The European Union is studying Ukraine’s proposal to create a “Crimean platform” and an EU special representative for Crimea, and is awaiting additional information on the structure of the platform, EU Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano has said in a comment to Interfax-Ukraine.
Ukraine has presented the idea of an “International Crimean Platform” to the EU and several major international parties, he said. In this context, among other things, Ukraine has put forward the idea of creating an EU special representative for Crimea. As stated in the joint statement at the Ukraine-EU summit on October 6, 2020, we welcome diplomatic efforts aimed at restoring Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and are studying in detail Ukraine’s proposals on this matter, the official noted.
Stano stressed that the EU and Ukraine are fighting the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula through many bilateral and multilateral channels and at different levels, including the political one. He said they did not and would not recognize the illegal annexation, which is a violation of international law.
In addition, the representative of European diplomacy pointed out that while they look forward to more information on how Ukraine would like to structure the platform, the EU non-recognition policy already offers a reliable and well-implemented toolkit that helps move towards the goals set by Ukraine and that are in line with the goals of the EU policy of non-recognition in general.
WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge and Secretary General of the Turkic Council Mr Baghdad Amreyev met this week as the organizations work towards establishing a united action plan for health and collaboration.
The 2-day consultation focused on operationalizing the memorandum of understanding between WHO/Europe and the Turkic Council signed on 11 September 2020. Topics included the European Programme of Work “United Action for Better Health in Europe”, and pragmatic steps to ensure that both organizations bring maximum value to their cooperation.
This includes potential capacity-building activities for protection during health emergencies as well as progress towards universal health coverage, such as strengthening data and regulation and ensuring healthy lives for all through vaccination, digital health and mental health. Antimicrobial resistance and noncommunicable diseases in Member States were also discussed.
Day 2 of the consultation included a briefing with the ambassadors to Denmark and the missions in Geneva of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Presentations were also given by the WHO representatives in all Turkic Council Member States and by observers to identify further ways of working together at the country level.
During the meeting, the Regional Director referred to WHO/Europe’s excellent relations with the Member States of the Turkic Council. He noted that the memorandum of understanding builds on the already robust alliance with them and with coordinating stakeholders in and across countries.
A strong emphasis was also placed on the need to establish further WHO collaborating centres across Turkic Council Member States to assist with the implementation of health priorities.
Both organizations agreed to advocate for health jointly and to further facilitate the exchange of information and experience among Member States. An action plan will be finalized in the coming weeks, and activities are scheduled to begin immediately.
With the number of new cases finally dropping in Spain, now is not the time to relax on prevention, say the Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Madrid.
In Madrid, Volunteer Ministers of the Church of Scientology of Spain are continuing their “Stay Well” campaign to reach out with proven protocols to help people stay well.
With the second wave of coronavirus finally abating—new cases down one third from last week—it is vital to continue prevention protocols. The danger when such an improvement takes place is that people can tend to neglect the very actions that caused the improvement. Now is not the time to change what is working, the volunteers say.
Madrid has canceled many traditional holiday events to prevent the spread of the virus. And the Scientology Volunteer Ministers backed this up by visiting local shops to remind them of the importance of prevention protocols.
In May, 135 Volunteer Ministers from Scientology Churches and Missions across Spain distributed 74,000 copies of educational booklets in their neighborhoods. These booklets contain vital information to prevent the spread of the virus.
As soon as the pandemic began, the most effective measures were researched for ensuring the safety of Scientology staff and parishioners, and these were implemented internationally as protocols under the direction of Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige.
The Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. It constitutes one of the world’s largest independent relief forces. A Volunteer Minister’s mandate is to be “a person who helps his fellow man on a volunteer basis by restoring purpose, truth and spiritual values to the lives of others.” Their creed: “A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.”
CNA Staff, Dec 3, 2020 / 08:00 am MT (CNA).- A Catholic archbishop spoke out Wednesday after the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning Poland’s pro-life laws.
In a Dec. 2 statement, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, president of Poland’s bishops’ conference, said that there could be no compromise on the right to life.
He said: “The right to life is a fundamental human right. It always takes precedence over the right to choose, because no person can authoritatively allow the possibility of killing another.”
The archbishop was responding to a resolution adopted by the European Parliament Nov. 26 condemning Poland’s “de facto ban on the right to abortion.”
The European Parliament, the European Union’s law-making body, passed the resolution by 455 votes to 145 after Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled Oct. 22 that a law permitting abortion for fetal abnormalities was unconstitutional.
Gądecki, the vice president of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), noted that the resolution repeatedly referred to the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, pointing out that the charter declares that “Everyone has the right to life.”
“The European Union thus recognizes that the inalienable dignity of the human person and respect for the right to life are fundamental criteria for democracy and the rule of law,” he said.
The archbishop of Poznań argued that the title of the resolution was itself misleading as there is no “right to abortion” either from an ethical standpoint or in international law.
“In no democratic legal order can there be a right to kill an innocent person,” he said.
He also objected to the resolution’s reference to an “abortion compromise” in Poland. The phrase refers to laws passed after the collapse of communism which restricted abortion but still permitted it in limited circumstances.
He said: “Talking about the so-called legal compromise on the protection of life is a falsification of reality because it omits the most important third party in the dispute, i.e. unborn children and their inalienable right to life.”
“Any compromise in this matter is tantamount to depriving some children of their fundamental right to life and imposing the death penalty in a brutal way, which, let’s recall, is also prohibited by the Charter of Fundamental Rights. There can therefore be no compromise in this regard.”
Gądecki quoted Pope Francis several times in his statement, including the pope’s Nov. 22 letter to a group of Argentine women. In the letter, the pope said that abortion was primarily an ethical issue rather than a religious one. “Is it fair to eliminate a human life to solve a problem?” he wrote after Argentine President Alberto Fernández introduced the bill to legalize abortion. “Is it fair to hire a hitman to solve a problem?”
Gądecki also noted that Pope Francis had expressed support for pro-lifers in Poland following mass demonstrations against the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling.
The archbishop thanked those who witnessed to the value of human life despite being “often met with aggression and contempt.”
He also praised communities in Poland that sought to defend unborn life.
“They are the voice of natural reason, which consistently, contrary to ideological conformism and opportunism, defends human life in every phase of its development,” he said.
“They are the voice of hundreds of millions of people around the world who have discovered the beauty of every life.”
“Unfortunately, this brave and righteous voice is often met with aggression and violence by the supporters of the civilization of death.”
The archbishop praised people who not only worked for full legal protection of unborn life, but also offered help and support to expectant mothers.
“From the heart I bless all people of goodwill and pray for the grace of conversion for those who have not yet discovered the stunning beauty of every life,” he wrote.
“I also recommend to God all those who in Europe maintain an awareness of their spiritual and religious and moral heritage.”
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane can be seen at an airport. — AFP/Files
Pakistan International Airlines’ flights to the European Union will remain banned as certain conditions put to the flag carrier were still”not met”, a letter seen by Geo News said.
The suspension, imposed by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), took effect on July 1, 2020, after it came to light that pilots possessed “fake” licences, as put by the aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar.
The EASA, in the letter, expressed satisfaction over certain steps taken by the Civil Aviation Authority to improve the situation. However, it said that a further audit by the agency’s officials was imperative to revoke the ban.
“On 16 November 2020, your organisation provided the agency with a comprehensive set of documents as evidence to support the Implementation of the agreed Corrective Action Plan [CAP] for the remaining open level 1 finding related to identifying issues in your Safety Management System,” the letter said.
“The Agency reviewed the submitted material and found it satisfactory and sufficient as a first important step towards the closure of the above-mentioned finding,” it added.
However, the agency said that the conditions that it had laid down in ART 205(c)(2) were not met.
In particular, the investigation conducted by the European Commission on the issuance of professional licenses was still on-going, which indicates that there is a possibility that the audit will not have the expected positive results, the letter noted.
“We propose to contact you for a next update of the situation as soon as the concerns regarding the issuance of professional licenses is investigated in full and satisfactorily resolved,” the latter said, that their officials would not be able to visit Pakistan amid coronavirus.
“In the meantime, the Agency will closely monitor the situation and further developments,” the letter added.
‘Fake’ licences, ‘dubious’ credentials
The ban was a big blow to the airline, which was already under scrutiny across the world due to recently uncovered pitfalls within Pakistan’s aviation industry, such as pilots possessing “fake” licences as put by the aviation minister.
Following the report, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) had expressed concern over the “serious lapse in-licensing and safety oversight by the aviation regulator”.
Subsequently, on June 24, the aviation minister announced that the qualifications of 262 pilots in Pakistan are “dubious” and thus they will be barred from flying.
The pilots that were in the line of fire included 141 from PIA, nine from Air Blue, and 10 from Serene Airline.
The rest of the 262 belonged to flying clubs or chartered plane services, the aviation minister had said.
He said all the airlines and the clubs had been conveyed that: “Their credentials are dubious, and they shouldn’t be allowed to fly.”
With the back to back developments causing an international uproar, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) had grounded all Pakistani pilots working in the country.
Vietnam had licensed 27 Pakistani pilots, and 12 of them were still active at that time, while the other 15 pilots’ contracts had expired or were inactive due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the CAAV.
Today at the Web Summit 2020, the European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group) launched a new financing instrument to support artificial intelligence companies across Europe. The co-investment facility of up to €150 million will allow the EIB Groupto invest alongside funds backed by the European Investment Fund (EIF) in companies that are active in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector and in technologies that directly complement AI, such as Blockchain, the Internet of Things and robotics.
Europe’s artificial intelligence sector has a multibillion-euro funding gap compared with the United States and China. The facility launched today targets this gap. It complements and builds on EIB and EIF expertise in the sector, developed through the existing €100 million Artificial Intelligence/Blockchain pilot under InnovFin Equity and direct EIB financing for AI companies through its venture debt instrument. The new instrument is part of a larger initiative of the EIB Group and the European Commission to support the development of Europe’s digital future in areas such as high performance computing, quantum technologies and cybersecurity, to name a few.
“The potential of AI is enormous. Today we can already see the initial impact of AI in many areas of our day-to-day lives, but it will be the defining factor for the way we work, study and live in the future,” said EIB Vice-President Teresa Czerwińska, responsible for innovation and digitalisation. “If Europe wants to stay competitive and shape the conditions of AI development and use, while ensuring European values are respected, it needs to embrace AI and lead its development. That is why I am very proud of the new instrument we have launched today. By using our resources and combining the expertise and market access of the EIB and the EIF we are pioneering new ways of financing AI, and helping to encourage more investment in this important sector.”
EIF Chief Executive Alain Godard said: “Artificial intelligence is a key component in a technological revolution that we are already witnessing. There is strong market demand for co-investments in this sector. The EIB’s expertise in assessing individual equity-type investments and the EIF’s market reach and ability to leverage strongly on the fund managers in our portfolio active in the AI domain will ensure that the facility is deployed efficiently.”
European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said: “Europe has all it takes to become a hub for cutting-edge developments in Artificial Intelligence. We have the talent and a wealth of industrial data – both of which will give us an important comparative advantage in AI if we use them wisely. We are putting a framework in place to leverage our strengths and build trust – including through clear and predictable rules. The co-investment facility announced today will further support companies so that they can grow in the EU thanks to the design and the deployment of trustworthy AI.”
The new funds will be available in the European Union and in Horizon 2020 associated countries and are expected to be deployed during the next four years. By collaborating with private investors, the EIB Group expects to support approximately 20-30 small and medium-sized companies. The focus will be on early and growth-stage companies investing in the development of breakthrough AI applications. The resource allocation to potential co-investments in companies will be considered on a first come, first assessed basis and on the merits of the proposal. By assisting fund managers investing individual tickets of over €1 million in high-growth European companies the new instrument will complement the EIF’s existing fund activities. Additional information on the AI Co-Investment Facility can be found here.
InnovFin Equity is part of InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators, a generation of EU financial instruments and advisory services developed under Horizon 2020 to help innovative firms access finance more easily. InnovFin Equity provides equity investments and co-investments to or alongside funds focusing on early-stage financing of enterprises operating in innovative sectors covered by Horizon 2020, located or active in the European Union or in Horizon 2020 associated countries.
The investment will boost the Portuguese company’s growth and market penetration in Portugal, rest of Europe and Latin America.
More than 120 highly skilled jobs to be created over the next four years.
These funds are provided under the European Growth Finance Facility programme loan.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is investing €20 million in the Portuguese software company Bizay to finance the implementation of its research and development (R&D) programme and product development roadmap. One of Bizay’s main focuses will be its tech-based B2B marketplace for customised products targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), such as retail stores, restaurants, hotels and small corporates. This financing will also promote job creation in Portugal, a fundamental aspect for the European Union’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery. The agreement was announced today at Web Summit by EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Félix and Bizay CGO José Salgado.
This financing – in line with the European Commission’s strategy to strengthen competitiveness and innovation in digital technologies – will further support Bizay’s overall growth and geographic expansion plan and aims to create over 120 jobs in fields related to technology and business development over the next four years in Portugal.
Bizay’s marketplace, available in over 20 countries spanning from Europe to Latin America, offers a wide catalogue of customisable products, ranging from corporate gifts and promotional products to packaging, business cards and leaflets across all verticals. Thanks to the EU bank’s support, the company will further digitalise every step of the supply chain to make it more cost and time efficient. It uses artificial intelligence technologies like state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms for automating online marketing bidding processes, thereby improving overall marketing efficiency. Furthermore, Bizay’s business model enables an entire ecosystem of small businesses and manufacturing companies to connect and benefit from each other, giving them access to a wide catalogue of customisable products at a competitive price, which are otherwise very expensive for small businesses, and with a short delivery time.
The EIB will further support Bizay’s current technology developments, which include initiatives that will make use of learning models to forecast future traffic loads and of artificial intelligence to improve order aggregation and further improve production cost efficiency.
EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Félix, responsible for the Banks operations in Portugal, said: “The Web Summit is the ideal venue to announce the EIB backing for Bizay, underscoring the EU bank’s support for the digital and innovation sectors in Portugal. This is a very important project that will strengthen the competitiveness of a leading Portuguese software house and shows the EIB’s strong commitment to innovation digitalisation and the creation of high-quality jobs in Europe, key elements to boost a solid and inclusive economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, which is one of the EIB’s main priorities.”
European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni said: “Thanks to the Investment Plan for Europe, Portuguese software company Bizay will be able to further digitalise its supply chain. Even better, it will create over 120 highly skilled jobs in the process.This project is a great example of how Europe is working to boost competitiveness and employment through innovative digital technologies.”
Bizay co-founder and CGO José Salgado said: “We are very proud to have the EIB as a partner for the next phase of our journey. With its support, we will further develop our R&D programme. In particular, we will invest in our AI technology that connects industrial manufacturers with more than 1 million SMEs across 21 countries. This is an important step towards our goal of becoming the leading tech-based B2B marketplace for all customisable products.”
This venture debt operation is part of the European Growth Finance Facility (EGFF), a program loan under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) guarantee, which enables the EIB Group to increase its support for investments that promote innovation, economic growth and employment. Since it was launched by the EIB under the Juncker Plan in 2016, this initiative has granted over €2 billion in financing for projects in sectors such as robotics, artificial intelligence and biomedicine. EIB venture debt financing targets European companies with up to 3 000 employees in the fields of biotechnology and health sciences, software and ICT, engineering and automation, and renewable energy and clean technology.
About EIB venture debt and the Investment Plan for Europe
The EIB’s venture debt product is a financing instrument that supports start-up and fast-growing innovative companies in cutting-edge technology sectors. It combines the advantages of a long-term loan with a remuneration model based on the company’s performance. Venture debt transactions help strengthen the borrower’s economic capital without diluting the shares of existing investors. The product, developed four years ago in response to market needs, is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financial pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe.
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe. It offers first-loss guarantees that enable the EIB to invest in increasingly risky projects. The projects and agreements approved for financing under EFSI have so far mobilised €535.4 billion in investment.
Background information
About Bizay
Founded in 2013, Bizay is currently one of the leading Portuguese technological start-ups, with a unique and differentiating platform for marketing products and services for SMEs and professionals. Bizay aims to become the “Amazon” for SMEs for fulfilling the needs of these businesses for customised products, such as merchandising, packaging and consumables, business essentials, decorations and uniforms, with professional quality at a fraction of the cost. Based in Portugal, Bizay sells to more than 1 million SMEs in 21 countries, with three production hubs in Europe, Brazil and North America.
About Web Summit
Web Summit is an annual technology conference with more than 70 000 attendees held in Lisbon, Portugal. It is considered one of the largest and most important tech events in the world.
The financing supports Spire Global’s nanosatellite development and launches, space infrastructure, data analytics, and high-skilled job creation in Luxembourg and the EU.
This represents the First-ever direct EIB financing for the emerging European “New Space” industry
Today at Web Summit 2020, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term lending institution of the European Union and Spire Global, a company with the world’s largest multi-purpose constellation of satellites announced a venture debt financing agreement of up to €20 million. The financing will back capital expenditure and research and development (R&D) activities to further develop Spire’s constellation of small satellites and high-quality maritime, aviation and weather space data and analytics. It will also back the development of new software applications for customers and create high-skilled jobs in Luxembourg. The transaction follows the EIB’s commitment to strengthen support for European space start-ups and cooperate with space agencies such as the European Space Agency (ESA). It is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe.
Spire Global is active in the space data industry as a global data and analytics company that leverages proprietary satellite technology to forecast the weather and track maritime and aviation movements. It designs, manufactures and operates the world’s largest constellation of small satellites.
EIB Vice-President Teresa Czerwińska, responsible for innovation and digitalisation: “Like many other sectors, space is undergoing disruptive changes driven by innovation and digitalisation. We shouldn’t miss the opportunity to play a decisive role in the emerging New Space industry and reap the many benefits it can bring to the whole economy and Europe’s future competitiveness. I am therefore particularly pleased about our agreement with Spire. For the first time ever, the EIB is directly supporting a highly innovative, disruptive start-up in the New Space sector. It shows that the European Union can attract late-stage, fast-growing companies that develop new business models and commercialise new technologies in sectors that will define our future.”
European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni said: “The ‘New Space’ economy, which remains little explored by private entrepreneurs, offers great potential for economic growth and job creation. I am glad that the Investment Plan for Europe is extending its support to this promising sector. The EIB financing will help the Spire Global start-up to accelerate its R&D activities, expand its network for space data analysis and create many high-skilled jobs.”
Peter Platzer, CEO and founder of SPIRE said: “Spire is pleased to be working with EIB to drive product innovation and scalability in Europe. Our satellite constellation is monitoring every point on the planet in near real-time, producing unique datasets that can be processed into decision-making tools that help to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, such as achieving net zero emission targets, illegal fishing, excessive fuel consumption, early warning of extreme weather events, and more efficient movement of global resources. Europe has exceptional high-tech talent, including in data analytics, AI/ML, and product development, making it an ideal location for Spire to scale our team to meet new customer demands through product innovation. We applaud EIB’s decision to fill the growth financing gap between early stage and mature companies, which positions Europe as a competitive location for technology start-ups and particularly attractive for business scaling.”
Financing New Space
The global space economy has been growing at nearly twice the rate of the broader economy (pre-COVID) and is undergoing considerable changes. Many new private companies are entering this market that has long been dominated by government-run entities. According to ESA, every €1 invested in the space sector returns an average of €6 to the economy, making the sector essential for growth, competitiveness and high-tech employment. Space technology in orbit and applications on Earth are relevant across a large number of industries, including maritime, aviation, agriculture, natural resource management, insurance, financial trading and logistics.
The European Union has flagship programmes like Copernicus and Galileo that provide Europe with autonomous space capabilities, and is also embracing the changes of the “New Space” sector with various funding vehicles. However, Europe still lags the United States and China in terms of risk capital available to the space sector, which particularly affects the growth stage of space ventures. At this stage of development, grants are no longer adequate to drive scalability and commercialisation, but companies are not mature enough to access private equity markets. To fill this gap, the EIB Group provides direct venture financing for later-stage, fast-growing companies, and through the European Investment Fund (EIF) backs various venture funds to support European space start-ups at earlier development stages.
In addition to its financing, the EIB is supporting the development of a European New Space sector through its Advisory Services, in collaboration with the European Commission. The services produced a market study on The future of the European space sector and initiated the EIB Space Finance Lab. The lab connects space companies and financiers, helping companies tap into EIB and other patient capital sources. Spire has been actively contributing to the Space Finance Lab initiative launched in 2019, representing the voice of New Space companies in the scale-up phase looking for debt financing. Spire was first identified by the Bank’s Advisory Services as a potential venture financing candidate, and benefited from its advisory support in preparation for the EIB financing application.
Spire has been in operation since 2012 with institutional investors from around the world and locations in four countries. The company’s data and analytics are backed by a wholly owned and developed constellation of more than 100 nanosatellites, global ground station network, and 24/7 operations. The support from EIB allows Spire to accelerate R&D investments and product innovation in Europe, leading to expanded customer capture and entry into new markets.
Background information
Spire Global Luxembourg
Spire is the leading space data company and Earth solutions platform – building, owning and operating the world’s largest multi-purpose constellation of commercial nanosatellites. Spire provides the most advanced tracking of the world’s ships, planes and weather systems with the best-in-class near real-time coverage of the entire globe. Our exclusive predictive data-analytics engine offers a competitive advantage to our customers as they navigate a rapidly digitizing economy. Sitting at the nexus of answers to the world’s toughest challenges, Spire empowers businesses and governments to make critical, time-sensitive decisions about what to do next in a rapidly changing, and digital world. To learn more, visit https://www.spire.com
The EU bank supports the start-up’s R&D strategy, focused on innovative growth and market expansion.
The company’s product Loadsensing increases reliability, efficiency and safety of critical infrastructures through monitoring within mining, construction and rail.
The project is supported by the Investment Plan for Europe and is expected to create 50 new highly skilled jobs in the R&D sector.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide a €10 million financing to support the R&D strategy of the Spanish start-up Worldsensing, a widely recognised Internet of Things (IoT) pioneer that focuses on designing IoT solutions for monitoring sensors and operates in more than 60 countries. The EIB long-term and advantageous financing of Worldsensing will support the company’s innovation efforts aimed at increasing its production capabilities, developing a portfolio of new products and at enhancing the company’s commercial and distribution network. The agreement was announced today at Web Summit by EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Félix and Worldsensing CFO David Deprez.
Thanks to the EU bank support, the Barcelona-based start-up will further develop the Loadsensing product portfolio, a battery-powered, wireless, wide-area data transmission solution, to monitor in near real-time the status of infrastructures, improve efficiency and prevent disasters. The company’s monitoring solution collects sensor data of critical infrastructure, including tailings dams in the mining sector, thus improving the safety of workers that normally collect this data manually and the communities that often live near these sites. Moreover, the EIB backing will enable Worldsensing to not only help preserve monuments in cities and to monitor the status of urban infrastructures, but will also create safer work environments and address the lack of infrastructure resilience through predicting landslides, floods, infrastructure fatigue and collapse.
EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Félix, who is responsible for the Bank’s operations in Spain, highlighted: “Preserving our cultural heritage, creating safer work environments and monitoring the status of our infrastructure are only some of the results that can be achieved using Worldsensing’s technology. This is a very good example of a project whose impact will improve our day-to-day life, wellbeing and security. EIB is pleased to support the company’s RDI strategy to further develop its next generation monitoring solution and wide range of important applications. Boosting this type of cutting-edge technologies is critical for the competitiveness of the European economy, not only to face the COVID-19 crisis but also to address Europe’s long-term challenges. The Web Summit is the ideal place to announce these ground-breaking projects.”
Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, said: “This agreement between the EIB and Spanish start-up Worldsensing, supported by the Investment Plan for Europe, shows how technology can be put at the service of society. Thanks to the new financing, Worldsensing will develop a solution to monitor remotely the status of critical infrastructure like bridges and railways: helping to prevent disasters and save lives.”
David Deprez, Chief Financial Officer at Worldsensing, said: “The EIB investment will enable us to accelerate our solution development. As a market leader in the space, we see safeguarding critical infrastructures as a mission that Worldsensing is uniquely positioned to deliver on,” said Deprez. “At this point in our growth, the EIB funding will help us to expand our global footprint and continue driving infrastructure resilience and safety through our partner network.”
Some recent examples of projects where Worldsensing’s technology has been applied include new infrastructure projects like the expansion of the Paris metropolitan underground system, the metro tunnel construction monitoring of the U5 metro line extension in Frankfurt (Germany), and monitoring water wells across one of the largest open pit mines in the world (Chile).
The EIB is financing this RDI project through a venture debt operation backed by the European Growth Finance Facility (EGFF) – a programme loan under Investment Plan for Europe. It is a financing instrument used by the EU bank that supports leading companies in innovative sectors. Since it was launched in 2016, this initiative has granted over €2 billion in financing for projects in areas such as robotics, artificial intelligence and biomedicine. The project will help create 50 new highly skilled R&D jobs in Worldsensing’s headquarter, located in Barcelona (Spain).
Background information:
EIB venture debt
The EIB’s venture debt product is a financing instrument that supports startup and fast-growing innovative companies in cutting-edge technology sectors. It combines the advantages of a long-term loan with a remuneration model based on the company’s performance. Venture debt transactions help strengthen the borrower’s economic capital without diluting the shares of existing investors. The product, developed four years ago in response to market needs, is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financial pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe.
Worldsensing
Worldsensing is a global IoT pioneer. Founded in 2008, the industrial monitoring expert works with over 270 engineering partners in more than 60 countries to provide safety through critical infrastructure monitoring in mining, construction, rail and structural health. The company is a member of the EITRawMaterials, initiated and funded by the EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology), a body of the European Union, and has recently joined the European Raw Materials Alliance. Worldsensing has more than 80 employees and offices in Barcelona, London, Los Angeles and Singapore and investors include Cisco Systems, Mitsui & Co, McRock Capital and ETF Partners, among others.
About Web Summit
Web Summit is an annual technology conference with more than 70 000 attendees held in Lisbon, Portugal. It is considered one of the largest and most important tech events in the world.
The current procedure for the approval of active substances in pesticides “raises concerns” according to the EU Ombudsman, who outlined several recommendations for measures to improve the approval process and increase its transparency.
The new conclusion of the EU watchdog, published on Wednesday (2 December), evaluates the way the European Commission approves ‘active substances’ used in pesticides.
It concluded that “where EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) identifies critical areas of concern or does not identify a safe use, the Commission should seek clarifications from EFSA before approving the active substance in question, in accordance with the precautionary principle”.
The Ombudsman also asked for more transparency in the decision-making process and clarification on how the Commission gets to its conclusion on safe use while there is no data available.
For an active substance in a pesticide to be approved for the EU market, the producer must first submit an application to EFSA.
EFSA then carries out a scientific risk assessment, designed to provide the basis of the European Commission’s approval or the conditions of the approval decision.
The EU watchdog investigated this procedure following a complaint filed to the Ombudsman’s office by Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) in 2013, in which the NGO denounced what they considered to be unlawful approvals of active substances in pesticides by the European Commission.
In particular, the Ombudsman inquiry looked into two issues.
One was the Commission’s practice of approving active substances for which EFSA, the EU body in charge of the scientific safety assessment, had identified either no safe use or critical areas of concern.
The Ombudsman also revisited the Commission’s practice of approving substances for which additional data confirming their safety must be submitted at a later stage, a method known as ‘confirmatory data’.
While the Commission maintained that its practices comply with the applicable legal provisions, it listed changes and improvements it has made to address the issues raised and informed the Ombudsman of several measures designed to improve the approval process and increase its transparency.
The EU watchdog is now closing the inquiry with three suggestions to the Commission to ensure that it approves substances based only on uses confirmed to be safe by EFSA, that the approval process is fully transparent, and that its use of the confirmatory data procedure is further restricted.
While the conclusion is not legally binding, it notes that with the commitment laid out by the Von der Leyen Commission in the flagship food policy, the Farm to Fork strategy, to take action to reduce by 50% the overall use of and risk from chemical pesticides by 2030, the Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, expects that the Commission will follow up satisfactorily on her suggestions”.
Hans Muilerman, chemicals coordinator for PAN Europe, said that “PAN Europe welcomes this long-awaited decision from the EU Ombudsman and demands the European Commission to get back on track with EU pesticide laws, and to make up for the lost time by embracing the Farm to Fork objective aimed at reducing by 50% the use of pesticides”.
“PAN Europe estimates that about 200 active substances that represent a danger for the EU environment and biodiversity have been authorised by the European Commission in an unlawful way, and in some cases, with complete disregard for assessments by the scientific authority EFSA, which had identified them as ‘unsafe’,” he added.
The campaign group added that, despite pledging to reduce the number of confirmatory data derogations in its preliminary response in 2016, the Commission continued using the derogation method “extensively”, with 55% of the approvals for the year 2019 alone.
Géraldine Kutas, director-general of the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA), agreed that there are areas for improvement mostly in the better implementation of the 1107 regulation and “keeping to the timelines is something that the process would benefit from”.
“The demand for further explanation is also a welcomed suggestion. Anything that helps people understand better the approval process for the use of pesticides and biopesticides will be beneficial,” she told EURACTIV.
