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Intellectual property battles are not always settled in the marketplace. Epic, life-and-death struggles often take place in the judicial arena.

Free public access to Europe’s leading biological databases will be guaranteed under a €16.7 million EU project launched this month.

CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Phyics, has launched the second phase of Openlab, its partnership with IT companies for the development of advanced computing facilities.

The European Union was trumped last week when France announced plans to boost the country's biofuel use to 10 per cent by 2015.

Scottish Health Innovations has signed a licensing agreement with ExtraMed Ltd giving the company the right to develop and market an endoscopy reporting system developed at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

On 8 June the European Commission starts the evaluation of the biofuels technological platform it will support in 2007 - 2013. But the choice will be mired in political treacle.

A team of Danish researchers has devised a method for developing faster silicon computer chips, and is now seeking investment to develop the technique.

Swiss researchers have devised a way to make X-ray imaging much more sensitive – and capable of being incorporated into current medical imaging equipment.

The controversial proposal for a new European Institute of Technology hit more political turbulence, as the EU’s research commissioner questioned whether it should receive preferential funding.

A cross-continent project to develop fusion as an energy source has moved once step closer to reality with the signing of a formal agreement.

Manchester Metropolitan University has recruited academic and industrial partners to a £5 million programme that will assess the problems confronting the global airline industry and help to develop solutions.

OncoMethylome Sciences is planning to raise funds via an IPO. Its diagnostics can detect early-stage cancer and predict the response to particular cancer drugs.

Without access to easy to use analysis tools, patents are becoming an expensive hindrance to many small companies, says Mick McLean, Head of Economics and Public Policy at Scientific Generics.

A new report from Lux Research investigates the value of industry/university partnerships for research in nanotechnology.

Researchers usually don't complain about their working conditions, but they aren't keen on working in run-down labs. Trouble is, it is getting more expensive to build new facilities.

This week, from May 22 to May 27, the World Health Organisation (WHO) holds its Annual Assembly meeting in Geneva, which brings together representatives from all 192 member countries. As usual for such an august gathering, it will cover a wide variety of topics, including the controversial issue of intellectual property.

Durham Scientific Crystals is looking for funding to commercialise cadmium telluride, a semiconductor used in medical and security imaging.

I had an interesting meeting with a senior executive in charge of strategy and business development at one of the major European media groups last Friday.

On May 12, it was announced that that an "innovative", "homegrown" digital signal processor (DSP) chip, to be designed and manufactured in China, was a fraud. Even more interesting is that the announcement was made by not by a Western agency or international body, but by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).

I recently had the opportunity to take part on an investor panel at the Total Telecom World Telecommunications Congress in Geneva. The panel featured both happy VCs behind new telecommunication technologies (VoIP, IP convergence etc…) and troubled telecom executives.