Technology alone will not fix global problems such as climate change, food and water shortages, soil erosion or the rising tide of chronic disease. What’s needed is more dialogue and interchange between the natural and the social sciences
Big Data holds the potential to boost economic growth in Europe by 1.9 per cent by 2020, according to a new report. But how will this be achieved and what needs to be done to try and ensure the benefits are equally spread?
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology is, “the university that built Norway”. Upholding this tradition calls for cooperation with institutions worldwide, links with industry, and home-based facilities that are centres of gravity for international researchers, says the Rector Gunnar Bovim
The Startup Europe Partnership and the European Digital Forum gather global entrepreneurs, universities and financial institutions, and aim to close the gap between Europe and Silicon Valley
Microsoft opened the doors of a new training centre in Brussels, which it says will both help to bridge the ICT skills gap reduce youth employment in Europe
The Commission has started re-organising its main department for research and innovation. The objective, Director-General Robert-Jan Smits tells Science|Business, is better policy and more efficient grant handling
As of January 2014, the ERC has three Vice-Presidents instead of two. Spanish psychologist, Professor Núria Sebastián Gallés, joins the two existing Vice-Presidents, Professors Pavel Exner and Carl-Henrik Heldin
To date, citizen science has focused on top-down science communication. But as the exemplar of astronomy highlights, amateur enthusiasts can make significant contributions. It’s time to capture this potential, to expand the scope and excellence of research, says Fermin Serrano
The European Research Council announced the first 312 winners of the Consolidator Grant competition. This new funding will allow researchers that are doing groundbreaking work to consolidate their scientific careers and to establish their own research teams.
Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, new President of the ERC , tells Science|Business he is charting a ‘political’ course – to help boost science in Europe’s weaker regions, and to promote young scientists
The first long-term U.S. field trials of Miscanthus x giganteus, a towering perennial grass used in bioenergy production, reveal that its exceptional yields, though reduced somewhat after five years of growth, are still more than twice those of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), another perennial grass used as a bioenergy feedstock. Miscanthus grown in Illinois also outperforms even the high yields found in earlier studies of the crop in Europe, the researchers found.
Reform of public sector research has stalled, but financial woes have prompted the refocussing of private sector R&D - offering hope for a revival of investment and a spur to innovation
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