Paul Meller, Brussels

Political naivety and national protectionism were blamed for quashing the latest attempt to forge a single patent regime for the European Union.

The European Commission is wasting no time looking for ways to spend its new massive €54 billion research budget for 2007 to 2013.

Attempts to reform the European Union's fragmented patent regime stalled once again at the informal summit in Lahti, Finland, on Friday. But there was a better reception for the latest plans to create a European Institute of Technology.

José Manuel Barroso is hoping for unanimous support for a slimmed-down European Institute of Technology. But some diplomats think he might be disappointed.

The European Union’s €54 billion research budget for the next seven years may not be approved in time for the beginning of next year – if Slovenia carries out its threat to oppose the funding of stem cell research.

As the European Commission ponders the single European patent, the European Patent Office is under attack from national patent offices that want some of its functions.

European Union has voted to continue funding embryonic stem cell research after a heated debate at the European Parliament on Tuesday.

The future of European Union funded embryonic stem cell research hangs in the balance after a heated debate at the European Parliament on Tuesday.

A nagging political question still hovers over the EU funding debate: should the roughly €54 billion be spent exclusively on Europe's established crème de la scientific crème?

The European Commission is hinting that some progress has been made towards forging a single Community-wide patent - a wish by politicians across the continent for over three decades.