SCI's Daily Digest: your one-stop shop for all of the day's news in science based industry

In today's Daily Digest, BP selects Johnson Matthey as technology partner for its major hydrogen project, the Royal Society calls for policy to support GM crop development, and more.

Innovation

The UK government is providing £100 million in funding to new AI Life Sciences Accelerator Mission which will focus on the use of AI in life science. The investment will be targeted to create breakthrough in treatments for previously incurable diseases.

Careers

The Royal Society has announced £80 million in funding across three schemes to support early-career researchers. Fellowships have been awarded to scientists with the potential become leaders in their fields.

The Nuffield Foundation has launched the Nuffield Foundation Emerging Researchers Network. The initiative aims to nurture and develop the next generation of future research talent from a wide range of disciplines, institutions, and backgrounds.

Agrisciences

The Royal Society has published a policy briefing calling for the UK to establish an evidence-led and proportionate regulatory approach for genetically modified crops to realise the technology’s benefits for human health, agriculture, and the environment.

The European Parliament’s Environment Committee has adopted its position on measures to ensure sustainable pesticide use, and reduce the use and risk of all chemical pesticides by at least 50% by 2030.

Policy

The UK’s Centre for Process Innovation is calling for a MedTech industrial strategy to prevent the UK from falling behind in the growing health-tech sector. Reports produced by CPI warn that unless the government steps in to support the industry, the UK could lose out on highly skilled jobs and billions of pounds of revenue.

The European Parliament’s Industry Committee has voted on new legislation intended to bolster Europe’s manufacturing output of technologies needed for decarbonisation. The Net-Zero Industry Act sets a target for Europe to produce 40% of net-zero technologies based on National Energy and Climate Plans, and to capture 25% of the global market for these technologies.

The European Parliament’s Environment Committee has adopted proposals to make packaging easier to reuse and recycle and promote the use of recycled content. MEPs also want to set specific waste reduction targets for plastic packaging, culminating in a 20% reduction by 2040.

Energy

BP has selected Johnson Matthey’s LCH Technology for its H2Teesside project, which aims to become on of the UK’s largest low carbon hydrogen facilities. The facility is targeted to have 1.2GW of hydrogen production by 2030.