European Commission

Europe’s high-tech clusters are failing to reach their full potential. We need encourage more cooperation, says the Commission.

Brussels is abuzz with speculation that Europe’s fragmented, costly and complex patent regime is about to reform – aided by advances in machine translation. But support is not unanimous.

The European Investment Bank and the European Commission have announced the introduction of the Risk Sharing Finance Facility to provide additional support to R&D and innovation projects in Europe.

The European Parliament gave its formal blessing to the launch of a new pan-European technology institute next year – but insisted that it include “innovation” in the title.

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 European Commission and the European Investment Bank have set up a €2 billion risk-sharing finance facility to support research and innovation in Europe.

The controversial proposal for a new European Institute of Technology hit more political turbulence, as the EU’s research commissioner questioned whether it should receive preferential funding.