Europe

Biotech crops may finally be breaking through to the commercial mainstream in Europe, with a 77 perc ent increase in planting between 2006 and 2007, according to data released this week.

A major survey shows confidence holding steady as early-stage funding eases slightly – and the relationship with big pharma improves.

Systems biology involves a fundamental change in approach to biological research. Is Europe ready to handle it?

Governments seek to encourage innovation in healthcare, but then they won’t pay for the treatments that follow. But who are they to judge?

European policymakers are largely to blame for the sorry state of innovation in Europe, according Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer.

While analysts have been focusing on Asian investment in R&D, its actual research output has been missing from their radar screens. They need to refocus.

How should the EU respond to the movement in innovation-based research to the East? The UK think tank Demos has some suggestions.

The European Research Council was inundated with around three times the expected number of applications for its first ever call for proposals, which closed last week.

EuropaBio, the European association for bioindustries, welcomed the results of a socio-economic impact study of biotechnology published last week.