- 04 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-SMARTCITIES-2013 call 

- 04 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-NMP-2013-CSA-7 call 

- 04 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-2013-GC-Materials call 

- 04 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-2013-NMP-ICT-FOF (Factories of the Future) call 

- 04 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-2013-ICT-GC (Green Cars) call 

- 04 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-2013-NMP-ENV-EeB (Energy-efficient Buildings) call 

- 05 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to theFP7-PEOPLE-2013-COFUND (Marie Curie) call 

- 05 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to theFP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2013-1 call 

- 11 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION-2 call (2-stage procedure) 

- 12 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-ICT-2013-EU-BRAZIL Call 

- 18 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-INCO-2013-1 call 

- 18 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to theFP7-INCO-2013-2 call 

- 18 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-INCO-2013-3 call 

- 18 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-INCO-2013-4 call 

- 18 Dec 2012 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-INCO-2013-9 call 

- 08 Jan 2013 - Deadline to submit proposals to theFP7-ENERGY-2013-IRP call 

- 08 Jan 2013 - Deadline to submit proposals to the FP7-PEOPLE-2013-NIGHT call 

[more] 

Brussels, 06 Nov 2012 - The first Conference of Partners of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing took place in Brussels. The Conference was headlined by European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes, Commissioner Maire Geoghegan Quinn, Kathleen Lynch, the Irish Minister of State from the Department of Health and Department of Justice, and the Spanish Secretary General of Health and Consumers, Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, Mar�a Pilar Farjas Abad�a.  

High level representatives and Ministers from European regions and innovative projects were discussing how to implement and scale up innovations for active ageing and what contribution they can make to regions. They were joined by leading figures in the field of active and healthy ageing from across Europe, from universities and research groups, public authorities, health providers, industry and non-governmental organisations.

Six Action Groups presented  six Action Plans which tackle a specific challenge in this field - from falls, which account for almost one third of fatal injuries amongst older people to tele-monitoring which enable chronically ill patients to live longer at home. The Action Groups are made up of many stakeholders: from national government and regions to hospitals, municipalities, health care professional organisations, insurers and others.

The European Innovation Partnership is about scale and impact. It is not a funding instrument for projects, but a partnership among stakeholders, facilitated by the Commission, to change how health and social care for older people are delivered across Europe.

The Action Groups include 261 commitments, by over 3,000 stakeholders from all Member States, and the Action Plans aim to improve the quality of life of four million European senior citizens between now and 2015.

The six Action Plans address the following areas:

 More details available here. 

Brussels, 09 Nov 2012 - The European Commission announced that it has allocated €63 million to support Kosovo's efforts to implement its EU-reform agenda.

The funds will be used for reforms of the justice and public administration systems, to support the readmission and reintegration of refugees and to improve correctional and probation services. It will also help boost private sector development through the modernisation of Kosovo's power supply, its infrastructure, and investment in education and regional development.

The funding earmarked today is included in the 2012 annual programme for Kosovo under the EU's Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA), and will be topped up with an additional €20 million of co-financing by Kosovo authorities and other donors.

"Reforms to increase the efficiency of the judicial system, improve public administration and promote a more dynamic and resilient private sector are the key priorities of our assistance in Kosovo. This not only helps Kosovo move closer to the EU, but it also aims to bring about real change in Kosovo society for the benefit of all its citizens", said European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan F�le.

(*) This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/99 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.   

The EU aims at establishing the adequate structural conditions for fostering growth of the EU economy. A main element needed to support growth is the facilitation of the transport of goods.

E-Freight will help improving the efficiency of freight transport and thus contribute to growth and competitiveness.

Through supporting the achievement of the missing link between different information tools and the facilitation of seamless information flows and thus transport of goods across modes and countries, it will simplify the organisation and execution of freight transport across modes and countries, and therefore contribute to unifying the European Transport Area.

The EU has been for many years actively supporting a policy of efficient and sustainable uni-modal and multi-modal transport logistics chains, for which accompanying seamless information flows is a prerequisite. While progress in this respect has so far mostly taken place at an individual mode level, in terms of vertical integration and interoperability, often triggered by traffic management needs and public reporting requirements, the additional challenge lies in the horizontal integration and interoperability of information and information exchange across several transport modes.

The White Paper on Transport "Roadmap to a Single Transport Area - towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system" adopted in March 2011 has therefore proposed action n�7 on multimodal transport of goods - e-Freight. 

This Consultation will close on 17 JAN 2013. 

Last 05 Nov 2012 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development  (EBRD) announced that its investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy have reached €10 billion (over US$ 13 billion) since the launch of its Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI) in 2006.

This milestone was announced in Istanbul (Turkey) during an EBRD panel discussion held in parallel with the Climate Investment Funds 2012 Partnership Forum. SEI has financed 552 projects ranging from the insulation of a nursery in Slovakia (watch video) to energy efficiency credit lines in Turkey. The project that brings the total of EBRD SEI financing to €10 billion is the new 53 MW Kukinia wind farm in Poland.

"The energy intensity of economies in the region of EBRD operations remains very high, despite some progress.  Sustainable energy has grown into a major activity of the EBRD accounting for a third of EBRD investments in 2011. From Turkey to Russia, from Mongolia to Slovakia we are working with industries, utilities, municipalities and households to enhance their energy efficiency. The EBRD has proven over the years that energy efficiency makes good business sense", said Sir Suma Chakrabarti, the EBRD President.

EBRD's Managing Director for Energy Efficiency and Climate Change, Josu� Tanaka, said: "With this financial milestone of €10 billion of EBRD sustainable energy financing, we demonstrate that even in a difficult context there is a strong opportunity to assist small and large corporates in reducing their costs and enhancing their competitiveness. Beyond business, these investments bring significant environmental benefits with SEI projects to date expected to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 50 million tonnes, which is equivalent to the emissions of Sweden".   

More information available here. 

Last 28 Nov 2012 EPN Consulting was represented by its consulting member Mr Wilhelm Determann (pictured above) during a seminar in Turin (Italy) on "Sustainable Energy and Technological Innovation: Challenges and strategies" at an international post-graduate program organised by the Turin's Law & Business in Europe - Autumn School (University Institute of European Studies). 

EPN Consulting is proud to announce that SBOING, one of its members from Greece, and SMART CONTINENT LT, one of its members from Lithuania, are partners in this successful project.

Press releases of our members follow below.  

METPEX ("MEasurement Tool to determine the quality of Passenger EXperience"), a 3-year, FP7 RTD project, coordinated by the University of Coventry, was launched on November 1st, 2012, aiming to develop and evaluate a standardised tool to measure passenger experience across whole journeys. The METPEX tool will provide reliable data which can be used by transport providers, policy makers, vehicle designers and municipalities to measure and benchmark their services and to assess where changes need to be made to increase efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. This 3 Million Euros R&TD effort brings together 16 European partners from 12 countries.

SBOING's role in the project is to contribute to the development of the METPEX tool for mobile devices, and to the collection, processing and evaluation of passenger feedback, to be acquired through the SBOING user community. The full press release can be downloaded here. 

Smart Continent LT kicked-off with the METPEX (A Measurement Tool to determine the quality of the Passenger EXperience) project this month. The project is funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme. The Consortium of 16 partners from 12 countries will work to develop an inclusive passenger experience measurement tool for European transport providers, passenger groups and municipalities validated through its use across eight cities of varying transport complexity.  The data collected during the project will enable the creation and dissemination of service quality and accessibility benchmark indicators.

Smart Continent LT will contribute to the project by researching existing practices of quality of passenger experience and will carry out trials of the developed tools in Vilnius as demonstration site. 

- 04 Dec 2012 - London (UK) - ENE+ENV+ICT+ITS+TRA - SMART CITIES Conference 

- 04 Dec 2012 - Brussels (BE) - EUP+ICT - VISION (VIsualising SImulation and visual cOmputing techNologies) - EU position and future potential recommendations for Horizon 2020 

- 04-06 Dec 2012 - Birmingham (UK) - ENE+TEC - IET Event - ACDC 2012 - The 10th International Conference on AC and DC Power Transmission 

- 04-06 Dec 2012 - Manchester (UK) - ICT - THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATLAS COMPUTER 

- 05 Dec 2012 - London (UK) - ICT - IET Event - BIG DATA - Turning Big Challenges into Big Opportunities 

- 05-06 Dec 2012 - Bristol (UK) - ITS+LEG+TRA - RE-BOOTING SMARTER TRAVEL & LSTF NETWORKING FORUM 

- 07 Dec 2012 - Essen (DE) - CIV+LEG - EUKN (European Urban Knowledge Network) Annual Conference 2012 

- 07 Dec 2012 - Brussels (BE) - EUP+ICT - Workshop on TECHNOLOGY TRENDS 

- 15 Jan 2013 - Brussels (BE) - ENV+EUP - INFODAY ON FP7 ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH in the specific fields of WATER INNOVATION Demonstration Projects   

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