Technology transfer

The European Union was trumped last week when France announced plans to boost the country's biofuel use to 10 per cent by 2015.

CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Phyics, has launched the second phase of Openlab, its partnership with IT companies for the development of advanced computing facilities.

Free public access to Europe’s leading biological databases will be guaranteed under a €16.7 million EU project launched this month.

Durham Scientific Crystals is looking for funding to commercialise cadmium telluride, a semiconductor used in medical and security imaging.

This week, from May 22 to May 27, the World Health Organisation (WHO) holds its Annual Assembly meeting in Geneva, which brings together representatives from all 192 member countries. As usual for such an august gathering, it will cover a wide variety of topics, including the controversial issue of intellectual property.

Researchers usually don't complain about their working conditions, but they aren't keen on working in run-down labs. Trouble is, it is getting more expensive to build new facilities.

I had an interesting meeting with a senior executive in charge of strategy and business development at one of the major European media groups last Friday.

On May 12, it was announced that that an "innovative", "homegrown" digital signal processor (DSP) chip, to be designed and manufactured in China, was a fraud. Even more interesting is that the announcement was made by not by a Western agency or international body, but by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).

The US Supreme Court has issued a long-awaited verdict in a patent suit between eBay and a small, Virginia-based company, MercExchange. The ruling was unanimous and favourable to eBay, reverting an earlier permanent injunction.

Not only am I an ardent tracker of the IP landscape, but the opportunity to build a much-needed knowledge network with the leading European producers and consumers of IP is unique and irresistible.