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Annex B: Report of a statistical audit of RIS done by JRC – COIN team
No full textThe European Commission’s Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN) at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra has been invited to audit the Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS). The JRC audit focuses on the statistical soundness of the structure of the RIS as well as the impact of key modelling assumptions on the results. The independent statistical assessment of the RIS provided by the JRC-COIN guarantees the transparency and reliability of the index for both policymakers and other stakeholders, thus facilitating more accurate priority setting and policy formulation in the field of competitiveness and attractiveness.JRC.S.3 - Science for Modelling, Monitoring and Evaluatio
Antiviral use and the effects of drug resistance on the transmission dynamics of influenza
No full textThe effectiveness of wide-spread use of antivirals in preventing or mitigating influenza outbreaks depends on both their ability to reduce the number of infections and the risk of drug resistance. We extended a previously developed mathematical model to investigate the impact of various mitigation strategies, including mono or combination antiviral treatment or chemoprophylaxis and vaccination, on influenza transmission dynamics. Our findings indicate that chemoprophylaxis is more effective than treatment in reducing influenza burden, except when the resistant viral strain has a high transmission rate, in which case chemoprophylaxis may trigger a resistance-driven secondary wave of infections. Combination therapy significantly reduces resistance emergence, although it yields similar infection numbers as mono-therapy. Vaccination coverage of at least 80% is required to prevent outbreaks; otherwise, antivirals, particularly chemoprophylaxis, can contribute to outbreak control provided drug resistance emergence is low. This analysis could inform public health decision-making by providing guidance on effective prevention and mitigation strategies for influenza outbreaks, considering the benefits of antiviral use against the risk of drug resistance.JRC.F.7 - Digital Healt
Techno-economic and life-cycle assessment comparisons of hydrogen delivery options
No full textThis paper presents a techno-economic assessment (TEA) combined with an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of various hydrogen delivery options within Europe, aiming to identify the most sustainable and cost-effective methods for transporting renewable hydrogen. Five hydrogen carriers—compressed hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, and a liquid organic hydrogen carrier—are compared, assuming that hydrogen is produced via renewable electrolysis in Portugal and transported to the Netherlands by either ship or pipeline. The findings align with much of the existing literature, indicating that the most economically and environmentally sustainable options for long-distance hydrogen delivery are shipping liquid hydrogen and transporting compressed hydrogen via pipeline. Chemical carriers tend to involve higher costs and environmental impacts, largely due to the additional energy and materials (e.g., extra solar panels) required in hydrogen conversion steps (i.e., packing and unpacking). While the findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, further research is needed to address the limitations of multi-criteria assessments for emerging hydrogen technologies, particularly the uncertainties associated with the early development stages of processes along the hydrogen value chain. Future research should also focus on extending the scope of sustainability assessments and enhancing model reliability, especially for underrepresented environmental and social impact categories.JRC.C.1 - Battery and Hydrogen Technologie
A machine learning approach for ground response analysis
No full textGround response is an integral part of the dynamic response of the overlying infrastructure. When a large number of ground response analyses is needed, for instance in the case of seismic hazard analysis on a large geographical scale or, when assessing uncertainty in seismic structural response due to site effects, computational efficiency is critical. Machine-learning (ML) models can predict response at a very low cost and require fewer parameters. An ML procedure is proposed here to model the ground response using artificial neural networks (ANNs) and deep-learning methods. Ground response is affected by various parameters, including the mechanical properties of the underlying soil strata and their geometry. In the current study, soil response is assumed elastic while seismic excitation is modelled through harmonic waves with unit amplitude and various frequencies in a given range of interest. The physical soil model is approximated with a recurrent neural network (RNN), which is combined with long short-term memory (LSTM) units to handle time-series data. The RNN model receives as input the har-monic waves and gives as output the estimated ground acceleration responses. The latter are compared against the target output signals derived from conventional ground response analyses to evaluate the accuracy of the model. To train the RNN, the ADAptive Moment estimation (ADAM) optimisation algorithm is applied, given its suitability for treating large datasets. To increase the computation efficiency of the RNN algorithm, the full-length input signal is split in several batches of fixed length. To tune the ML parameters and assess their influence, analyses are conducted for two loss metrics, three activation functions, and three batch lengths. It is shown that the computational demands of traditional analytical methods could be overcome by ML techniques that can efficiently process complex and large datasets of ground responses.JRC.E.2 - Space, Connectivity and Economic Securit
GEOMÁTICA PARA LA GESTIÓN Y ORDENACIÓN DEL TERRITORIO [Geomatics for urban and regional planning] - Prologo [Foreword]
No full textThis publication is the foreword (prologo) of a book titled: GEOMÁTICA PARA LA GESTIÓN Y ORDENACIÓN DEL TERRITORIO [Geomatics for urban and regional planning]. The foreword describes the content of the book and his relevance in the Iberomerican region.JRC.D.1 - Forests and Bio-Econom
ArcX News - Africa Regional Centres of eXcellence and AKP Newsletter - Issue 3 - December 2025
No full textThis is a public newsletter providing regular updates on the Africa Regional Centers of eXcellence (ArcX) programme and the Africa Knowledge Platform (AKP). At the beginning of the year the ArcX programme was kicked-off. The latter engages the JRC in an Administrative Agreement with INTPA whose objective is to contribute to the Action "Scientific and Technological Support to Regional Centres of Excellence related to Green Transition" (ACT-61214), promoting a sustainable approach to a Green Transition in Sub Saharan Africa. The JRC will support the Action’s objective of strengthening the Africa-EU partnership on STI with a focus on enhancing scientific capacities in terms of human development; knowledge generation and management related to data and information production, collection, access and sharing; and support to practitioners, scientists, and policy makers (in particular the science-policy interface). Regional Centers of Excellence (RCoEs) will be supported to enhance their technical capacity to deliver data, knowledge and thematic expertise; to improve their interconnections and impact/engagement, and to develop and deploy standards to increase coherence and opportunities for working in a multi-disciplinary and inter-organisational manner.
The Africa Knowledge Platform is part of the Transversal Component of the ArcX programme and as such serves as the backbone for knowledge and data sharing as well as the ideal promoter of cross-fertilization between regions and thematics via, e.g., the development of Decision Support Systems.
This newsletter is an essential part of the communication around the ArcX programme. We believe it'll help internal stakeholders, but also external actors, to stay up to date with this complex programmme and its activities.JRC.D.6 - Nature Conservation and Observation
Thermal refugia support the long-term survival and growth of giant coral colonies
No full textCoral reefs face global threats, primarily from ocean warming, acidification, diseases and pollution. Mass coral mortality events due to severe thermal stress are becoming increasingly frequent, intense, and widespread. Models predict a loss of over 90 % of coral cover by the century’s end, while historical records document widespread coral mortality in recent decades. Despite this, some coral colonies have survived and grown for centuries, reaching remarkable sizes. Focusing on 85 large coral colonies with sizes varying between 5 and > 20 m in their maximum dimension, we investigated whether their extended survival is due to intrinsic resilience to thermal stress or to their occurrence in thermal refugia characterized by reduced exposure to heatwaves. For that, we used historical data to assess the exposure of giant coral colonies to bleaching-triggering conditions in the last 4 decades. Most colonies (85 %) never experienced such conditions within the observational time window. However, 13 giant colonies were exposed to severe heat stress multiple times (experiencing between 2 and 22 events, with a median of 13), and six of them significantly more often than in control localities. These results support both hypotheses. On the one hand, environmental protection emerges as a major factor favoring the survival of giant corals. On the other hand, the few giant coral colonies that survived through high thermal stress might have exceptional features worth further, in-depth investigation. However, future climate projections indicate that most giant corals might soon face unprecedented thermal stress, which begs the question of whether giant corals will withstand the looming “coralgeddon” by the end of the century.JRC.D.6 - Nature Conservation and Observation
Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) – 79th Plenary Report (STECF-PLEN-25-02)
Get PDFCommission Decision of 25 February 2016 setting up a Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries, C(2016) 1084, OJ C 74, 26.2.2016, p. 4–10. The Commission may consult the group on any matter relating to marine and fisheries biology, fishing gear technology, fisheries economics, fisheries governance, ecosystem effects of fisheries, aquaculture or similar disciplines. The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries held its 79th plenary from 7 to 11 July 2025.JRC.D.2 - Ocean and Wate
Green and digital patenting of Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard companies
Get PDFThis analysis, along with the brief ‘Green Patenting in the Digital Techno Economic Ecosystem’ [2], examine patent-driven innovation for the twin transition through two distinct but complementary approaches, with a particular focus on EU Industrial R&D Scoreboard firms. This brief investigates how these firms perform in innovation at the intersection of climate change mitigation technologies and digital technologies, which either transform our interaction with energy systems or mitigate their additional energy consumption. The Digital Techno-Economic ecoSystem (DGTES) approach uses 'green' patent codes to explore twin innovation within the digital ecosystem to analyse EU’s global position and its industrial composition. Despite differences in methodology, both studies converge on key messages, strengthening the validity of shared conclusions referenced in both briefs.
This document has been published within the context of the Global Industrial Research & Innovation Anal-yses (GLORIA) project that is jointly carried out by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Re-search and Innovation Directorate E – Prosperity, and the Joint Research Centre Directorate B - Fair and Sustainable Economy. GLORIA has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under a specific action for scientific and technical services by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) over the period 2022-2025. The main expected impact of GLORIA is the better understanding of corporate Research & Development (R&D) efforts in relation to the EU’s long-term 3% of GDP R&D investment policy target and the EU policy objectives regarding competitiveness, the green deal and sustainability.JRC.C.7 - Energy Transition Insights for Polic
The manufacturing landscape of wind turbine components
Get PDFThis brief examines the state of wind turbine component manufacturing in the EU and its readiness to meet the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) target for domestic production to cover at least 40% of annual clean-tech deployment needs by 2030. Drawing on multiple data sources the analysis finds that the EU wind industry already possesses sufficient manufacturing capacity to meet this goal, with 59% of components sourced from EU-based suppliers. Key manufacturing hubs such as Spain, Denmark, and Germany maintain strong capabilities in producing blades, nacelles, and towers, enabling the EU to meet domestic demand while contributing to global supply chains. Although China dominates global production, the EU remains a significant player with 7–24% of global capacity and a positive trade balance in wind-powered generating sets. Overall, the EU’s robust yet globally integrated supply chain provides a solid foundation for achieving renewable energy and net-zero objectives.JRC.C.7 - Energy Transition Insights for Polic