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Ukraine join EU Research community - but at cut-price discount
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Ukraine has earned privileged access to competitive research funds from the European Union, bringing its science closer to the Western bloc Under a deal signed in Kiev on 20 March with the European Commission, Ukraine becomes an “associated country” to Horizon 2020, the European Union’s €80 billion, 7-year research program. That means researchers and businesses in Ukraine may apply for any Horizon 2020 grant. The commission has given Ukraine a very attractive deal: It receives a 95% rebate on its association fee and a 1-year deferment to pay the first year’s installment. The agreement is a testament to the European Union’s will to build closer economic and political ties with its former Soviet neighbor, a process that has sped up after the conflict in Eastern Ukraine erupted last year. Researchers in the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia, are excluded from the agreement. “Ukraine will now have access to the full spectrum of activities funded under Horizon 2020, helping spur its economy,” said E.U. research commissioner Carlos Moedas in a statement. Ukraine-based researchers did receive about €24 million of E.U. research money under the previous program, between 2007 and 2013. But until now, Russia’s neighbor had the status of a “third country,” meaning that researchers there were excluded from parts of the program, including coveted grants from the European
Research Council (ERC). The upgrade puts Ukraine on par with 12 other non-E.U. countries including Iceland, Norway, and Turkey. Ukrainian applicants are encouraged to submit research proposals under this year’s calls, says a Horizon 2020 document issued last month, but formal grant agreements will be signed only when the Horizon 2020 agreement enters into force—that is, after the Ukrainian parliament ratifies it. The conflict in Ukraine has had a major impact on the country’s science. Entire universities have been relocated from war-torn Eastern Ukraine, along with an estimated 1500 scientists and 10,000 students; meanwhile, the country lost several important research assets when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014. The European Union strongly rejects the annexation, and the Horizon 2020 association rules reflect that. “Given that the EU does not recognise the illegal annexation … legal persons established in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or the city of Sevastopol are not eligible to participate,” says the document. The European Union has tried to build bridges with Ukraine in other ways as well; last year, it offered a package of aid and loans worth more than €11 billion to boost recovery and reform.
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GE pumps $100m into Saudi Arabia technology research sector GE has announced $100m investment in new programmes that will further their localisation efforts, build innovation capacity, and create jobs in advanced manufacturing and software analytics in the region. The research and manufacturing programmes will aim at enhancing the energy efficiency and sustainability priorities of the country. In manufacturing, GE will expand its facilities in Saudi for the region with the production of GE’s HA gas turbines – the world’s largest and most efficient gas turbine – at GE Manufacturing Technology Center in Dammam. The oil and gas facility in Dammam will include the manufacturing of wellheads, ‘Christmas Trees’ and other pressure control technologies as well as well performance services repair capability for submersible pumps. GE is also planning a first of its kind regional LED manufacturing facility. In research and development, today’s announcement places the Saudi GE Innovation Centre in Dhahran Techno Valley at the heart of the company’s technology innovation ecosystem in the Kingdom. The programmes include a ‘Hot & Harsh’ Global Research & Development Programme, a Software & Analytics ‘Industrial Internet’ Lab, a GE ‘in Saudi for region’ hub for Energy Efficiency technology development as well as a Monitoring & Diagnostics
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Center at GE Manufacturing Technology Center. Jeffrey Immelt, GE chairman and CEO said: “We are proud to work with our partners to co-create solutions that will find application both in Saudi Arabia and globally. We believe that future skill-sets demand strong capability in both software and hardware; and we are committed to delivering that to our Saudi workforce and our ecosystem of partners, such as Saudi Aramco and Saudi Electricity Company, as well as SMEs.” The Hot & Harsh Global Research Programme will study the effect of high temperature, dust, corrosion, erosion, duty cycle, and fuel harshness which have a critical impact on the reliability and efficiency of power plants. This research and development programme will design and prototype gas turbine and auxiliaries components for testing at a simulated ‘hot and harsh’ environment at GE Manufacturing Technology Center. This new investment adds to GE’s USD 1bn commitment over the past three years in the Kingdom, and aligns the company with the country’s Vision 2024 and Ninth Development Plan to diversify the economy, drive industrialization and manufacturing, and build the next-generation of human capital skill-sets in materials and data science.
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