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The European Patent Office rejected more patent applications than it passed for the first time last year, a move that it says will to raise the quality of the patents it grants.

The EU has increased the internet capacity available to researchers in the South Caucasus, enabling the area’s largest network for research and education.

The European Commission has called for a doubling of ICT investment in the next decade and promised to increase annual funding to €1.7 billion in 2013.

Science and research will be held up as part of the solution to economic malaise at next week’s EU summit, where there is one broad topic on the agenda: the economic downturn.

Four of Europe’s leading micro and nanotechnology research bodies are reaching across national boundaries to create a single arm for grants and spin-outs.

When new European Commissioners are chosen later this year, they should take the opportunity to create a Vice President for Innovation, says Richard L. Hudson.