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At the end of 2017 the Commission set up an expert group on electronic identification (eID) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) processes composed of representatives of the supervisory authorities, regulators and the banking sector. The expert group was tasked, with a mandate until the end of 2019, to explore how to facilitate the cross-border use of eID and KYC portability based on identification and authentication tools under eIDAS to enable financial institutions to identify customers digitally.

The EU project POTION aims to find a new therapeutic treatment to fight depression and other mental disorders, by focusing its research on scents of two strong, yet opposing emotions – happiness and fear. The objective is to detect the particular molecules and synthesize those to create a spray that e.g. can induce happiness in people fighting with depression.

In the rural Bavarian municipality of Senden, in Germany, citizens formed a cooperative in order to create and invest in their own high-speed broadband network. By teaming up with the local administration and securing investment from telecommunications company Deutsche Glasfaser, they brought 1 Gbps Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connectivity to over 650 homes and farmsteads. The project revitalised business in the area and helped retain its population.

The Computer Emergency Response Team for the EU Institutions, bodies and agencies (CERT-EU) is taking the necessary measures to assess the cyber aspects of the coronavirous pandemic. They established a plan to address any potential threat that may affect the cybersecurity and interests of the EU Institutions, bodies and agencies. The purpose of these CERT-EU Security Guidelines is to highlight the various elements of the plan and provide a series of recommendations.

The European Commission has offered its support in the field of high-performance computing (HPC) in order to help find a treatment for the novel coronavirus.

Given the global situation the World is facing these days due to the coronavirus pandemic, many governments, companies and citizen movements have developed mHealth initiatives to keep the population informed and help manage the crisis situation. A non-exhaustive compilation of some initiatives developed at European level has been created by the EU-funded mHealth Hub project.

The CEF Telecom eIdentification & eSignature call is now open, offering €3 million to address the cross-border authentication of eIDs and the uptake and use of electronic signatures. Interested applicants from all EU Member States, as well as from Iceland and Norway, may submit their proposals until 20 May 2020.

In the rural Croatian community of Drnje, the community council decided to co-finance the creation of a Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) network in order to bring over 100 Mbps connectivity to local businesses, citizens and public entities. This co-financing enabled the transformation of the original plan for broadband development in the area, in which a local Internet Service Provider had intended to build a wireless network offering maximum speeds of only 30 Mbps. The local mayor made this decision because high-speed broadband is essential for encouraging young people to build their lives there.

Digital Innovation Hubs are putting digital technology to work on real-world problems. On 25 March they exchanged ideas on how to swiftly help with the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis.

The European Commission is launching a call for ideas to gather recommendations and suggestions for priorities and research and innovation (R&I) activities for the quantum communication infrastructure (QCI) initiative. The objective of this call is to identify critical areas for which an EU Investment is needed to allow the European Union to ensure a robust, non-dependent and sustainable supply chain of quantum communication technologies to build the EuroQCI.