Strategic Corridors for an enhanced and greener EU-Africa connectivity

As part of the Global Gateway investment priorities, and in line with the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the ambitions of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the EU intends to support the African continent by financing quality connectivity infrastructure through multi-country Team Europe Initiatives shaped along Strategic Corridors. A limited number of Strategic Corridors has been identified considering their potentialities to facilitate sustainable, efficient, smart, resilient, fair, affordable, secure and safe mobility and trade within Africa, as well as between Africa and Europe.JRC.B.3 - Territorial Developmen

Effects of Spatial Food Distribution on Search Behavior in Rats (Rattus norvegicus)

To analyze how search strategies are adapted according to the geometric distribution of food sources, the authors submitted rats to a search task in which they had to explore 9 food trays in an open field and avoid visiting already-depleted trays. Trays were spatially arranged in 4 independent configurations: a cross, a 3 × 3 matrix, 3 clusters of 3 trays each, and a random configuration. Rats exhibited differential search efficiency as a specific effect of the susceptibility of the configurations to being explored in a principled way: Crosses were first, matrices or clusters were in the middle, and random configurations were last. Although no exhaustive searches or highly principled patterns were observed in any of the configurations, performances improved as the sessions went by. Thus, structural affordances of the environment influence the construction not only of search strategies but also of information linked to where the reward is. © 2007 American Psychological Association

Knowledge Management for Policy

The Communication C(2016)6626 on Data, Information and Knowledge Management sets the objective to improve knowledge management and collaborative working in the European Commission, modernising the Institution by overcoming silos mentalities and connecting synergies between portfolios. The European Commission’s science and knowledge service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) has taken up this challenge in its 2030 Strategy, striving to become more efficient in mobilising scientific competences around the Commission’s policy goals and to transform from a traditional research-producing organisation into a world-leading manager of knowledge for EU policy-making.JRC.H - Knowledge Management (Ispra

EU regions and the upgrading for the digital age

In this work we use patent data from the European patent office (EPO) to assess the capabilities of EU regions in developing digital technologies especially focusing on those that are more closely related to the digital transformation. More specifically, we measure ICT patents by considering those containing digital codes, as defined by the OECD. The penetration of digital technologies in the development of innovative products is instead captured by the co-occurrence of digital and non-digital codes within patent documents; we call these patents ICT-combining patents.JRC.B.3 - Territorial Developmen

EUROCAT - Surveillance of congenital anomalies in Europe: epidemiology of Down syndrome 1990 - 2014

Down syndrome accounts for 8% of all congenital anomalies. It is related to maternal age, which generally increased in Europe during the study period, with large differences in European regions. The analysis of data from the JRC-EUROCAT Central registry shows that the total prevalence of Down syndrome for 10 000 births increased from 16 in 1990 to 23 in 2015. The prenatal detection increased from 49% in 2005 to about 70 % in 2015, but territorial differences between countries and regions exist.JRC.F.1 - Health in Societ

Are capitals the leading cultural and creative cities in Europe?

The cultural and creative sectors are one of the most dynamic branches of the EU economy, fostering innovation, growth and job creation as well as social cohesion. But which cities do perform best in culture and creativity? Does the population size determine their performance? Can small and medium-sized cities be as cultural and creative as capital cities? The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor - a new tool developed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission to monitor and assess the performance of 168 ‘Cultural and Creative Cities’ in Europe vis-à-vis their peers based on a set of 29 carefully selected indicators - tries to fill into this information gap. The first edition of the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor, officially released in July 2017, essentially shows a ‘multi-centric’ map of Europe with culture and creativity to be found across many and diverse cities.JRC.I.1 - Modelling, Indicators and Impact Evaluatio

Mapping and zooming in on childhood obesity

Overweight and obesity are a challenge for children and adolescents worldwide and in the EU. This report shows the dimension of the challenge at the EU level and tells a series of stories, illustrated through maps, that highlight and make the case for the importance of showing data disaggregated at various levels (by socio-economic status or by region – NUTS2, and even NUTS3). The data and maps presented show that education level for example, is an important determinant of obesity. Data collected at local level are a powerful source of knowledge that can and should be used for evidence-informed and truly tailor-made targeted actions and policies. This is illustrated by the comprehensive yearly evaluation of children's health that the Portuguese city of Gaia organises and the actions that stem from it. Interventions at local level based on local data have immediacy and deliver a sense of action and empowerment that is hardly achievable at national level. The stories selected here are mere examples; other stories, using other disaggregated data sets, could have been told. There is room and need for deepening data collection relevant to children's health and childhood obesity and to make it more accessible and comparable. This will benefit decision-makers at every level, public health practitioners and researchers. And most importantly, it will benefit the health of children and adolescents in our continent.JRC.F.1 - Health in Societ

Regional performance in the Research, Innovation and Competitiveness Priorities of the Energy Union

The Energy Union is one of the 10 political priorities of the current Commission; and comprises five closely interlinked dimensions, the fifth of which addresses research, innovation and competitiveness (RIC). Trends in patents are among the key performance indicators monitored annually to evaluate the contribution of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) to the objectives of the Energy Union in a quantifiable way, as part of the reporting on the State of the Energy Union. At regional level, the Commission has called on the relevant authorities to develop smart specialisation strategies for research and innovation, encouraging all European regions to identify their areas of competitive advantage, where research and innovation investment under cohesion policy could be prioritised. This document provides an overview of regional performance in the Research, Innovation and Competitiveness Priorities of the Energy Union through maps.JRC.C.7 - Knowledge for the Energy Unio