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Research & Technology in the EU

Latest news about research and innovation policy in the European Union.

EU Court rules out loophole on animal testing 22 September 2016, 13:32 CET
EU law protects the EU market from cosmetic products containing ingredients which have been tested on animals, the EU's top court ruled Wednesday, wherever that testing may have been conducted.

Latvia tops Europe's innovation scoreboard 14 July 2016, 23:02 CET
EU innovation is catching up with Japan and the US, with Latvia the fastest growing innovator, according to the Commission's 2016 European Innovation Scoreboard released Thursday.

Trade secrets directive to protect innovation in Europe 31 May 2016, 10:46 CET
New EU rules to help firms win legal redress against theft or misuse of their trade secrets were agreed by EU ministers Friday, the aim being to protect innovation and creation in Europe.

EU pilot scheme to break regulatory barriers to innovation 27 May 2016, 11:43 CET
The European Commission issued calls for expressions of interest on Thursday from projects contributing to EU plans on the circular economy, in a pilot scheme to break down regulatory barriers to innovation.

EU trade mark applications continue upward rise 26 April 2016, 23:00 CET
Applications for European Union trade marks continued their upward rise in 2015, with Germany leading the way from the Member States, and Paris from the regions. Almost 90,000 EU trade mark applications were received from the Member States in 2015.

EU earmarks EUR 8.7m funding for innovative businesses 21 April 2016, 16:32 CET
189 smaller European businesses are to benefit from a total of EUR 8.7 million of funding under the latest round of Horizon 2020 research funding for SMEs, the European Commission announced Thursday

EU scientists to benefit from 'European cloud' 19 April 2016, 19:10 CET
A new 'European cloud', unveiled by EU Science Commissioner Carlos Moedas, is to give Europe's researchers and scientists a new virtual environment to help them reap the benefits of a revolution in 'big data'.

Mobilisation for start of mass opposition against patent on tomatoes 13 April 2016, 22:12 CET
This week, a European-wide coalition is starting a mass opposition against a patent held by the Swiss company Syngenta on tomatoes produced by conventional breeding. We will be mobilising thousands of people within the time period of the opposition lasting until 12 May. The organisations taking part in this action will also be raising the pressure on European politicians to take measures against patents on plants and animals.

Automotive and telecom industries set joint priorities for connected and automated cars 24 February 2016, 23:38 CET
In order to facilitate the uptake of automated and connected driving in the near future, the European automotive and telecom sectors have identified three priority areas for further cooperation at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Evaluation of 7th Framework Programme for Research 25 January 2016, 22:06 CET
The European Commission has published its ex-post evaluation of the 7th Framework Programme (FP7), the EU's research funding programme between 2007 and 2013.

Almost 8 million ICT specialists employed in the EU in 2014 21 January 2016, 19:44 CET
In the European Union, nearly 8 million people were employed in 2014 as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialists, representing 3.7% of total employment. Over recent years, both the number and the share of ICT specialists in total employment have continuously increased to better adapt to an ever digitalised world. However, almost 40 per cent of enterprises with at least 10 people employed which recruited or tried to recruit personnel for jobs requiring ICT specialist skills had hard-to-fill vacancies in 2014.

European Parliament calling for patents on plants derived from conventional breeding to be stopped 17 December 2015, 23:15 CET
In a resolution backed by a large majority of its members, the European Parliament has taken a clear position against granting patents on plants derived from conventional ("essentially biological") breeding.

Tackling diabetes in Europe: Issue 47 of the research*eu results magazine 19 November 2015, 23:41 CET
On 14 November the world will be celebrating the World Diabetes Day for the 15th time since its launch in 1991. A lot of things have changed since then: treatments and prevention have improved, but that didn’t prevent diabetes from becoming a more pressing issue and, according to WHO estimations, diabetes prevalence in 2030 will be twice that observed in 2005. This is largely blamed on unhealthy diet, aging, stress and lack of physical activity. In Europe, the Commission does not have legal competence in the matter and can only rely on active support from national governments. But the EU is nonetheless contributing actively to research in this field. Since 1991 some 892 projects directly or indirectly impacting diabetic patients have been funded, with research work including novel treatments, beta-cell imaging technologies, artificial pancreas, immunotherapies or solutions to counter diabetes side-effects. This edition of the research*eu results magazine focuses on some of the latest results brought thanks to these EU-funded initiatives.

Syngenta granted patent on pepper for use as food 22 October 2015, 22:57 CET
The European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich has granted the Swiss seed giant, Syngenta, a patent on pepper and its use "as fresh produce, as fresh cut produce, or for processing such as, for example, canning" (EP 2 166 833 B1). The patent also covers the plants, their cultivation, harvesting and seeds. The plants have been developed to produce pepper without seeds and are derived from conventional breeding using existing biodiversity. There was no genetic engineering involved in the process.

Horizon 2020: EUR 16 bn in funding for research and innovation over next two years 14 October 2015, 22:39 CET
The European Commission will boost competitiveness by investing almost EUR 16 billion in research and innovation in the next two years under Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation funding scheme.

Seal of Excellence for EU research funding 12 October 2015, 22:15 CET
The European Commission launched on 12 October a new initiative to ensure that taxpayer money is spent efficiently by improving the synergies between EU funding for regional policy and for research.

European Patent Office boosts its business with Patents on Life 26 August 2015, 23:46 CET
A monopoly on specific tomatoes with a higher content of healthy compounds known as flavonols was granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) to the Swiss company Syngenta. The patent covers the plants, the seeds and the fruits. Patent EP1515600 describes the crossing of wild tomatoes with domesticated varieties. The plants are not genetically engineered but derived from classical breeding.

Joint Research Centre (JRC) 10 October 2019, 21:14 CET
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to EU policy.

Innovation Union Scoreboard 2015 07 May 2015, 17:04 CET
Improving Europe's capacity to innovate and be globally competitive requires further efforts to encourage disruptive ideas and foster their commercial up-take. These are some of the conclusions to be drawn from the latest ranking of innovation performance across Europe.

EU trade mark reform package 23 April 2015, 13:30 CET
The European Commission, European Parliament and Council reached provisional political agreement on 21 April on the EU's trade mark reform package. The agreed measures are set to make trade mark registration systems all over the EU more accessible and efficient for businesses in terms of lower costs, increased speed, more predictability and greater legal certainty. The Commission says the reform will improve conditions for businesses to innovate and to benefit from more effective trade mark protection against counterfeits, including non-authentic goods in transit through the EU's territory.

Galileo, the EU's satellite navigation programme 30 March 2015, 11:24 CET
Galileo, the EU's satellite navigation programme, has placed two more satellites into orbit. The lift-off took place on 27 March at 22.46 CET from the European spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana.Signals confirm that they were positioned as expected.

Connecting Europe Facility under way with EUR 100m to connect European energy networks 05 March 2015, 17:41 CET
The European Commission opened calls for proposals on 4 March under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to help finance key trans-European energy infrastructure projects.

UK companies file more European patents in 2014 26 February 2015, 17:12 CET
Patent filings at the European Patent Office (EPO) grew by 3.1% in 2014, hitting a new record high of over 274 000. Companies from the UK filed 6 823 patents at the EPO last year (2013: 6 510): with +4.8% the highest growth rate for the UK since 2011, and well above the 1.2% average increase of the 38 EPO member states.

research.eu results magazine no 38 04 February 2015, 15:47 CET
research*eu results features highlights from the most exciting EU-funded research and development projects. Special feature: Can Hydrogen revolutionise our lifestyles? It is published 10 times per year in English, and covers: Biology and medicine - Social sciences and humanities - Energy and transport - Environment and society - IT and telecommunications - Industrial technologies - Space

2014 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard 04 December 2014, 22:15 CET
The 2014 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard (the Scoreboard) contains economic and financial data for the world's top 2500 companies ranked by their investments in research and development (R&D). The sample consists of 633 companies based in the EU and 1867 companies based elsewhere. The Scoreboard data are drawn from the latest available companies' accounts, i.e. usually the fiscal year 2013/14. The 2014 Scoreboard shows that Investment in research and development by companies based in the EU grew by 2.6% in 2013, despite the unfavourable economic environment. However, this growth has slowed in comparison to the previous year's 6.8%. It is also below the 2013 world average (4.9%), and lags behind companies based in the US (5%) and Japan (5.5%).