Just three German universities are to get top funding as "elite" research institutions – concentrating resources on a few winners in a national contest to boost R&D and attract international investment.

Finland's Tekes publishes its foresight report.

"Some of the world's biggest energy companies" have gone into a huddle wiuth the Department of Trade and Industry in the UK to support the creation of a new institute "to accelerate the development of secure, reliable and cost-effective low-carbon energy technologies towards commercial deployment".

If an R&D project fails, check to see how much management time has gone into it. Cambridge Consultants offers advice on how many hours it takes.

Microphones in cell phones, accelerometers in consumer gaming applications and optical MEMS for TVs are among the products that are driving the market for micro-electromechanical systems.