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The competition to lure biotech investors and know-how is heating up in US states - and so are the legal battles between over fair and unfair incentives.

At the Science Business roundtable in Paris on 7 March, labour was the big talking point - both inside and outside the conference room.

Business angels in German-speaking countries have traditionally been shy about what they do. Mary Lisbeth D'Amico watches them come out of hiding.

Retina Implant AG has developed an electronic chip that is implanted in the eye under the retina and could restore partial vision for the blind – and is now looking for funding from investors to take the product to the market next year.

Friedrich Bornikoel, managing partner for TVM Capital's Information & Communications Technology group, sees a recovery in German venture capital - but still no boom.

Chameleon BioSurfaces, a spin-out from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, is looking for £500,000 in funding to develop a new form of polymer coating for drug eluting stents.

Europe's aversion to GM crops has killed investors' appetites for agricultural research. Even in the UK, historically a world leader in this field, it is almost impossible to commercialise agricultural biotechnology of any kind.

On March 7 in Paris, we open our Science|Business Roundtable of leaders in European industry and academia, to debate and propose new ideas to improve the climate for innovation in Europe. One immediate suggestion is that Europeans do better at communications.

Scientists at Innsbruck Medical University have performed a great service to mankind by demonstrating that beer has important health-promoting properties.

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".

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.

What is wrong with France’s basic research? There’s something missing, but it’s not resources, says Jean-Marc Schlenker.

Europe is lousy at reaping the commercial benefits of its R&D. To spur reform, Science|Business is preparing a “manifesto” of policy measures for technology transfer and innovation. What’s needed? A revolution.

Philippe Pouletty is a man with a mission - to make France synonymous with biotechnology. He has his work cut out...

Sarissa Biomedical, a spin-out from the University of Warwick, that has designed a sensor to give an early warning of fetal hypoxia during birth, is looking for investors to strike licensing agreements.

There’s just one problem with the idea of a European Institute of Technology – some of the businesses and universities it’s supposed to benefit don’t want it.

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.

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.