STM NEWSROOM

In her speech at the Annual EU Budget Conference, European Commission President Von der Leyen stated, “Our framework programme Horizon Europe will stay as a self-standing programme…tightly connected to our Competitiveness Fund. We need a seamless flow from fundamental research to applied research to start-ups to scale-up.” This announcement inspired some relief among the research community, who interpreted…

As expected, last month, the Competitiveness Ministers of the European Council adopted several documents with implications for open access and AI: The Council Recommendations for ERA Policy Agenda 2025-27 is a ‘non-binding roadmap’ of initiatives to drive the European Research Area forward, including copyright interventions that apply to Action 1 on Open Science. The Council’s conclusions on AI in science state that AI collaboration…

Last month, the European Commission launched a consultation on the Data Union Strategy — an attempt to simplify and consolidate rules concerning data, its flow across international borders and its use in AI. The Data Union Strategy could lead to a rise in generative AI and establish Europe as, in the Commission’s own words, an ‘AI Continent’. The Commission…

A united cultural and scientific front is calling on EU policymakers to honour the intent of the AI Act and uphold the core principles that protect Europe’s creators, researchers, and rights holders.  As implementation unfolds, there is growing concern that current drafts threaten to dilute the Act’s original safeguards—especially around transparency, consent, and enforceable rights….

The EU Commission is seeking input on how to accelerate the uptake of AI in science—encouraging more researchers to use it as a tool while carefully managing its impact on the scientific process. The strategy will lay the groundwork for a European AI Research Council, envisioned as a “Resource for AI Science in Europe” (RAISE), aimed at…

As discussions continue on the Code of Practice, the EU COM has opened a consultation to define the scope of the definition of General-Purpose AI models and of the obligations falling on them. The stakeholder feedback will inform guidelines expected to be published in August 2025, defining concepts such as general-purpose AI models, placing on the market, downstream providers….

The Code of Practice outlining obligations for general-purpose AI providers was due to be finalised by 1 May. However, with both tech companies and rightsholders dissatisfied with the draft, the EU AI Office has postponed the adoption deadline to August 2025, citing a need to “prioritise extended feedback cycles as requested by all stakeholders.” A broad…

With the European Accessibility Act going into effect this June, it’s time to make sure you’re in compliance. Silverchair hosted a webinar exploring what publishers can do to prepare, illustrating that true accessibility is not just about compliance — it’s about creating content that can genuinely reach and serve all potential users. Catch the replay (and transcript) here.

The third draft of the EU’s AI Code of Practice — the last one we’ll be able to provide feedback on before the final version is published by 1 May — is now available, and unfortunately, it has been severely weakened. All of the provisions were watered down and there are no new gains in this version,…

Three French publishing organisations sued Meta last month, accusing the company of parasitically using their members’ copyrighted works without permission to train its generative AI models. This marks France’s first major AI copyright dispute, and it could set important legal precedents for both French and EU case law. The lawsuit, brought before the Paris Judicial Court by the Syndicat…