1. Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Serving society, stimulating innovation,
supporting legislation
Prof. Dr. Krzysztof Maruszewski
Director of Institute for Health and Consumer Protection 1

2. The JRC in the Commission
President José Manuel Barroso
27 Commission Members …
DG Environment
DG Climate Action
DG Agriculture and Rural Affairs
DG Mobility and Transport
Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn
Research, Innovation and Science
DG Energy
Joint Research Centre (JRC)
DG Research and Innovation
JRC Director-General
Dominique Ristori 2

3. JRC’s Mission and Role
… is to provide EU policies with independent, evidence-based
scientific and technical support throughout the whole policy cycle.
Direct research:
JRC is the European Commission's in-house science service and the only DG executing direct research; providing science advice to EU policy.
Serving society, stimulating innovation, supporting legislation 3

4. Quick Facts: Established 1957 7 institutes in 5 countries
2,822 scientific and technical personnel
Over 1400 scientific publications
in 2012
Budget: €356 million annually,
plus €62 million earned income
Corporate Services – Brussels
IRMM – Geel, Belgium - ITU – Karlsruhe, Germany and Ispra, Italy
IET – Petten, The Netherlands and Ispra, Italy
IPSC – Ispra, Italy
IES – Ispra, Italy
IHCP – Ispra, Italy
IPTS – Seville, Spain
ITU – Karlsruhe, Germany
1400 publications – all JRC publications (c20000) accessible on-line via database JRC home page, searchable by keyword (publications repository)
Approx half of all publications peer-reviewed.
Earned income – 15% of budget (set by Council and EP) earned from participating in FP7 projects, working with regional authorities and industry.

5. Key priorities Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
Internal market: growth, jobs and innovation
Low-carbon economy and resource efficiency
(environment, climate change, energy, transport)
Agriculture and global food security
Public health, safety and security
Nuclear safety and security
Providing the needed scientific support to the
Europe 2020 policy priorities. 5

6. Cross-cutting activities
Policy analysis
Impact assessment
Foresight and horizon scanning
Economics
Both sectoral and integrated modelling
Knowledge Transfer
Education and Training
Key competences
Policy analysis allowing cross-sectoral investigation of policy options
Impact assessment providing scientific evidence to support policy options
(JRC currently has performed 35 but that will significantly be increased)
Foresight and horizon scan contributing to the Commission's capacity to develop timely policy proposals, development of strategic intelligence
Economics providing an integrated service covering both scientific-technical and macro-economic aspects
Both sectoral and integrated modelling fostering/developing the Commission’s capacities for vital scenario analyses
Knowledge Transfer
- Through many of the JRC scientific networks but also through TTO circle created in 2011.
Education and Training JRC hosts PhD and post-doc students, training in candidate and associated countries

7. Policy implementation
Scientific support to
the whole policy cycle
Policy anticipation
Effectiveness
and impact
assessment
Policy evaluation
Agenda-setting
Identification of emerging issues
Policy formulation
Expert advice
JRC
Ad-hoc policy support
Decision-making process
Selection of programme options
Policy adoption
Crisis response
Policy implementation
Compliance checks
Independent verification
Anti-fraud measures

8. Supporting EU Policies
Examples of JRC activities:
Supporting EU Policies
Policy anticipation
Sustaining European Soil
The JRC has developed robust databases supporting the European Soil Thematic Strategy and as a result created three soil atlases, unique collections of maps illustrating the varying patterns of different soil types occurring across Europe. One of the resulting outputs is the first ever European Atlas of Soil Biodiversity.
Policy anticipation
New developments in nanotechnology
The JRC is working closely with policy makers providing science and research-based policy support for improving regulation of nanotechnology. It also hosts the largest repository of nano reference materials, has developed an internationally-available database containing test and measurement results used by the OECD, Member States and industry. In February 2011, the JRC released the world's first certified reference material for nanoparticles, based on industry-sourced materials.
Policy anticipation
INSPIRE: Harmonising environmental data worldwide
The JRC is the technical and scientific coordinator of INSPIRE, the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe, which provides the knowledge needed for mitigating natural and man-made hazards to make more efficient use of natural resources, to better protect the environment and to adapt to climate change.

9. Policy implementation Policy implementation Policy implementation
Examples of JRC activities:
Supporting EU Policies
Policy implementation
Making the EU's electricity grids smarter
The JRC has identified and analysed the vulnerabilities of Member States’ electricity transmission systems for the implementation of a Directive on Critical European Infrastructures.
Policy implementation
Calculating greenhouse gas emissions from biofuel crops
The JRC developed a new methodology to estimate changes in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to biofuel crops. This work underpinned the Commission Report required for the implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive.
Policy implementation
Detecting GMOs in food and feed
The JRC provided the "Compendium of Reference Methods for GMO analysis", a reference report listing 79 GMO detection methods validated according to international standards in support of the Regulation on official food and feed controls.

10. Supporting EU Policies
Examples of JRC activities:
Supporting EU Policies
Ad-hoc policy support
Nuclear forensics support to Member States
The JRC supports safeguard authorities by providing environmental sampling and measurements techniques that are essential in the detection of non-declared nuclear activities. The JRC ‘clean lab’ is used for the measurement of uranium enrichment in particles founded in ‘swipes’ taken by IAEA or Euratom inspectors across the globe.
Ad-hoc policy support
Responding to crises
GDACS (the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System) provides near real-time alerts about natural disasters around the world. In addition, the JRC provided support to rescue operations by carrying out a rapid damage assessment based on the analysis of very high resolution satellite imagery.
Ad-hoc policy support
European Flood Alert System and European Forest Fire Information System JRC provides essential information to prepare for floods in Europe by complementing the information of national hydrological services with novel probabilistic flood forecasting information up to 10 days in advance.  EFFIS comprehensively addresses forest fires in Europe providing EU level assessments from pre-fire to post-fire phases, thus supporting fire prevention, preparedness, fire fighting and post-fire evaluations.

11. Supporting EU Policies
Examples of JRC activities:
Supporting EU Policies
Policy anticipation
Science for water
The publication “Science for Water “aims to give a comprehensive overview of the JRC's work in relation to global water challenges. The report covers water quantity, quality, governance and innovation, the preservation of ecosystems and water-related hazards & climate change, providing a glimpse on how science and the JRC can contribute to find solutions in these fields.
Ad-hoc policy support
Science for the financial sector The JRC develops scientific models for the financial sector to reduce the probability of systematic crisis. The EC legislative proposal for minimum capital requirements in the banking sector (known as Basel III) and the EC legislative proposal on financial transactions were thoroughly tested using “SYMBOL”, a scientific model developed by the JRC.
Policy anticipation
TEFIS: Techno-economic Foresight for the Information Society
The JRC supports Information Society Technology policies by generating prospective analyses and strategies related to the knowledge society. TEFIS is one such example where emerging trends in Information Society Technologies up to a 15-year time period will be studied, using integrated techno-economic foresight analyses leading to strategic priority-setting.

12. Science support to policy: Horizon 202012
Strengthening anticipation, foresight
and horizon scanning
Expanding economic modelling capacity
Expanding socio-behavioural research
Providing evidence-based policy options, cost-benefit analysis and impact assessment
Strengthening science-based input to EU standardisation and legislative processes

13. A selection of JRC Scientific Facilities13
European Crisis Management
Laboratory
European Laboratory for
Structural Assessment (ELSA)
Hot Cells Laboratory
Fuel Cell Facility
Nano-Materials
Laboratory
Vehicles Emissions
Laboratory (VELA)
European Reference
Laboratory
for Air Pollution
(ERLAP)
Van Der Graf Generator

14. Examples of JRC publications
JRC Annual Report gives an overview of JRC activities.
Reference Reports are authoritative documents that represent a JRC-wide view on a subject for which the JRC is noted as expert.
Evaluation Reports promote the provision of fact-based judgement on the JRC's activities with a view to improving the design and management of the JRC
Newsletter is a bi-monthly publication with an overview of recent highlights
Brochures and reports

15. A Networked Organisation15
A Networked Organisation
1000+ partners: public and private organisations, institutions and expert groups
250 major networks worldwide:
Cooperation and partnerships with key organisations
Support to enlargement
Training and mobility of researchers
Access to scientific infrastructures
Support to European Research Area policies
Support to standardisation
Main message
- To perform its mission and provide S&T support to policies, co-operation with wide range of partners is essential

16. Institute for Health and Consumer Protection
IHCP – one of the 7 JRC Institutes 16
Institute for Health and Consumer Protection
Policy Support Areas:
● Alternatives to Animal Testing
● Food and Consumer Products
● Genetically Modified Organisms
● Public Health
● Nanotechnology

17. Examples of activities
IHCP – one of the 7 JRC Institutes 17
Examples of activities
Development and validation
of sampling protocols
and analytical tools for:
Risk and benefit assessment
● Biocides, chemicals (including
mixtures), nanomaterials, endocrine
disrupters, dietary substances
● Integrated risk assessment
methodologies
● Exposure assessment (noise, chemicals)
● Detection and quantification in
Food and Consumer Products of:
- Chemicals and other contaminants
- Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
- Nanomaterials
● Toxicity testing of chemicals and
nanomaterials with a strong focus on
alternative-to-animal testing methods

18. IHCP – one of the 7 JRC Institutes18
Reference Centres and Bureaus hosted by JRC-IHCP
3 EURL European Reference Laboratories:
Food Contact Materials, GM Food and Feed, Alternatives to Animal Testing
BEVABS - European Bureau for Wine, Alcohol and Spirit Drinks
ECB - European Chemicals Bureau ( ) handed over to ECHA
Impact
Coordination of National Reference Laboratories
Analytical controls are harmonised throughout Europe
Standardised methods delivering robust analytical results
Better implementation of legal limits
Reduced number of analyses in EU Member States
Safe food and consumer products for European consumers
Reducing number of animal tests by supporting Replacement, Reduction, Refinement ("3R")