European Commission

National research funding and grant giving bodies should be given more prominence in the European Commission’s plans to create the European Research Area, say research council heads and the European Science Foundation.

The preliminary findings of an investigation into the innovation performance of Russia and Ukraine placed them 27th and 35th respectively out of 36 countries considered in the study.

After a decade of withering in the shade of genetically modified crops, plant sciences are back on the political agenda in Europe follow the launch this week of a new Strategic Research Agenda.

The timing couldn’t have been worse. As the European Commission announces two new public/private research partnerships, it admits that its flagship partnership project - the ambitious Galileo satellite system - has crashed and burned.