proceed towards the adoption of the legal acts. The work programme for the European Research Council was adopted on 22 February 2021. For additional information: Click Here
European Research Council approved a €1.9 billion financing package to allow some 1,000 top researchers to pursue frontier research.
The funding will support jobs for an estimated 6,860 postdoctoral researchers, PhD students and other research staff employed in ERC-funded teams.
Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Research, Innovation, Culture, Education and Youth highlighted the importance of the adopted Work Programme as that will support top researchers and their teams to pursue frontier research at different stages of their careers. Top researchers considered as the future of European research.
Additionally, Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, President of the European Research Council welcomed the adopted Work Programme as an important tool to back Europe’s researchers and their most innovative ideas. Thanks to the European Commission’s commitment, and the outstanding dedication of the Executive Agency staff the first call for proposal have already launched in 25 February.
First Calls for proposal in 2021
European Research Council’s Starting Grants as supporting top researchers to start their own independent research team or programme. Total budget: €619 million. The call launched it on 25 February and a deadline of 8 April.
Consolidator grants for researchers who are consolidating their own independent research team or programme. Total budget of €633 million. The call launched it on 11 March and a deadline for applications is 20 April.
European Research Council will launch a call for Advanced Grants for leading advanced investigators. Total budget of €626 million. The call will be launched on 20 May and a deadline on 31 August.
The United Nations/United Arab Emirates Forum focused on ‘Space for our Future’ to maximize the efforts in ensuring that the benefits of space are brought to everyone, everywhere. The 2020 edition sought to facilitate the exchange of best practices and more inter-agency collaboration in support of the SDGs so that space assets, exploration and utilization finally become more universally used as one of the key tools for a better future.
Available materials (Presentations of the online virtual meeting):Click here
Europlanet 2024 RI has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149.
Europlanet AISBL (Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif - 0800.634.634) is hosted by the Department of Planetary Atmospheres of the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB), Avenue Circulaire 3, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium.
