From 28 – 30 August 2019, chemists, researchers and industry representatives met in the Italian town of Salerno for a breakthrough-type international conference: a creative showcase conference which would explore the interactions between research, industry and society within the field of Chemistry. CIS 2019 aimed to differentiate itself from conventional scientific conferences, and undertook to encourage discussion on various interactions between all three sectors, and ultimately the process from which an idea can become an innovation within broader topics such as Energy, Health, Sustainability and Security.
EuChemS President Pilar Goya was invited to speak and welcome participants, and took the opportunity to present some of EuChemS’s latest activities and initiatives and how it too is taking part in such debates at a pan-European level.
The conference was organised by the Italian Chemical Society in collaboration with European Chemical Society (EuChemS), Federchimica (the Italian Federation of the chemical industry), Farmindustria (Italian Association of pharmaceutical companies) and the support of Italian Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology (INSTM) and Italian Association of Science & Technology of Macromolecules (AIM).
Edited by Brigitte van Tiggelen, Chair, and Annette Lykknes, Vice-Chair, of the EuChemS Working Party for the History of Chemistry, and including the work of several authors, ‘Women in their Element’ opens the door to the stories often forgotten or unstudied of how women shaped the Periodic Table and Chemistry as a whole. Coinciding both with the International year of the Periodic Table, and with a growing shift in attitudes in academia and in society over the role of women, the book provides its readers with a journey across time and challenges the stories we thought we knew. It moreover includes a preface by EuChemS President Pilar Goya, and IUPAC Past-President Natalia Tarasova. You can find out more about the book here.
Under the title ‘Innovation and Youth’, Bulgaria’s Mariya Gabriel will take charge of a portfolio that covers research, innovation, education and sports, and which will include overseeing Horizon Europe, the future funding programme as well as the Erasmus+ programme. Whilst not a newcomer to EU politics – Gabriel was the previous Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, the large number of programmes and areas she will work on may prove challenging. Some organisations have also questioned the lack of the words ‘research’ or ‘science’ featuring in the job title, but others have pointed to the logical link with education. The appointment, announced by the recently elected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, will still need to be approved by the European parliament. Read more about the story here.
Following a provisional agreement by the European Parliament and the Council on the Horizon Europe package, the European Commission launched a ‘co-design’ consultation which intends to foster greater debate and encourage feedback from a variety of stakeholders and from citizens. The feedback received will be used to evaluate how Horizon Europe can better be targeted and what the future investment priorities should be.
EuChemS’ response to the consultation emphasises that Horizon Europe should continue to support excellence and international collaboration in order to best benefit Europe’s science and innovation base. Excellent discovery research is a vital component of a successful research and innovation sector and should remain a key focus of Horizon Europe’s Excellent Science pillar through instruments such as the European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. EuChemS has moreover underlined that need to enable broad third country participation to preserve and enhance international collaboration, just as has been successfully done in previous framework programmes.
Finally, EuChemS urges the EU and other international programmes to align in order to tackle the global challenges that we face. The overlap of the European Commission’s proposal for ‘Missions’ with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals illustrates the way international collaboration and alignment can help achieve progress on tackling today’s global challenges.
Every two years, the exceptional achievements of one scientist working in the field of chemistry in Europe are rewarded. The winner is awarded a gold medal and the opportunity to give the opening lecture at the next EuChemS Chemistry Congress (ECC). The deadline for nominations is soon approaching! You have until 30 September 2019 to submit.
Planning for the next EU research framework programme Horizon Europe (which will succeed Horizon 2020 as of January 2021) is ongoing, with the European Commission launching a survey inviting organisations, scientists, NGOs, industry, and citizens to take part in an exercise of co-design. The results of the survey will inform the work on the first Strategic Plan of Horizon Europe, and will be followed by an interactive conference from 24-26 September in Brussels – the EU Research and Innovation Days (places have run out, but there is a waiting list).
For more information on EuChemS’ position on Horizon Europe, read our position paper here.
On 16 July, Ursula von der Leyen was elected to be the next European Commission President following a series of uncertain weeks of negotiations between the various European institutions and eventually the European Parliament’s vote in favour. It is the first time a woman will hold the position of President of the European Commission. In her agenda proposal for her candidacy, von der Leyen emphasised the central role research funding would play, most notably in establishing a European Green Deal and moving closer to climate-neutrality in Europe. You can read the European Parliament press release here and download von der Leyen’s agenda of political priorities here.
In July, the European Research Council (ERC) announced its biggest ever annual injection of funding in blue-sky research. €2.2 billion will be made available in 2020 to support some 1100 top researchers. As in previous years, most of the funding (61%) is earmarked for early- to mid-career scientists and scholars. The funding will also support jobs for an estimated 8,000 postdoctoral researchers, PhD students and other research staff employed in ERC-funded teams. More information available here and here.
The European Chemical Industry Council’s (Cefic) President Daniele Ferrari stressed at the 100thanniversary of the International Union of Pure and Applied chemistry (IUPAC) in Paris, that the EU chemical industry needs to define “The European way”, notably the need to innovate towards circular models, leading on sustainability and being at the forefront of innovation in technologies.
Ferrari described the megatrends which will affect the world economy in the next decades. With a population set to increase by one billion by 2030, demand for manufactured goods and energy consumption will only grow. As more than 95% of all manufactured goods are touched by chemistry in some way, our sector has a leading role in responding to this growth, explained Ferrari. More information available here and here.
End of July, the Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas, announced the names of the experts who have been selected as members of the mission boards to work on five major European research and innovation missions. The missions will be part of Horizon Europe, the next EU research and innovation programme (2021-2027).
Each mission board consists of 15 experts, including the Mission Board Chair. They will identify the first possible specific missions on cancer, climate change, healthy oceans, climate-neutral cities and healthy soil and food by the end of 2019. In addition, for each mission, an assembly will be established, gathering a larger number of high-level experts. The assemblies will provide an additional pool of ideas, knowledge and expertise that will be actively called upon to contribute to the success of the five missions. Find out more here.
