January 2017

Science & Policy:

What’s on the EU's agenda?

2

EUROPEAN COMMISSION JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE

Strategy and Work Programme Coordination Interinstitutional, International Relations & Outreach

SCIENCE & POLICY: WHAT'S ON THE EU'S AGENDA?

12 January 2017

The DG JRC's monthly briefing to the scientific community, N° 54

Table of Contents

1. Activities of the European Institutions 3

1.1 European Commission 3

1.2 Council 3

1.3 European Parliament 4

1.4 Committee of the Regions (CoR) 8

1.5 European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) 8

The situation of refugees and migrants with disabilities 9

2. Conferences & Meetings 9

2.1 DG JRC Conferences and Meetings 9

2.2 Further European Conferences and Meetings 10

2.3 International Conferences 12

3. DG JRC News 14

December Highlights 14

Correspondence: Strategy and Work Programme Coordination Interinstitutional, International Relations & Outreach– DG JRC European Commission, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11 Office: CDMA 05/155 JRC-STAKEHOLDERS@ec.europa.eu Prepared by Elisebha Fabienne Platzer

3

1. Activities of the European Institutions

1.1 European Commission

Date Event Subject

12-13 January Visit of the College of

Commissioners to Valletta

The College of Commissioners is travelling to Valletta for its traditional visit to the incoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The College will meet the President of the Republic of Malta, Ms Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and attend meetings with the Ministers of the Maltese Government. President Jean-Claude Juncker will meet Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

All meetings of the College of Commissioners

1.2 Council

Date Event Venue/Location

16 January Foreign Affairs Council Brussels

23 January Agriculture and Fisheries Council Brussels

23-24 January Informal meeting of the General Affairs Council Brussels

26-27 January Informal meeting of justice and home affairs ministers Brussels

3 February Informal meeting of EU Heads of State or Government Malta

6 February Foreign Affairs Council Brussels

7 February General Affairs Council Brussels

8 March Tripartite Social Summit Brussels

All meetings of the Council

4

1.3 European Parliament

Plenary Sessions

Date Event Subjects Venue/Location

16-19 January EP Plenary

Among others: Announcement of the candidates for election to the office of the President; election of the President and the Vice-President of the Parliament; election of the Quaestors of Parliament; conclusions of the European Council meeting of 15 December 2016; presentation of the report "Logistics in the EU and multimodal transport in the new TEN-T corridors"; EU-Kosovo Stabilisation and Association Agreement: procedures for its application; imports of textile products from certain third countries not covered by specific Union import rules; conclusion of the Agreement continuing the International Science and Technology Centre; tackling the challenges of the EU Customs Code (UCC) implementation; biological low risk pesticides;

Strasbourg

Committee Meetings

9 January Committee on Foreign Affairs

Among others: Towards an EU strategy for international cultural relations; exchange of views with Nicholas Westcott, EEAS Managing Director Middle East and North Africa, on EU-Morocco relations after the ECJ ruling on Council vs. Front Polisari; Report on the 2016 Commission Report on Serbia and Kosovo;

Brussels

9 January Committee on Budgetary Control

Among others: Control of the Register and composition of the Commission's expert groups; The role of whistle-blowers in the protection of EU´s financial interests; EU funds for gender equality;

9 January Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

Among others: Hearing on "Conclusions of the Agricultural Markets Task Force - AMTF"

Brussels

5

9 January Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality

Among others: Visit of Mara Marinaki, principal Adviser on Gender of the European External Action Service (EEAS)

Brussels

9 January Committee on Budgets Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Among others: Implementation of the European Fund for Strategic Investments and proposals for its revision

Brussels

9 January

Committee on Budgets

Committee on Budgetary Control

Committee on Legal Affairs

Among others: Exchange of views with Günther Oettinger, Member of the European Commission, on the transfer of the portfolio for Budget and Human Resources Brussels

12 January Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector

Among others: report on the inquiry into emission measurements in the automotive sector; draft recommendations following the inquiry on emission measurements in the automotive sector; hearing of Mr Viktor Stromček, State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development, Slovakia; Hearing of Mr Riccardo Nencini, Vice Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Italy;

Brussels

12 January Committee on Budgets: Extraodrinary Meeting

Among others: presentation by M. Monti of the final report and recommendations of the High Level Group of Own Resources; proposal for amendment of Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management;

12 January

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs:

Extraordinary Meeting

Among others: Prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing

Brussels

12 January Committee on Legal Affairs

Among others: Copyright in the Digital Single Market; Prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing; safety rules and standards for passenger ships; coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member

Brussels

6

States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services in view of changing market realities; Civil Law Rules on Robotics; request for waiver of the immunity of Béla Kovács; Marine Le Pen; António Marinho e Pinto; permitted uses of works and other subject-matter protected by copyright and related rights for the benefit of persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled

12 January Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Presentation of the priorities of the Maltese Council Presidency of the European Union in the area of Justice and Home Affairs; by Carmelo Abela, Maltese Minister for Home Affairs and National Security and Owen Bonnici, Maltese Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government; presentation of UNHCR's proposals for Europe: “Better protecting refugees in the EU and globally”, with specific reference to the current context in Europe: exchange of views with Vincent Cochetel, Director of the UNHCR Bureau for Europe;

12 January Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Among others: European Cloud Initiative; EU eGovernment action plan 2016-2020; Binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States from 2021 to 2030 for a resilient Energy Union and to meet commitments under the Paris Agreement and amending Regulation No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council on a mechanism for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and other information relevant to climate change; European agenda for the collaborative economy;

Brussels

23-24 January Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Agenda not yet available Brussels

24 January Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector

Among others: Hearing of Mr Florian Heuberger, Head of Technical Service and Mr Oliver Hoffman, Head of Development Powertrain, Audi AG

Brussels

7

24 January

Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion

Among others: Public hearing on "The role of lawyers, accountants and bankers in Panama Papers" (Part I)

Brussels

25 January Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality

Among others: With the Council and the Commission: Equality between women and men in the European Union in 2014/2015; EU funds for gender equality; GMAs - European Agenda for the Collaborative Economy

Brussels

25-26 January Committee on Fisheries

Among others: Exchange of views with Roderick Galdes, Maltese Parlamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fischeries and Animal Rights on the priorities of the Maltese Presidency of the Council; exchange of views with Pascal Savouret, Director of the European Fisheries Control Agency on the work programme 2017

Brussels

25-26 January Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

Among others: Approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles; presentation of the Council Presidency’s programme with Maltese Minister Christian Cardona, Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business; FinTech: the influence of technology on the future of the financial sector;

Brussels

25-26 January Committee on Transport and Tourism

Among others: Presentation by Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Malta, Mr Joe Mizzi, and Minister for Tourism, Dr Edward Zammit Lewis on MT Presidency priorities; Presentation by the Commission, DG MOVE of the 3 REFFIT files on safety rules of passenger ships;

Brussels

25-26 January Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Agenda not yet available Brussels

30-31 January Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Among others: Public Hearing "Meeting the EU’s 2030 emission reduction targets: the role of the land use and forestry sectors (LULUCF)"

Brussels

8

All European Parliament Committee Meetings

1.4 Committee of the Regions (CoR)

Date Event Venue/Location

17 January Commission for Natural Resources (NAT) Stakeholders Consultation: Action Plan on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030

Brussels

26 January European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) 2018 edition- Infoday Brussels

31 January Waste legislation review: regions & cities for a circular economy Brussels

31 January 12th Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC) Meeting

Brussels

1 February Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy (ENVE) Brussels

2 February 12th Natural Resources (NAT) Commission Meeting Brussels

3 February Cross-border crisis management and natural disasters Brussels

7 February Investing in Europe: building a coalition of smart cities & regions Brussels

22 February 8th ARLEM (Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly) Plenary Session

Brussels

Further events of the Committee of the Regions

1.5 European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

Date Event Venue/Location

12 January Establishing a new Partnership Framework with third countries under the European Agenda on Migration

Brussels

9

17 January The corporate tax reforms package - with focus on the Common (Consolidated) Corporate Tax Base

Brussels

1 February Artificial intelligence & Society Brussels

6 February Improving the effectiveness of EU policies for SMEs Brussels

7 February What future for islands in the European Union Malta

14 February The situation of refugees and migrants with disabilities Brussels

2-3 March European Migration Forum – 3rd Meeting Brussels

21 March European Consumer Day 2017 Brussels

30-31 March Your Europe, Your Say! 2017 Brussels

Further events of the European Economic and Social Committee

2. Conferences & Meetings

2.1 DG JRC Conferences and Meetings

Date Event Organiser Venue/Location

11 January

European Reference Materials (ERM) Meeting JRC Geel, Belgium

18 January

Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Maltese Presidency in Italy JRC, Maltese

Presidency of the Council

Ispra, Italy

24-25 January

Workshop on Emission Test Benches JRC Ispra, Italy

10

26-27 January

XXIV Public Economics Meeting JRC, University of

Castilla-La Mancha Toledo, Spain

8 February Citizen Science and Open Data: a model for Invasive Alien Species in Europe

DG JRC, COST Brussels

Further upcoming DG JRC Events

Further upcoming events in the EU Newsroom Calendar

2.2 Further European Conferences and Meetings

10 January

Language equality in the digital age towards a Human Language Project

EP Brussels

10 January

Information and networking day on H2020 ICT 23– Interfaces for accessibility

EC Brussels

11 January

Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Maltese Presidency in Valletta

Maltese Presidency

of the Council

Valletta, Malta

11 January

Informal meeting of EU Political Directors

EC, EEAS, Maltese

Presidency of the Council

Floriana, Malta

12 January

Hearings of Member States' Representatives from Slovakia and Italy EP Brussels

13 January

Internet of things – privacy and security workshop EC Brussels

16-17 January

Forum on leadership policy for equality and learning; Take it to the student

Maltese Presidency

of the Council

St. Julians, Malta

17 January

Meeting of EU Directors General

Maltese Presidency

of the Council

Sliema, Malta

11

17-18 January

Information and networking days on Horizon 2020 big data public-private partnership topics 2017

EC Brussels

18 January

Energy efficient finance market place EC Brussels

19 January

eInfrastructure proposers’ day 2017 EC Amsterdam, The

Netherlands

19-20 January

Maltese Presidency Workshop On Climate Change

EC, Maltese Presidency

of the Council

St. Julians, Malta

20 January

The Cork 2.0 Declaration: from reflection to action EC Berlin, Germany

24 January

Economic workshop: Fiscal policy and public investment for relaunching potential growth

EC Brussels

24 January

Workshop on ICT standards in public procurement EC Brussels

24 January

Economic workshop: Fiscal policy and public investment for relaunching potential growth

EC Brussels

25 January

Ethical and social challenges of agricultural technologies - Issues for decision-makers

EP Brussels

25 January

Embedding the macro-regional strategies into the post-2020 EU Multiannual Financial Framework

EC Brussels

24-25 January

9th conference on European space policy – Space strategy for Europe: the road ahead

EC Brussels

25-26 January

Seafood safety: new findings and innovation challenges EC Brussels

25-26 January

Computers, privacy & data protection conference EC Brussels

25-26 January

Seafood safety: new findings and innovation challenges EC Brussels

12

26 January

How best to attract talented researchers EC Brno, Czech

Republic

26 January

8th community of practice for better self- and co-regulation meeting EC Brussels

27 January

Supporting innovation in the Czech Republic European

Investment Bank (EIB)

Prague, Czech Republic

30 January

European Investment Bank (EIB) Board of Directors seminar with civil society 2017

European Investment Bank (EIB)

Luxembourg

3-4 May Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Research & Innovation

EC, Maltese Presidency

of the Council

Valletta, Malta

2.3 International Conferences

Date Event Organiser Venue/Location

7-13 January 2017

16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

WCEE and Chilean Association of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering-

ACHISINA Santiago, Chile

10-20 January

2017 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum

World Economic Forum Davos,

Switzerland

16-17 January

OECD Ministerial Meeting of Health and High Level Policy Forum: Putting People at the Centre. The Future of Health

OECD Paris, France

17-20 January

World Economic Forum: Meeting on Responsive and Responsible Leadership

World Economic Forum Davos,

Switzerland

22 January Meeting of G20 Agricultural Ministers G20 Berlin, Germany

22-27 January

Arctic Frontiers Conference: White Space-Blue Future

Akvaplan-niva et al. Tromsø, Norway

23-25 Geospatial World Forum (GWF) GWF Hyderabad, India

13

January

27-28 January

European Cancer Congress 2017 (ECCO2017)

European Society of Radiology Amsterdam, The

Netherlands

6-7 February

Industrially Contaminated Sites and Health Network - 3rd Plenary Conference COST Action IS1408

European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST)

Thessaloniki, Greece

13-16 February

EUSALP- General Assembly EUSALP Garmisch-

Partenkirchen, Austria

16-20 February

AAAS 2017 Annual Conference American Association for the Advancement

of Science (AAAS) Boston, US

22-24 February

2017 World Ocean Summit The Economist Bali, Indonesia

22-26 February

International Conference on Human and Organizational Aspects of Assuring Nuclear Safety – Exploring 30 Years of Safety Culture

IAEA Vienna, Austria

20-24 March

Land and Poverty Conference 2017: Responsible Land Governance—Towards an Evidence Based Approach

The World Bank Washington D.C.,

USA

22 March S20 Dialogue Forum with the Science and Research Community

G20 Halle, Germany

26 April W20 Dialogue Forum with Women in Business, Science and Society

W20 Berlin, Germany

19-20 May Meeting of G20 Health Ministers G20 Berlin, Germany

22-26 May The 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction

UNISDR Cancun, Mexico

26-27 May G7 Summit G7 Taormina, Italy

18-23 June STARMUS IV Festival Norwegian University of Science and Technology, The Research Council of

Norway

Trondheim Norway

27-29 June

Summer Davos: Annual Meeting of the New Champions-Technological Innovation and Sustainable Development

World Economic Forum Dalian, China

14

7-8 July G20 Summit of Heads of State and Government

G20 Hamburg, Germany

3. DG JRC News

2015 DG JRC Annual Report

2015 Overview of the scientific process of the EU Agencies network for

scientific advice (EU-ANSA)

December DG JRC Newsletter December 2016

Open The EU is recruiting researchers - Call for expressions of interest

Open (deadline 15

March 2017)

Call for Expression of Interest for Collaborative Doctoral Partnership

(CDP) scheme to higher education institutions

December Highlights

1 December STS Contro-Corrente Seminars: Harro van Lente

In this lecture theories of technology from the fields of innovation studies and Science and Technology Studies (STS) were compared and contrasted. Various theoretical strands have been developed from different disciplinary backgrounds and with specific aims. In general, theories mobilize concepts and offer storylines to convey a message to readers. Eight theories of technology from innovation studies and STS were discussed, which either relate to economic traditions (neo-Schumpeterian economics, innovations systems and path dependencies), socio-historical traditions (SCOT, large technical systems and the multi-level perspective) or management traditions (diffusion of innovation, technology cycles). During the lecture the central concepts, the frameworks of argumentation and the strategies of intervention they suggest were analysed. Secondly five dimensions of theories were compared: (i) levels of aggregation, (ii) technology as process or as outcome, (iii) technology as knowledge or as material, (iv) descriptive vs prescriptive ambitions (v) theory as perspective or as substantial claim. Thirdly it was analysed whether and how theories form particular genres (lessons about successes, failure, dynamics and unforeseen consequences) are presented in storylines.

15

2-3 December Global Conference on Improving Data on International Migration

Under the auspices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) and with support of the European Commission's Knowledge Centre on Migration and Demography, the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, and the United States of America Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migrations, a first global conference on how to improve data on international migration was held at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin on 2–3 December 2016. The conference aimed at bringing together a maximum of 200 experts on migration data from academia, governments, the private sector and civil society from across the world. During the conference, the Knowledge Centre on Migration and Demography launched its data catalogue and dynamic data hub.

4-17 December DG JRC at COP 13 to the Convention on Biological Diversity

The thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity was held from 4-17 December 2016 in Cancun, Mexico. This two-week meeting brought together the international community, including the EU, to discuss, review and negotiate agreements and commitments on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The JRC joined the EU Delegation at the COP13, where it supported DG ENV (which is leading the negotiations for the EU), hosted a side event dedicated to the eConservation tool that is currently being developed at the JRC (see below), gave a talk during the Protected Areas Day at the Rio Pavilion organised by the CBD, and participated in other side events. For several years, the JRC has provided critical information support to the CBD and its Parties through the development of the Digital Observatory for Protected Areas (DOPA), which has contributed to the Protected Planet Report 2016 used by the COP and supported the CBD Secretariat in developing country profiles for the COP. On 12 December 2016, the JRC organised a side event at COP 13 (Who is funding what and where? Mapping biodiversity conservation projects with eConservation) to present and discuss a new DOPA module called eConservation. This system provides a means to collect, share and search information on publicly funded conservation projects through an interactive mapping interface, helping decision-makers to better understand who is funding what and where. The map showed thousands of projects funded by big donors such as the World Bank, Global Environment Facility, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, and the European Commission. Finally, COP 13 also provided a great opportunity for the JRC and its partner, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), to further promote the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) programme that supports decision-making in 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries through improved information availability and access

5 December 12th Annual Conference of the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA)

On 5 December the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) held its 12th Annual Conference focusing on the theme "Science-based regulation". The event showcased EPAA's most recent achievements and discussed the state of the art in alternative methods available for regulatory purposes and the gaps toward full replacement. MEP Françoise Grossetête (EP Vice-President) gave a talk on her vision for science-based regulation and a panel session, co-chaired by Maurice Whelan, head of EURL ECVAM, and Magda Chlebus, EFPIA, discussed the scientific gaps towards full replacement of testing on animals. In addition, the winner of the EPAA 3Rs Science Prize was announced and was given the opportunity to present on his successful project. The Joint Research Centre is a partner in EPAA.

6-7 December Non-Animal Approaches - The Way Forward

The European Commission held a scientific conference in Brussels to engage the scientific community and relevant stakeholders in a debate on how to exploit cutting edge advances in biomedical and other research in the development of scientifically valid non-animal approaches (alternatives to animal testing). The event was one of the four actions announced in the European Commission Communication responding to the European Citizens' Initiative "Stop Vivisection", and it engaged scientists from different countries, disciplines and sectors in a dialogue to explore the current benefits and limitations of different models, and considered how to improve the quality and predictability of models used in research, including approaches to accelerate non-animal alternatives.

6 December MYGEOSS final workshop

16

DG JRC and DG RTD coorganised the final workshop of the MYGEOSS project (December 6th). It showcased mobile apps and web applications addressing eight main themes: Health Applications, Invasive Alien Species and Climate, Disaster Management, Water and Irrigation, Land Cover Change and Protected Areas, Education and Awareness, Urban Areas and Quality of Life and Air Quality and Weather. The meeting offered a good opportunity to see first-hand how open data and mobile technologies have the potential of involving the public in monitoring the local environment and contribute to the policy cycle. From this perspective it is of interest to the whole Environment Knowledge Community. From a Digital Single Market perspective, it also offered the chance to talk directly with innovators who have tried to exploit open data to develop new products and services, and see the barriers they have faced, and lessons they have drawn from this experience. This is important since much hope is pinned on the open data policy and the exploitation of open earth observation (e.g. Space Strategy for Europe) to support innovation, growth and prosperity in Europe, and reality checks give us a measure of the progress made.

12 December DanubeHack 2.0

The JRC co-organised DanubeHack 2.0 which aimed at collecting evidence about the possible added value generated on top of open (geo) data, related application programming interfaces (APIs) and software tools, identified within the Danube region. The event also explored the potential of citizen science and participation in creating and using value added services and applications.

13 December Text mining in policy making

Information needed by policy makers is increasingly embedded in large amounts of textual data available on the Internet, e.g. traditional or social media, or in large public or proprietary document sets. Text mining, the automatic extraction of information from text, offers policy makers timely access to important information which would otherwise be inaccessible. Indeed, the sheer volume of data makes it nearly impossible to extract the available information manually. This conference was an opportunity for policy makers from EU institutions to understand better the benefits of text mining in policy making processes, and pave the way forward for a better use of these solutions in policy making. The challenges related to textual data within the Commission and outside were addressed by keynote speeches and a panel discussion. This was followed by the presentation of the new JRC

Competence Centre on Text Mining with a showcase of various success stories of JRC applied text mining solutions. A novel text mining tool for monitoring innovation and technological development- TIM (Tools for Innovation Monitoring) - was launched at this occasion. Moreover an operational workshop took place to develop a text mining roadmap with stakeholders and users.

13 December Effective use of technology and social media for refugees' labour market

integration

Despite high public interest in supporting technological innovation in refugees' integration, the tech community active in this field faces challenges of funding, organisation and duplication. Better coordination and stronger interlinkages between key stakeholders, including public authorities, are needed to address these challenges and to make the innovations sustainable in the long-term. The European Commission’s Action Plan on the integration of third country nationals from June 2016 recognises the need to harness innovative use of technology, social media and the internet at all stages of the integration process. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) organised this expert workshop to bring together multiple stakeholders ranging from public authorities at different levels, tech entrepreneurs and volunteers to NGOs, think-tanks, foundations, employers and refugee representatives. The aim was to stimulate exchange on the practicalities of making the best use of technology in facilitating refugees' labour market integration and to identify how the European Commission could support technological innovation in refugees' integration. The event was organised by the EU Policy Lab under the framework of the European Commission's Knowledge Centre for Migration and Demography. Participants took part in interactive discussion sessions on specific topics such as sustainability, transferability and inclusiveness of tech initiatives, better coordination, policy innovation and data policy.

All DG JRC news

17