Viewpoint

Cell therapies hold the promise of more effective treatments for a range of diseases, but they face a long and expensive route to market. The key is to reduce risk and attract investors, says Keith Thompson, head of the UK Cell Therapy Catapult

The uncertainty sparked by the US ruling that the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer genes are not patentable is holding back the development of diagnostics and therapies, says patent lawyer Adrian Tombling

Pharmaceutical R&D functions at its best in small, agile and innovative SMEs. Replacing state subsidies and grant funding for research with start-up and development capital, would bring productivity improvements, says Mark Bloomfield, CEO of French biotech Polyplus Transfection

Horizon 2020 is not only the EU’s biggest, broadest and most ambitious R&D initiative ever, it is the first to prioritise innovation. Now, company culture must respond, boosting the quality, pace and scale of innovation, says Joachim von Heimburg

Poland must break down the silos between academics and industry, to build the trust and infrastructures needed to underpin multilateral collaborations, and enable Polish medical researchers to capitalise on pharma’s thirst for external innovation

The EU-funded BASTION project aims to build relationships between science and industry and promote the translation of cancer research into new treatments. But a number of obstacles must be removed before true collaboration can flourish

The EU-funded BASTION project aims to build relationships between science and industry and promote the translation of cancer research into new treatments. A number of obstacles must be removed before true collaboration can flourish

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