JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
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Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Serving society, stimulating innovation,
supporting legislation
Challenges and opportunities – a perspective from
the Commission's in-house science service
Geraldine Barry
European Commission, Joint Research Centre
geraldine.barry@ec.europa.eu
ESOF
July 2012
JRC’s Mission and Role
JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
… is to provide EU policies with independent, evidence-based
scientific and technical support throughout the whole policy cycle.
Direct research:
JRC is the European Commission's in-house
science service and the only DG executing direct
research; providing science advice to EU policy.
Serving society, stimulating innovation, supporting legislation
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Structure of the JRC
JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
• Established 1957
• 7 institutes in 5 countries
• 2828 permanent and temporary staff in 2011
• 1356 scientific publications in 2011
• 245 key elements of support to the EU policy-maker in 2011
• Budget: €369 million annually, plus ~ €60 million earned income
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JRC Institutes
• IRMM – Geel, Belgium
Institute for Reference Materials and
Measurements
• ITU – Karlsruhe, Germany, and Ispra, Italy
Institute for Transuranium Elements
• IET – Petten, The Netherlands, and Ispra, Italy
Institute for Energy and Transport
• IPSC – Ispra, Italy
Institute for the Protection and Security of the
Citizen
• IES – Ispra, Italy
Institute for Environment and Sustainability
• IHCP – Ispra, Italy
Institute for Health and Consumer Protection
• IPTS – Seville, Spain
Institute for Prospective Technological Studies
Key priorities
JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
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• Europe 2020
The JRC focuses its activities to provide needed
scientific support to the Europe 2020 policy
priorities.
• Key competence areas
- energy and transport
- environment and climate change
- agriculture and food security
- health and consumer protection
- information and communication technology
- safety and security (including nuclear)
• Cross-cutting and multi-disciplinary approach
• JRC collaborates extensively with Member
States, industry and the science community in
the EU and internationally
Support to EU policies
JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
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Making the EU’s electricity grids smarter
The JRC has identified and analysed the vulnerabilities of Member States’
electricity transmission systems for the implementation of the Directive on
Critical European Infrastructures.
INSPIRE: Harmonising environmental data worldwide
The JRC is the technical and scientific coordinator of INSPIRE, the Infrastructure for
Spatial Information in Europe, which provides the knowledge needed for mitigating
natural and man-made hazards to make more efficient use of natural resources, to better
protect the environment and to adapt to climate change.
Sustaining European Soil
The JRC has developed robust databases supporting the European Soil Thematic
Strategy and as a result created three soil atlases - unique collections of maps
illustrating the varying patterns of different soil types occurring across Europe. One
of the resulting outputs is the first ever European Atlas of Soil Biodiversity.
Support to EU policies
JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
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Detecting GMOs in food and feed
The JRC provided the ’’Compendium of Reference Methods for GMO analysis’’, a
reference report listing 79 GMO detection methods validated according to international
standards in support of the Regulation on official food and feed controls. In addition the
JRC hosts the the EU Reference Laboratory on GM Food and Feed (EURL-GMFF).
New developments in nanotechnology
The JRC provides science and research-based policy support for improving regulation
of nanotechnology. In February 2011, the JRC released the world's first certified
reference material for nanoparticles, based on industry-sourced materials, and has
recently released a second. Moreover, in October 2011 the JRC contributed to the
European Commission recommendation on a new common definition of nanomaterials.
Nuclear forensics support to Member States
The JRC supports safeguard authorities by providing environmental sampling and
measurements techniques that are essential in the detection of non-declared nuclear
activities. The JRC ‘clean lab’ is used for the measurement of uranium enrichment in
particles founded in ‘swipes’ taken by IAEA or Euratom inspectors across the globe.
Support to EU policies
JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
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European Flood Alert System and European Forest Fire Information System
JRC provides essential information to prepare for floods in Europe by complementing
data on national hydrological services with novel flood forecasting information up to 10
days in advance. EFFIS comprehensively addresses forest fires in Europe providing EU
level assessments from pre-fire to post-fire phases, thus supporting fire prevention,
preparedness, fire fighting and post-fire evaluations.
Responding to crises
GDACS (the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System) provides near real-time
alerts about natural disasters around the world. In addition, the JRC provided support
to rescue operations by carrying out a rapid damage assessment based on the
analysis of very high resolution satellite imagery.
Real-time crop monitoring
The JRC provides technical support related to food access and need, including real
time monitoring of crop conditions, quantitative yield forecasts and identification of
hot spots in Europe and wordwide where crop yields could result in food/feed
insecurity.
JRC’s networks
JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
In addition to its institutes, the JRC works with over 1 000 public
and private organisations, institutions and expert groups in
more than 250 major networks worldwide, with the aim to
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Foster knowledge transfer
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Share best practices
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Bridge together science and industry
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Gather stakeholders to support policy
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Put science into standards
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JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
“Science communication unit of the
European Commission”
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Challenges
JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
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Content
Audience
Medium of
communication
Opportunities
JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
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Content
Audience
Medium of
communication
JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012
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Thank you for your attention!
Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Serving society, stimulating innovation,
supporting legislation
Web: www.jrc.ec.europa.eu
Contact: jrc-info@ec.europa.eu