Viewpoint

No one underestimates the difficulty of shoehorning science into policy. Partiality is inevitable, but policy makers need to be transparent in showing what underlies their decisions - and what evidence they choose to ignore

Former chair of the US House of Representatives science committee Bart Gordon shares lessons he learned from setting up the innovation funding body ARPA-E, to promote advanced energy projects

 

Small companies with limited resources have much to gain from open innovation. But, says Wim Vanhaverbeke, a lack of suitable tools leaves SMEs struggling to organise and manage collaborations. They need support from local networks

Horizon 2020’s system of rigid calls and heavy auditing discourages high-risk, high-impact projects, says Ángeles Rodriguez-Peña, as she bows out as head of COST

Europe’s researchers should take a principled stand against the new military R&D programme. The EU was created to preserve peace; it will not be peaceful anymore, says Dave Webb, of the UK Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

A new EU report looks to the 2030s, spelling out how research and innovation could make the future brighter

After ignoring previous warnings, security experts say it is now time for health systems to address their IT blind spots – before the next big cyber attack

While other countries have assessed the overall impact of Brexit, Sweden is alone in analysing the specific effects on R&D. There could be severe consequences for the size and shape of Framework Programmes that will reverberate through Swedish research

Try as they might, no one can see a bright side to Brexit, either for the UK or the EU27. The only course is damage limitation, agreed speakers at a debate ‘Brexit the scientific impact’

Large companies are essential for exploiting the results of EU-funded research and delivering the innovation that Europe so desperately needs. They should continue to be funded in FP9, says Jan van den Biesen