News

For the second year in a row, Germany was this week declared world leader in solar photovoltaics. The country has also led Europe in nurturing start-ups in other areas of cleantech. But now funding for new companies may be drying up.

The governing board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has elected Alexander von Gabain, founder of the Austrian vaccines company Intercell as its next chairman.

The European University Association (EUA) has published a report on how to ensure the financial sustainability of Europe’s 5,000 universities in the face of public sector cuts.

Member states need to step up their efforts in support of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship, according to a review of progress in implementing the Small Business Act (SBA), which came into force in 2008.

John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology, told ScienceBusiness the large one-off increase in science funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has delivered in terms of new facilities and research outputs.

The arrival of European Research Council (ERC) grants means that for the first time there is competition between European Universities in different member states. “Before they couldn’t care less; they were stuck in their own country,” Helga Nowotny, President of the ERC, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington, DC. The arrival of competition is forcing universities to change, and do more to support younger scientists.