CORDIS EXPRESS

Some of Europe‘s biggest research initiatives have taken important steps forward this week. CORDIS Express brings you the proceedings of a public hearing at the European Parliament on the proposed European Institute for Technology, at which participants made it clear that that the focus of the debate was no longer on ’whether‘ but ’how‘ the EIT idea should be developed. Meanwhile, the European Research Council (ERC) entered a new phase in its operations as it announced a massive response to its first call for proposals, targeting young researchers. This week‘s edition also has the details of the first ever European Space Policy, which policymakers hope will ensure Europe‘s place in outer space.

EIT debate moves from 'whether' to 'how' at public hearing

'How?' was the focus of an open hearing on the proposed European Institute for Technology (EIT) in the European Parliament on 2 May. Joining the hearing at the end, European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, Ján Figel' applauded this shift away from 'whether', and said that he is hoping for a common orientation agreement on the EIT within the Council in June.

Applications for ERC starting grants exceed expectations

A massive 9,167 proposals have been received by the European Research Council (ERC) Scientific Council in response to its first call for proposals, targeting young researchers. Peer review panels, the members of which were announced by the Scientific Council on 26 April, must now begin the mammoth task of evaluating each application.

Commission sets out first ever European Space Policy

The European Commission has unveiled its vision for the first ever European Space Policy, designed to pool the resources of Member States to maintain the competitiveness of Europe's space industries. The proposal, jointly drafted by the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA), focuses on making more effective use of resources by combining efforts, as single Member States would not be able to face global challenges alone.

New European portal to connect research with technology transfer

Although Europe is good at coming up with ideas, it could do better in turning these ideas into products. This innovation challenge is the starting point for a new online business networking portal. i-techpartner aims to connect researchers and technology transfer offices with small and medium-sized innovative companies, innovation experts, corporate partners and venture capital investors throughout Europe.

Commission launches consultation on the ERA

The European Commission has launched an online consultation on the future of the European Research Area (ERA). The questions in the consultation are based on issues highlighted for discussion by the Commission in its recent Green Paper on the future of the ERA.

Denmark to host new protein research centre

Denmark is to build a new centre for protein research at the University of Copenhagen. The centre will be built with DKK 600 million (around €13.4 million) from the Novo Nordisk Foundation. This is the largest donation ever made to basic research in Denmark.

Making regional innovation policies more innovative: IRE plenary conference

The Innovating Regions in Europe (IRE) will hold a plenary conference in Ennis, Ireland, on 24 and 25 May. The event will bring together key policy-makers and innovation practitioners, and will explore the main challenges for regional innovation policies in the coming years.

Conference on solar thermal energy

The Third European Solar Thermal Energy Conference will take place on 19 and 20 June in Freiburg, Germany. The event, which is sponsored by the European Commission's Intelligent Energy initiative, aims to provide the industry, research organisations and politicians with an international platform for discussing current and future developments in the field of solar thermal energy.

Create your FP7 project proposal online

More calls for project proposals under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) are now availlabe through the Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS). The EPSS allows users to propose projects by creating their proposal completely online without having to download or save anything locally on their own personal computer. The service is available via the internet as a web-based application and requires only a standard web browser, with no special software.

Developing novel cancer screening methods

ProtoBioS, a small research company from Estonia, is looking for partners to develop novel cancer screening methods using mRNA alternative splice variants as cancer biomarkers. Potential partners should have proven expertise in areas such as cancer tissue, blood samples, diagnostic screening tests other than RNA splice variants, high throughout screening (HTS) analysis and clinical data analysis systems.

Ethnicity and women scientists

The Network on Ethnicity and Women Scientists (NEWS) project is exploring the position of ethnic minority women pursing careers in teaching and research in the Member States of the enlarged European Union. One of the aims of the project is to contribute to an increase in the knowledge base on women in science and make visible and improve the position of this constituency of women belonging to the European research workforce, to help facilitate greater diversity.

The joy of snot

If bodily fluids leave you feeling queasy, you should probably stop reading now, because the theme of this week‘s Finally and Briefly is snot, or ’nasal mucus‘, to give it its scientific name...