Viewpoint

The current US model for technology transfer isn’t working. Rather than depending on out-licensing to the highest bidder, universities should support researchers to turn entrepreneur and nurture their own start-ups, says Walter Valdivia

Researchers can still operate by the rules and norms of science, but under Horizon 2020 they have – with the exception of the ERC - no autonomy to decide what science they do and how the results are applied, says Professor Karl Ulrich Mayer, President of the Leibniz Association

Breakthroughs in Horizon 2020 are a bigger role for SMEs and simplification for all. But securing the benefits hangs on implementation. Parliament must track whether SMEs really do find it easier to get funding, MEPs said in a Science|Business webcast

It’s time for an end to the softly-softly approach: new laws are needed to force through the formation of the European Research Area, say MEPs

Key documents for Horizon 2020 are circulating on the Internet. The Commission needs to put order into the timely and fair distribution of this information.

Getting deal done with Canada after four years of negotiations shows big trade pacts are possible without undermining Europe’s consumer or environmental protection rules and provides a template for an EU-US agreement on trade

Over a third of public support for R&D is delivered via tax incentives, with multinationals, rather than domestic SMEs benefitting the most. It’s time to give small companies an equal chance, says the OECD

The traditional view holds that if a healthcare innovation provides any benefit - however small - it should be adopted. This approach is not sustainable, health economist Uwe Reinhardt told the European Health Forum at Bad Hofgastein, Austria

Europe’s education institutions need to catch up in the digital learning stakes. But this requires more than beaming online courses into classrooms and lecture halls

Cuts to the R&D budget for 2014 proposed by national ministers earlier this month threaten investment in knowledge, research and innovation, and could push the Horizon 2020 timetable off track, say critics