Forty-five European Research Council (ERC) grantees will bring the results of their frontier research closer to market thanks to Proof of Concept grants. This top-up funding will help them explore the innovation potential of their ERC-funded discoveries. These Proof of Concept grants, worth €150,000 each, can be used for example to establish intellectual property rights, investigate business opportunities or conduct technical validation. The scheme is open to ERC grant holders only.
Source: https://erc.europa.eu/

Christian Schärf, Paul Rathke, and Friedrich Wanierke, from Germany, are the winners of the 2016 EUCYS EuChEMS Award with their project entitled “Alpha-aluminium oxide-based gemstones: Development of a chemical synthesis process prompted by current mining conditions”.

EuCheMS special prize for best chemistry contribution at the European Union Contest for Young Scientist, is attributed every year at EUCYS to a young scientist for hers/his research work in the field of chemistry. EUCYS, an initiative of the European Commission that was set up in 1989 with the goal of promoting cooperation and interchange between young scientists and guiding them towards a future career in science and technology.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/

Seven Western Balkans’ economies joined the European Union (EU) in pursuing the EU Open Science Agenda at the Open Data and Access in Science meeting organised by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) during the International Open Data Conference (IODC) on 6-7 October 2016. These countries agreed to appoint national points of reference on Open Science by the end of the year. Participants also formally established the Working Group on Open Science and outlined directions in which they will operate in the coming period by producing the draft three-year work plan. In the region of Western Balkans where the investments to public research systems are low and where, as the data from the Balkan Barometer showed, the cooperation between universities and industry is limited to a very small number of large businesses, the Open Science and Open Access Agenda has the potential to open access to the research results to be used for innovation in the smaller and medium sized companies, as well as for wider public. Earlier this year EuCheMS has organised an event on open science, its outcomes can be found here.
Source: https://wbc-rti.info/

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is to release the raw data used in the recent EU safety evaluation of glyphosate, as part of its commitment to open risk assessment. The information will be shared with a group of Members of European Parliament (MEPs) following a public access to document request. When combined with the detailed background documents already published on EFSA’s website, the information will be sufficient to enable a third-party scientist to scrutinise the evaluation of glyphosate that was carried out by EFSA and EU Member States. Glyphosate is an active substance used for the production of pesticides, has recently been under the spotlight due to health concerns regarding its use.
Source: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/

EuCheMS and the European Chemistry Thematic Network Association (ECTN) met earlier this month to discuss, among other, chemistry, teaching, education, Eurolabels, and open data with the objective of strengthening their European collaboration. From now EuCheMS and ECTN will have a common administrative support structure, a synergy which will allow them to better collaborate in key common policy areas.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/

Only four out of 17 EU-listed Food Contact Materials (FCMs) are currently covered by specific safety measures foreseen in existing EU legislation: plastics, ceramics, regenerated cellulose and “active and intelligent” materials, while others have yet to be fully tested. EU-wide safety rules are needed for more materials in contact with food, such as those used in packaging, kitchen utensils and tableware, say Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in a non-binding resolution. According to the MEPs, given the prevalence of FCMs on the EU market and the risk that they could pose to human health, the EU Commission should prioritise the drawing up of specific EU measures for paper and board, varnishes and coatings, metals and alloys, printing inks and adhesives.
Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016 was awarded jointly to Jean-Pierre Sauvage (University of Strasbourg, France), Sir J. Fraser Stoddart (Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA), and Bernard L. Feringa (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) “for the design and synthesis of molecular machines”. 2016’s Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have taken molecular systems out of equilibrium’s stalemate and into energy-filled states in which their movements can be controlled. In terms of development, the molecular motor is at the same stage as the electric motor was in the 1830s, when scientists displayed various spinning cranks and wheels, unaware that they would lead to washing machines, fans and food processors. Molecular machines will most likely be used in the development of things such as new materials, sensors and energy storage systems.
EuCheMS is honoured to have had Bernard L. Feringa as a plenary speaker at the 6^th EuCheMS Chemistry Congress in Seville last month, where he was given an award by the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh).
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/