Lead markets

A new government policy paper puts the emphasis on public procurement, lead markets and a more international approach.

The European Commission has selected six areas of pioneering research for its long-awaited lead markets initiative.

Using Europe’s €1,700 billion annual public procurement budget to stimulate innovation is an idea whose time is coming – slowly.

The UK Conservative Party has joined the tidal wave of opinion arguing that the European Union needs to use its public procurement budget to drive innovation.

Jozef Cornu, an Alcatel-Lucent director, argues that Europe can repeat its GSM success story in other technology fields – if the EU acts fast.

European pharma and biotech companies are behind the US. But in one shining area, Europe has outpaced the US in creating a new sector: biosimilars.