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If elevator pitches are stressful, sub-zero ones are even more so. Later this month 20 thick-skinned entrepreneurs will get into an ice hole in Finland to convince investors to finance their dreams

Better use of support mechanisms put in place by the European Medicines Agency has increased the success rate of SMEs applying for approval of new medicines

The push to share data is seldom seen through the eyes of scientists. A new study assesses opinions of five European research groups, to inform policy on how to incentivise data sharing

International R&D funding bodies should contribute to a single fund to develop new antibiotics, says an independent commission established by UK government to draw up a global plan to deal with antimicrobial resistance

Bigger firms are looking over their shoulders at a new generation of start-up food companies

New study calls for more public involvement in the design of big data medical research projects such as DNA databanks and epidemiological studies based on healthcare records, allowing research to continue whilst protecting individual privacy

The decision to scrap the post of chief scientific adviser was “particularly disturbing” and risks ceding ground to vested interests. The EU must have a new source of impartial scientific advice, Roberto Bertollini tells Science|Business

Europe’s leading scientific institutions will work with less-developed regions to start-up new research centres

But in a time of dwindling resources in Europe and beyond, new energy technologies and processes must have efficiency as their watchword, says David Eyton, group head of technology at BP

With Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas expected to devise ways to ensure EU policy benefits from scientific insight in the next few months, thoughts turn to what form the advice will take, and how to avoid the banana skins of the past

If money is to be taken from the Horizon 2020 pot, there should be oversight from science to ensure research and innovation is not weakened, says an open letter from Europe’s leading scientific groups

The budget of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research should be absorbed by the European Research Council. A proviso that projects backed by Dutch money be conducted in the Netherlands would strengthen the country’s research, says Luc Soete, Rector Magnificus, Maastricht University

The SME Initiative aims to encourage banks to lend more to cash-starved small companies. The European Commission wants more countries to use this route for channelling regional development money to the grass roots

The US patent office has given specific examples of what types of software can get protection. This provides long-awaited clarification, says patent expert Andrew Thompson

German companies still top the table but overall Europe is less innovative, a new EU survey reveals