NewsByte

EU structural funds to the value of €65.7 billion were lined up for research and innovation projects between 2014 and 2020, but member states absorbed only 32% of this money, which is intended to help lagging regions invest in their research infrastructures, enabling them to better participate in EU R&D programmes, according to a new report.

In 2020 industry spent 6.21% more on research and development than in 2019, but growth in different sectors varied significantly, according to the latest OECD figures.

In 2020, patent applications in biotech and pharmaceuticals grew by 6.3% and 10.2% respectively, due to a pandemic-induced increase in research in these fields, according to a new report by the European Patent Office. 

The European Commission has invested €469 million in 105 COVID-19 research projects, with funding for 45 clinical trials taking the biggest share, of €118.9 million, according to the latest data.

A Eurostat survey shows that of all SMEs in each member state, those in Estonia, Cyprus, Belgium and Germany are more likely to be involved in innovative activities.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2021 technology and innovation outlook shows the US and China were each other’s main collaborating partners in COVID-19 biomedical research, according to data on the PubMed biomedical literature search engine.

There are 1,052 COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines currently in development around the globe, according to the latest data from the think-tank Policy Cures Research.

The largest percentage of products are diagnostics, accounting of 45% of the pipeline. Potential treatments for COVID-19 come second at 34%, while vaccines make up 21%.

Despite the success this year of a few European biotech companies in the COVID-19 disaster, overall EU corporate investment in a biotech and key computing technologies lags far behind that of their US competitors, according to a new report by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.

European tech investment did not collapse under the weight of the COVID-19 crisis, a report from Atomico shows. Instead, Europe seems to have benefited from going online.

Public and private spending on research increased in seventeen EU member states in 2019, according to the latest Eurostat data.

An index created by the Milken Institute uses 105 metrics to rank each US state’s science and technology score. The score is calculated on R&D funding, workforce and entrepreneurial activity. Among all 50 states, Massachusetts remained in top position for the 8th consecutive year.

It will take the EU at least 60 years to reach complete gender equality if member states continue making progress at the current pace, according to the latest edition of the EU Gender Equality Index.

For years, governments have been dishing out tax breaks to induce companies to invest in research and development – but does it work? Yes, in Belgium and Portugal; not so much in France, according to a new OECD study.

A report from the OECD on worldwide post-COVID green recovery finds Poland invests over 8 per cent of its total R&D budget on environmental

The latest data from universities league table U-Multirank shows Australian and UK universities are potentially more financially hit by the pandemic than EU and US universities.

In particular, UK and Australian institutions face a loss of revenues from international fee-paying students. 

Researchers from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center have published a study based on mobility data from Google and Facebook at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, to demonstrate how this can be a sound source of information for epidemiological and socioeconomic analyses.

The data were collected between March 1 and June 27, from the phones of volunteers who had agreed to use tracking apps.

The use of acronyms in scientific articles has steadily increased over the last 60 years, according to a study by Adrian Barnett of Queensland University of Technology and Zoe Doubleday of the University of South Australia.

Timing is all. The day after EU leaders ended their marathon budget summit – and hacked the research budget by 14 per cent – economists at the European Commission re-circulated an analysis of R&D spending. The upshot: EU nations consistently underspend by about €110 billion a year.

European countries now account for 47 per cent of all patent applications in 3D printing technologies, according to the European Patent Office’s “Patent and additive manufacturing: Trends in 3D printing technologies” report.

In second place is the US with 35 per cent of applications.