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Policy

Prof. Rockström says that Earth observation systems are helping us to define national budgets to stay within planetary boundaries. Image credit - M. Axelsson/Azote
interview | environment | policy
22 October 2018

Eliminating coal, oil and natural gas is the easy part of fighting climate change – Johan Rockström

To avoid climate breakdown, eliminating fossil fuels is the easy part, according to Professor Johan Rockström, co-director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. He says that safeguarding biological resources such as water, soil and biodiversity will be the ultimate test of whether global warming targets can be reached.

Bill Gates and Commissoner Carlos Moedas committed to establish a fund to get radical new clean energy technologies to market. Image credit - European Commission
environment | policy | open innovation
17 October 2018

Bill Gates and European Commission launch €100 million clean energy fund

Bill Gates and the European Commission have launched a €100 million investment fund designed to bring radical clean energy technologies more quickly to market in order to promote energy efficiency and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake in Amatrice, Italy, in August 2016 killed nearly 300 people. Image credit - Amatrice Corso by Mario1952 is licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-2.5 and 2016 Amatrice earthquake by Leggi il Firenzepost is licensed under CC BY 3.0
environment | policy | open science
13 September 2018

Plate tectonics observatory to create seismic shift in earthquake research

We may never be able to entirely predict earthquakes such as those that hit central Italy in 2016, but we could better assess how they’re going to play out by joining up data from different scientific fields in a new Europe-wide observatory, say scientists.

One of the pressing questions that arise with artificial intelligence is how to account for the actions of machines that make decisions by themselves. Image credit - ITU Pictures, licensed under CC BY 2.0
policy
13 July 2018

Digital age 'desperately' needs ethical and legal guidelines

Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics, ‘desperately’ need an institutional framework and system of values to help regulate the industry, an ethics expert has told leading scientists and policymakers.

Engaging with the public is essential to winning back trust in evidence-based policy making. Image credit - Pxhere, licensed under CC0
policy
12 July 2018

General public should have more input into scientific advice

The scientific community needs to listen more to people outside academia if it wants to continue to help politicians create good evidence-based policies that will benefit the public, a conference has heard.

Commisioner-Moedas
policy | interview
07 June 2018

Horizon Europe will connect the public to European science – Carlos Moedas

The next European science and research funding programme, known as Horizon Europe, is designed to connect people with the achievements financed by their tax money, and to fix problems with innovation funding, according to Carlos Moedas, the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation. He spoke to Horizon magazine to coincide with the launch of the Horizon Europe proposals on 7 June.

PET-bottles-recycling
environment | policy
05 June 2018

Smart containers to reward people for recycling properly

Smart recycling containers that reward people for proper use could help drive up the rate of plastic recycling, reducing the amount of plastic that goes into oceans and landfill, and creating business opportunities out of the challenge to cut back on waste.

Artificial intelligence software technologies are very important for European industry, says Prof. Jürgen Rüttgers. Image credit - Dirk Vorderstraße, licensed under CC BY 2.0
interview | industry | policy | open innovation
24 April 2018

We want to end the de-industrialisation of Europe – Prof. Jürgen Rüttgers

Artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber security should be priorities in future EU industrial research policy in order to reinvigorate industry and recover jobs that have been lost abroad, according to Professor Jürgen Rüttgers, a former research minister in Germany.

Six venture capital funds will share the task of raising €2.1 billion of private investment for European companies. Image credit - Pixabay/rawpixel, licensed under CC0
policy
10 April 2018

EU launches venture capital mega-fund to attract heavy-hitting investors

Heavy-hitting institutional investors will soon have their chance to back European technology innovation, according to fund managers involved in Europe’s new €410 million venture capital fund of funds.

Jean-Eric Paquet says the the need for science to live up to societal challenges is greater than ever. Image credit - European Commission
interview | policy
28 March 2018

'Evolution, not revolution' will guide next EU research funding programme – Jean-Eric Paquet

The structure of the EU’s next research funding programme is based on the mantra of ‘evolution, not revolution’ and so will not contain any major surprises, according to Jean-Eric Paquet, the EU’s recently appointed director-general for research and innovation, who takes up his new role on 3 April.

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