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The public should be given the opportunity to take a direct role in supporting innovative start-ups, says Steven Bates, chief executive of the UK BioIndustry Association

Top EU businesses expect their investments in research and development to grow by an average of 4 percent annually over the period 2012 to 2014

New evidence from Italy shows that - contrary to the accepted view - academics who become entrepreneurs don’t publish less. This is an important message for universities which fear encouraging start-ups will harm their research, says Michael Kenward

Recent progress has been encouraging, but MEPs’ decision not to vote on the single European Patent leaves innovative businesses without the historic breakthrough they so desperately need, says Jonathan Zuck

A scientific convention in Dublin last week demonstrated how EU networking and programmes can stimulate breakthroughs and innovation, says Richard L. Hudson

Excellence comes in many forms and attempts to rank universities should reflect this. But it should also be understood that excellence does not equate to success, says Onora O’Neill

The 2012 Global Innovation Index published this week, presents a broad set of measures to help public and private sector leaders push the innovation agenda forward, says Soumitra Dutta, one of the authors of the report

The pharmaceutical industry – Europe’s most R&D intensive sector – is being damaged by cuts to drugs budgets. This will drive investment in innovation elsewhere, the EU is warned in a letter from Andrew Witty, president of EFPIA

The UK’s big guns of medical research have united with patients’ group to pre-empt the expected call by some MEPs to end funding of human embryonic stem cell research, when the plan for Horizon 2020 is debated in the European Parliament

Beyond measures to improve the framework conditions for innovation there is a need to concentrate resources in priority areas. Governments must let entrepreneurs show the way to these Smart Specialisations, says Dominique Foray