The European Research Ministers will be meeting in Brussels on Thursday 23 May to formalise a series of agreements, in a final exercise before the end of the term and under the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
EUROHPC. The ministers responsible for research are expected to formalise the political agreement reached on amending the Council Regulation on the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, EuroHPC (Regulation (EU) 2021/1173).
The aim of the amendment is to introduce a new objective for EuroHPC and enable it to carry out activities in particular in the fields of upgrading, acquiring and operating supercomputers dedicated to artificial intelligence, as well as developing the rapid learning and training of reliable and ethical machines and setting up a one-stop shop.
The initiative was proposed by the European Commission on 24 January (see EUROPE 13400/23).
Link to the political agreement: https://aeur.eu/f/cbi
Framework programmes. Ministers are also expected to approve the draft conclusions on the ex-post evaluation of the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (R&I) 2014-2020, Horizon 2020 (see EUROPE 13388/37). They will also address budgetary considerations, as well as governance and political guidance, to feed into discussions around the development of the next framework programme, the successor to Horizon Europe.
These draft conclusions follow the publication by the Commission on 29 January of an evaluation report (see EUROPE 13338/6).
Research security. The ministers are also expected to approve the agreement on the recommendation on research security (see EUROPE 13406/27), based on a proposal from the European Commission, which was part of a legislative package on economic security (see EUROPE 13335/4).
The Belgian Presidency had identified risks to R&I in three areas: unwanted transfer of knowledge, foreign interference and breaches of ethics or integrity.
The draft recommendation proposes a series of actions and principles to be implemented to strengthen security while protecting academic freedom.
Promoting research. The ministers will also be asked to approve the draft conclusions on the use of research knowledge resulting from research as a tool for a resilient and competitive industry (see EUROPE 13365/6).
The Belgian Presidency wanted to emphasise investment, sustainability and the collaborative approach (see EUROPE 13365/6).
Advanced materials. Finally, the ministers will engage in a political debate on advanced materials (see EUROPE 13403/11). (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)