News

Scientists at the University of Aston in the UK believe they have achieved the Holy Grail of telecommunications – the lossless transmission of data over optical fibres.

Philips Research has developed a woodstove for cooking in rural communities in developing countries – and is looking for partners to bring this technology to the market.

What do patent statistics tell you about innovation? It depends how you count them, says the OECD. Nuala Moran investigates.

25.7%. The annual rate of increase in patent applications by foreign companies in China, 1991 to 2001

Opening corporate innovation to outsiders is the new way to run a lab. In multinational R&D, the concept of "not invented here" is quickly giving way to "proudly found elsewhere".

The buzz surrounding mobile TV is spurring cross-industry partnerships and attracting significant amounts of venture capital. But can 3G networks stand the pace?

The University of Cambridge named a Chicago-based venture capitalist and technology transfer specialist, Teri F. Willey, to head its technology commercialisation business and to implement a controversial new patent policy.

Dateline Shanghai. Well, we have to find a way to introduce a rare excursion into talking about tax credits for R&D in China.

A group of researchers at Southampton University takes time off from deep thoughts about the future of information technology to see if they can work out how to spot the next "killer app". Not quite, but they have some thoughts on how to look out for great ideas that use the semantic web.