Viewpoint

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

EU and US experts see big benefits from scientists sharing more data - but say global agreement on privacy, literacy and other issues is needed

For years the US government used public sector procurement to drive innovation. Now new EU rules will “end the dictatorship of the lowest price” allowing innovation to count in assessing bids. And simplified bidding will make it easier for SMEs to compete