Éanna Kelly

Reform of the EU Emissions Trading System and review of genetically modified organisms and copyright laws on the slate for next year

The long-gestating Europe-wide patent, due to arrive at the start of 2015, is late. There remains uncertainty over the fees and the strength of the unified patent court, but EPO head Benoît Battistelli says don’t rush to judgement

Three out of four Starting grants go to young researchers hosted by Germany, UK, France, the Netherlands, Israel and Spain. There are no grants going to Switzerland

China and the US set the pace on patent filings in 2013, while the number of patent applications received by the European Patent Office fell

Innovation clusters in life sciences and raw materials set to start in 2015, following year-long bidding competition

Member states line up 2,000 project proposals in transport, energy and research, for funding from the EU’s new investment scheme

There are grounds for cautious optimism as member states propose to make an exception for R&D, and an MEP involved in drafting the data protection bill says the new law will not be allowed to hamper research

Europe’s carbon market is not dead in the water, but rather a work in progress, says Andreas Loeschel, who advises Chancellor Angela Merkel on overhauling Germany’s energy mix

The EU has formally accepted Swiss scientists back into a handful of research programmes

Off-shoots of technology used in the recent Rosetta mission are coming back down to Earth to help detect ulcers and cancer and make submarines safer