1st European Innovation Area Summit

European Innovation Area Summit

Last week, Africa Zanella, LifeWatch ERIC Gender Consultant and International Consultant and official observer at the World Bank’s Climate Investment Fund, attended the 1st European Innovation Area Summit at the European Parliament in Brussels. The Summit built on a series of EIA events from the past 18 months during which Commissioner Gabriel and many political members of the K4I Forum were actively engaged, coinciding with the unveiling of the European Commission’s New European Innovation Agenda for a European Innovation Area. Innovation is key in accelerating the green and digital economy of tomorrow, and the initiative will offer equal access to funding, where startups in one country can easily bid for public contracts in another, and allow startups and corporates to work more closely together, empowering all innovators and entrepreneurs across the continent to realise their full potential.

Representing LifeWatch ERIC, Africa Zanella spoke in the session on “Next Generation Women Leaders in VCs and Startups – Major Drivers of a Sustainable Future”, with a presentation entitled “Sustainability and Gender Balance”, in which she contended that without full involvement of women in policy design, there can be no sustainability. While sustainability is a careful balance of economic, social and environmental factors, close analysis shows that complexities and discrepancies still exist in the social system, which she pointed out needs better handling at policy, programme and community levels. She went on to explain that in order to achieve the goal of a sustainable future, gender balance be more carefully addressed in terms of leadership, access to financial mechanisms, and participation in the female labour force – making reference to the opportunites stemming from emerging industries related to the EU Green Deal and Digital and Innovation Strategies.

The key outcomes of the meeting included a reinforced support from key figures in the European parliament for boosting the number of women involved in innovation intiatives,  an example being Women on Boards (which requires a 40% quota by 2025). Africa Zanella’s statement that “Without women there is no sustainability” was particularly well-received by the group, and hopefully will continue to resonate throughout the implementation of the European Innovation Agenda.

You can listen to a podcast recorded with Africa Zanella on women and sustainability here.

For relevant enquiries, please contact gender[at]lifewatch.eu.

Fund raising

  • End of January 2025 – Establishing a WG Committee on scouting project application opportunities and fundraising

Organising WG workshops and conferences

  • End of January 2025 – Setting priority research lines and contributions to the BEeS 2025 LifeWatch Conference for the session on the “Ecological responses to climate change”
  • March/April 2025 (TBD) – Workshop ‘Ecological modelling and eco-informatics to address functional responses of biodiversity and ecosystems to climate change’ co-organized with the University of Salento
  • 30 June – 3 July 2025 – Participation to LifeWatch 2025 BEeS Conference on “Addressing the Triple Planetary Crisis”

Implementing services

  • End of January 2025 – Internal distribution of a questionnaire on the most used/relevant model resources in the WG member research activity
  • February 2025 (TBD) – Online working table on setting priorities, timeline and milestones for the mapping service and model requirements by scientists and science stakeholders

Mapping user requirements

  • End of January 2025 – Catalogue of services already available in LifeWatch ERIC or research lines addressing ecological responses to climate change
  • February 2025 (TBD) – Online working table on setting priorities, timeline and milestones for the mapping service and model requirements by scientists and science stakeholders
Bulgaria

The Bulgarian National Distributed Centre is represented by the  Agricultural University-Plovdiv.

To know more about how Bulgaria contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Spain

The Spanish National Distributed Centre is supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Regional Government of Andalusia and the Guadalquivir River Basin Authority (Ministry for Ecological Transition-MITECO). Moreover, Spain is the hosting Member State of LifeWatch ERIC, the location of its Statutory Seat & ICT e-Infrastructure Technical Office (LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities). 

To know more about how Spain contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Slovenia

The Slovenian National Distributed Centre is led by the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU). It focuses on the development of technological solutions in the field of biodiversity and socio-ecosystem research.

To know more about how Slovenia contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Portugal

The Portuguese National Distributed Centre is managed by PORBIOTA, the Portuguese e-Infrastructure for Information and Research on Biodiversity. Led by BIOPOLIS/CIBIO-InBIO – Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, PORBIOTA connects the principal Portuguese research institutions working in biodiversity.

To know more about how Portugal contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Netherlands

The Dutch National Distributed Centre is hosted by the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam. Moreover, The Netherlands hosts one of the LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities, the Virtual Laboratory and Innovation Centre.

To know more about how The Netherlands contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Italy

The Italian National Distributed Centre is led and managed by the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and is coordinated by a Joint Research Unit, currently comprising 35 members. Moreover, Italy hosts one of the LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities, the Service Centre.

To know more about how Italy contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Greece

The Greek National Distributed Centre is funded by the Greek General Secretariat of Research and Technology and is coordinated by the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, in conjunction with 47 associated partner institutions.

To know more about how Greece contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Belgium

The Belgian National Distributed Centre makes varied and complementary in-kind contributions to LifeWatch ERIC. These are implemented in the form of long-lasting projects by various research centres and universities distributed throughout the country and supported by each respective political authority.

To know more about how Belgium contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.