Viewpoint

No country in the world is prepared for the digital era. We urgently need an Apollo-like programme and a Space Agency for ICT with a mission to develop the institutions and information infrastructures for the emerging digital society, says Dirk Helbing

Rather than being fixated on out-ranking the rankings, the aim should be to get the EU’s new university league table to work in and for Europe, says Ellen Hazelkorn, Director of Ireland’s Higher Education Policy Research Unit

The new EU-sponsored university league table launched on the 13 May, puts emphasis in unusual places and looks to be drawing conclusions based on low samples, says Per-Anders Östling

The term innovation ecosystem is more than a convenient description. The means by which ecosystems are formed and developed provide a practical model for reshaping Europe’s innovation processes, says Didier Schmitt

The rising tide of drug-resistant infections and dearth of new antibiotics calls for the same kind of urgency and action as the HIV/AIDs epidemic, says Laura Piddock, founder of Antibiotic Action

After the first launch in April, the European Space Agency’s new Copernicus earth observation system has just begun to beam back images. This will be a spur for innovation, says project coordinator Josef Aschbacher

The economic significance of patents ranges from impacts on growth and global trade, to patent portfolio management within firms. The EU could do more to extract value from its patent store, says Theon van Dijk, Chief Economist, European Patent Office

From traffic management to healthcare, there is huge potential in unlocking public information stores, Pól Mac Aonghusa, senior research manager at IBM tells Science|Business

Science|Business begins a series of viewpoints on the ethical dimensions of Europe’s biggest R&D programme

With the Eurostars’ funding pot replenished by nearly €1.2B, EUREKA chairwoman Kristin Danielsen shares her thoughts on its importance for small businesses in Europe