Research & Technology in the EU

Latest news about research policy in the European Union.

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Parliament and Council must bring "Horizon 2020" in line with SMEs' needs — 22 March 2012, 15:40 CET

UEAPME issues position paper; calls for 15% dedicated budget, single entry point; rejects attempts to dilute SME definition

Competitiveness Council: lending to the economy and patent agreement still missing — 23 February 2012, 23:11 CET

EUROCHAMBRES was pleased with the overall direction of last night’s Competitiveness Council results, but disappointed by the lack of concrete steps and commitments regarding lending to the economy and the European patent agreement.

Communication on "High-Performance Computing": Europe's place in a Global Race — 15 February 2012, 21:47 CET

High Performance Computing (HPC) is critical for industries that rely on precision and speed, such as automotive and aviation, and the health sector. Access to rapid simulations carried out by ever-improving super computers can be the difference between life and death; between new jobs and profits or bankruptcy.

Plan to make EU the world leader in High-Performance Computing - guide — 15 February 2012, 22:03 CET

The European Commission on 15 February set out a plan for the EU to reverse its relative decline in HPC use and capabilities. Under this plan the EU will double its investment in HPC (from EUR 630 million to EUR 1.2 billion) and become home to computers that can perform 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (i.e. 1018) operations per second ("exa-scale"), before 2020. Half of the investment would be for development and training and for new centres of excellence, creating thousands of jobs.

EU to double investment in mansion-sized supercomputers — 15 February 2012, 23:21 CET

The EU is to double its investment in supercomputers, high-performance machines the size of a mansion that can cost more than 100 million euros each to build, the Commission said on Wednesday.

Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011 — 08 February 2012, 00:04 CET

The Innovation Union Scoreboard includes innovation indicators and trend analyses for the EU27 Member States, as well as for Croatia, Iceland, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey. It also includes comparisons based on a more reduced set of indicators between the EU27 and 10 global competitors.

The Innovation Union Scoreboard - guide — 08 February 2012, 00:06 CET

This memo provides an overview of the research and innovation performance of the different EU Member States, and associated and neighbouring countries, as measured by the Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011. The Scoreboard is prepared by the Maastricht Economic and Social Research and Training Centre on Innovation and Technology (MERIT), in collaboration with the Commission's in-house science service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC).

EU signs orders for new Galileo space satellites — 03 February 2012, 10:55 CET

The EU on Thursday signed contracts with German and French engineering firms to build and launch another eight satellites for its Europe's Galileo geopositioning system.

CONCERT-Japan Project — 30 January 2012, 19:03 CET

CONCERT-Japan (Connecting and Coordinating European Research and Technology Development with Japan) is a European Union (EU) funded project in the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technology Development (FP7).

Towards an R&D Demonstration Programme on Logistic and Supply Chain Security (Centre Albert Borschette, Brussels, from 31 January 2012, 09:00 CET to 31 January 2012, 18:00 CET) —

The objective of the workshop organized by the "Security Research and Development" Unit (H.3) within DG Enterprise & Industry is to discuss the roadmap and priorities that should be taken into consideration for a future FP7 European R&D demonstration programme (large scale research project) on "Logistic and Supply Chain Security".

Court rules illegal to mix Viagra with Polish drink Viaguara — 25 January 2012, 14:30 CET

A Polish drinks company was given a giant let-down Wednesday when top European judges ruled they were cheating in trying to trademark a drink named Viaguara" -- too close for their taste to the sex drug Viagra.

eBSN eBusiness Solutions Guide — 24 January 2012, 19:12 CET

This web-based guide is created by the European Commission as part of the European eBusiness Support Network (eBSN). It provides a review of the eBusiness and IT solutions market and supports companies and consultants to find and select appropriate software products, solutions, and service providers.

EU's top Internet official criticises US web crackdown — 20 January 2012, 15:47 CET

The European Union's top Internet official criticised on Friday planned US legislation against online piracy and voiced concerns about the closure of the popular file-sharing site Megaupload.com.

New patent system favourable to SMEs — 06 December 2011, 23:58 CET

Today’s Council agreement on a unitary protection for patents and the translation system has been long awaited by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) according to EUROCHAMBRES, the European association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs - COSME - guide — 30 November 2011, 17:09 CET

Promoting access to finance and encouraging an entrepreneurial culture, including the creation of new enterprises are the core issues of the new financial support programme, tabled by the European Commission in Brussels today.

European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Strategic Innovation Agenda - guide — 30 November 2011, 17:05 CET

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is to significantly step up its efforts to drive innovation and entrepreneurship in the EU with the creation of six new cross-border innovation hubs, known as Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), in 2014-2020. The European Commission has allocated a budget of €2.8 billion in the next financial framework to enable the EIT to expand and consolidate the development of its existing KICs which focus on climate change, sustainable energy and ICT.

Patents on chimpanzees, sperm cells and human genes - European Patents 'black List' published — 28 November 2011, 13:24 CET

Today Testbiotech is publishing a “Black List” of European Patents that have already been granted. Ten examples, granted since 2009, were selected for the list in cooperation with the Initiative “No Patents on Life”.

Antimicrobial Resistance - guide — 17 November 2011, 17:57 CET

With about 25,000 patients dying per year in the EU from infections caused by drug resistant bacteria and related costs of over 1.5 billion euros in healthcare expenses and productivity losses , antimicrobial resistance is a growing health problem in the EU. Today, on the eve of European Antibiotic Awareness Day, the European Commission tabled a comprehensive Action Plan on Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which unveils12 concrete actions to be implemented in close cooperation with the EU Member States.

Binge drinking more common in northern Europe — 09 November 2011, 13:25 CET

The relationship between drinking and damage to one's health is stronger in the Baltic countries and Sweden than in Italy, new research from Europe shows. The findings, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, suggest that the northern part of Europe tends to report higher alcohol-harm relationships because of a stronger propensity to indulge in heavy episodic drinking, what experts label 'binge drinking'.

Connecting Europe Facility — 19 October 2011, 22:59 CET

The European Commission has adopted a plan for a EUR 50 billion boost to Europe's transport, energy and digital networks. Targeted investments in key infrastructures will help to create jobs and boost Europe's competitiveness at a time when Europe needs this most. At this opportunity President Barroso stated: "The Connecting Europe Facility and the Project Bond Initiative are a perfect demonstration of the added value that Europe can provide. These proposals will help to build the roads, railways, energy grids and pipelines, and broadband networks that are so important to our citizens and businesses. We are closing the missing links in Europe's infrastructure networks that otherwise would not be built. This investment will generate growth and jobs and at the same time make work and travel easier for millions of European citizens and businesses". 'Connecting Europe Facility' will also make Europe's economy greener by promoting cleaner transport modes, high speed broadband connections and facilitating the use of renewable energy in line with the Europe 2020 Strategy.

A pilot for Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative - EC legislative proposal - guide — 19 October 2011, 22:56 CET

The European Commission has tabled a plan which will fund EUR 50 billion worth of investment to improve Europe's transport, energy and digital networks. The "Connecting Europe Facility" will finance projects which fill the missing links in Europe's energy, transport and digital backbone. To assist with the financing of the Connecting Europe Facility, the Commission has also adopted the terms for the Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative which will be one of a number of risk-sharing instruments upon which the facility may draw in order to attract private finance in projects. The pilot phase will start next year.

Connecting Europe Facility - guide — 19 October 2011, 22:46 CET

The European Commission has today tabled a plan which will fund €50 billion worth of investment to improve Europe's transport, energy and digital networks. Targeted investments in key infrastructures will help to create jobs and boost Europe's competitiveness at a time when Europe needs this most. The "Connecting Europe Facility" will finance projects which fill the missing links in Europe's energy, transport and digital backbone. It will also make Europe's economy greener by promoting cleaner transport modes, high speed broadband connections and facilitating the use of renewable energy in line with the Europe 2020 Strategy. In addition the funding for energy networks will further integrate the internal energy market, reduce the EU's energy dependency and bolster the security of supply.

Commission Recommendation on the definition of nanomaterial - guide — 19 October 2011, 13:45 CET

"Nanomaterials" are materials whose main constituents have a dimension of between 1 and 100 billionth of a metre, according to a recommendation adopted by the European Commission on 18 October. The announcement marks an important step towards greater protection for citizens, clearly defining which materials need special treatment in specific legislation.

The 2011 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard — 18 October 2011, 22:55 CET

The 2011 "EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard" (the Scoreboard) collects information on the top 1000 EU companies and 1000 non-EU companies investing the largest sums in R&D in the last reporting year. The Scoreboard includes data on R&D investment along with other economic and financial data from the last four financial years.

EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard 2011 - guide — 18 October 2011, 23:01 CET

The European Commission's 2011 "EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard" shows that R&D investment by top EU companies recovered strongly in 2010, with a 6.1% rise following a 2.6% decrease in 2009. However, data for the world's top 1400 companies show EU companies as a whole lagging behind major competitors from the US and some Asian economies on R&D growth. There was a general positive trend in 2010, as global R&D investment increased by 4%, a robust up-turn after the 1.9% drop observed in 2009. The global top 50 in terms of total R&D investment includes 15 EU companies, 18 US firms and 13 from Japan. Two pharmaceutical companies occupied the top spots: Roche from Switzerland (€7.2bn) followed by Pfizer from the US (€7bn). Volkswagen (€6.3bn), in sixth place, is the biggest EU investor in R&D, followed by Nokia (11th with €4.9bn), Daimler (13th with €4.8bn) and Sanofi-Aventis (14th with €4.4bn).