David Matthews

The Commission has fleshed out its Green Deal Industrial plan, promising premiums for renewable hydrogen and speedier granting of permits, to dissuade companies from leaving Europe for subsidies elsewhere. But MEPs, think tanks and industry groups are sceptical

Success rates are up, UK and Swiss participation down, and Widening countries edge up to the EU 27 average. And on the third anniversary of Brexit, the UK’s five top universities, usually among the biggest winners of EU R&D funding, are feeling the pinch

It’s unclear to what extent tech companies will sign up to the voluntary guidelines, and exactly how it will fit with the EU’s AI Act. But there are signs the EU and US approaches should be interoperable

Washington has cut off access to leading artificial intelligence and supercomputing components to stymie Chinese military prowess. But this will have knock on effects on research

Virtual reality researchers are attempting to use cascade funding, in which money is awarded to consortia which then decide how to distribute it, to create pan-European calls. But they are wrestling a thicket of bureaucracy

There’s no sign of a breakthrough just yet, but pressure is building domestically for Bern to re-engage with Brussels in order to get association moving

Washington needs researchers in Europe to join the US in trimming artificial intelligence collaboration with China, otherwise any controls will be ineffective. It’s unclear if academics in the EU would get on board with this agenda

A Net-Zero Industry Act and a European Sovereignty Fund aim to attract much needed investment. But research leaders insist Horizon Europe money must not be diverted into another ‘political pet project’

As it gets easier to engineer deadly pathogens, the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science wants tighter controls on custom-order DNA companies, and an end to the current ‘checkbox’ approach to lab safety

The crash of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange drew attention to a growing movement in the tech world aiming to become better at predicting, steering and sequencing scientific breakthroughs. The notion is gaining traction in Europe and the US – scandal notwithstanding