Nuala Moran

The arrival of European Research Council (ERC) grants means that for the first time there is competition between European Universities in different member states. “Before they couldn’t care less; they were stuck in their own country,” Helga Nowotny, President of the ERC, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington, DC. The arrival of competition is forcing universities to change, and do more to support younger scientists.

EU research funding is enabling scientists to work anywhere in the EU. Now, the Innovation Union strategy agreed earlier this month, will increase the level of scientific collaboration and joint funding with countries beyond Europe, Robert-Jan Smits tells the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington, DC.

University technology transfer and commercialisation is a delicate balancing act, calling for scale and a global outlook on one hand, and intimate knowledge and continuous contact on the other, says Keith Robson, Chair of SETsquared.

Being first on the moon looks trifling next to all the things science is expected to do for us now

Europe’s biggest-ever private financing round by a biotech doesn’t mean the capital drought is over, says Martin Edwards of Novo Ventures.

The technology transfer company will step in to plug the funding gaps and accelerate the commercialisation of research from Imperial, Oxford, Cambridge and UCL.

Venture capitalist Shahzad Malik challenges the view that life sciences start-ups are too risky to invest in.

As the Commission sets out plans for a smart energy infrastructure, industry and academics are banding together in support of new energy technologies.

To fill the funding gaps, drug development must be a relay race, not a marathon, says biotech veteran Stephen Evans-Freke.

For a snapshot of what the European Research Area might look like, check the latest European Research Council Awards to young scientists, writes Nuala Moran.