Today, the JRC releases its 2020 Annual Report. 2020 was a year of unprecedented challenges for Europe and the world. But it was also a year where Europe’s leading science and research shone through, helping the Commission take decisive action to meet the challenges and continue building a positive future together.
The JRC was at the forefront of these efforts and relentlessly carried out its core mission of informing policymaking with sound science and knowledge through analytical, anticipatory and innovative approaches.
The JRC refocused right from the start of the coronavirus crisis to strengthen the EU’s response, helping to protect lives and livelihoods - from ensuring that diagnostic tests are reliable to helping forecast potential recovery scenarios.
Reflecting on 2020, JRC Director-General Stephen Quest said: “2020 proved beyond doubt that it is very difficult to respond to complex policy challenges such as responding to the COVID-19 crisis, which has health, social, economic and geopolitical implications, without solid facts, without sound science and without very strong analysis. In that sense, it was an opportunity for us to really showcase our expertise and to show the relevance of a scientific organisation such as the JRC in the broader policy construct”.
The JRC’s 2020 Annual report highlights how the JRC mobilised to tackle the then-emerging COVID-19 Pandemic and how its role evolved throughout the year.
It also gives insights on how the organisation routinely supports the Commission’s political priorities, what the main streams of activities are and what the JRC’s key accomplishments have been over the year.
As in previous years, the Annual Report also showcases how the JRC supported a wide range of policy priorities to help achieve a more competitive, fair, sustainable and influential Europe. This includes:
- Publishing the first annual strategic foresight report: Strategic Foresight – Charting the course towards a more resilient Europe;
- Launching the new Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity, a one-stop shop for science-based evidence to protect and restore the natural ecosystems that provide us with food, medicines, materials, recreation, and wellbeing;
- Continuing to grant access to the JRC’s research infrastructures to the research community, public authorities and industry through its Open Access programme;
- Publishing the report concluding the pilot phase of the flagship ‘Science meets Parliaments / Science meets Regions’ project and laying the ground for its next phase;
Among the JRC’s direct support to political priorities, the report also covers activities including:
- a new edition of the Global Energy and Climate Outlook report;
- exploring the influence of online technologies on political behaviour and decision-making;
- reporting on climate change impacts and adaptation;
- running a cross-cutting Fitness Check on endocrine disruptors legislation;
- launching the EU Soil Observatory;
- producing a European Atlas of Natural Radiation;
- assessing critical raw materials for Europe’s green and digital future;
- exploring youth perspectives in Africa;
- launching the Freshwater Ecosystems Explorer;
- studying current challenges of the European nuclear supply chain;
- shedding light on drivers of attitudes to migration;
- promoting alternatives to animal testing;
- bridging silos in biosciences.
The Annual Report provides further detailed information on the wide-ranging accomplishments of the JRC over the year.
The publication also provides an overview of corporate initiatives, international agreements, facts and figures and resources related to the functioning of the JRC.
Related Content
Report – JRC Annual Report 2020
Details
- Publication date
- 29 July 2021