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 Parliament gave its approval for a common European patent, allowing the system to move ahead despite objections from Italy and Spain

The many obstacles in the way of campus start-ups range from mundane rivalry over laboratory space, to a lack of a top-level commitment to promoting technology transfer and entrepreneurialism. This year's ACES winners met with EIT to discuss experiences and share insight.

The European aerospace group EADS announced it is to collaborate with scientists at Glasgow University, to work on making the use of solid hydrogen for fuelling planes a commercial proposition.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology – the EIT, set up by the European Union to encourage innovation – is to launch an awards programme for young entrepreneurs next year, in partnership with Science|Business. The move is part of a push to change attitudes to entrepreneurship in Europe, and was announced today (3 February) by EIT Board member Daria Tataj at the ACES Academic Enterprise conference, held at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne has just opened the doors to a new national robotics research centre that aims to usher in a new era of robots, designed to do useful things in ordinary circumstances.