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Green Biotech |
Red Biotech |
White Biotech |
Other |
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HEADLINES |
Europe launches multi-billion euro funding
for research
The
European Commission has unveiled a 6.4
billion euro package aimed at research and
innovation, with a good chunk of the cash
being made available to small and
medium-sized enterprises specialising in
health. The 2011 budget for the Seventh
Framework Programme, which is up 12% on 2010
and 30% in 2009, will see funding made
available to 16,000 participants from
research organisations, universities and
industry, including about 3,000 SMEs. Grants
will be awarded through "calls for
proposals" and evaluations over the next 14
months and the package is expected to create
more than 165.000 jobs.
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GREEN BIOTECH |
Next steps for crop biotechnology in Europe
Like the mills of God, the policymakers of the EU grind slowly. In
1996, the first shipments of US soy beans containing genetically
modified varieties came to Europe and a handful of other crops were
approved for import (and, in the case of Bt maize, cultivation). But
only two years later a de facto moratorium halted approval
of further GM events while the regulatory framework was revised. In
2004, the new system at last creaked into action, and new approvals
began to trickle down.
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| RED BIOTECH |
Italy to limit generics’ prices to EU
average from 2011
From next
year, the maximum reimbursement rate paid
for generic drugs by the Italian health
service (SSN) will be based on the drugs’
average prices in Europe, in a move which
the government says will save around 600
million euros. The change is included in the
amended version of Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi’s two-year 25 billion-euro
austerity package which was approved by the
Senate of the Republic (the Italian
parliament’s upper house) late last week, in
a 170-136 confidence vote.
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Future health care 'like car insurance':
Accenture
Citizens should take responsibility for the
healthcare costs they incur and should be
punished or rewarded according to their use
of the service, Javier Mur, managing
director of Accenture's health operations,
told EurActiv in an interview.
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| WHITE BIOTECH |
EU's 'big three' issue joint
call for 30% CO2 cuts
Ministers from the UK,
France and Germany have issued a joint call
for the EU to raise its emission reduction
target to 30% by 2020. The EU's current
target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by
20% by 2020 will not be enough to drive
green innovation and keep Europe in the race
for clean technologies, argued UK Energy and
Climate Change Minister Chris Huhne, German
Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen and
French Environment Minister Jean-Louis
Borloo.
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Second generation biofuels
Europe’s
chemical companies are pioneering the
development of enzymes that transform plant
waste into fuel, but the European Union is
trailing the US, China and Brazil in
building second generation biofuel
production facilities to take advantage of
these enzymes. Unlike first generation
biofuels that use food crops such as corn,
wheat or sugar cane as feedstock, these
second generation fuels convert cellulose
material from the whole plant. This promises
to end the use of food grown for humans or
livestock being diverted to make biofuel.
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Other |
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CAP -
EU urged to promote 'territorial vision'
of farming
Meeting in Brussels earlier this week,
agriculture stakeholders from across
Europe called on the EU to move away
from intensive farming to a more
sustainable model that supports the
economic renaissance of rural areas.
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SME -
EU to promote SME exports
A new EU study reveals that small firms
which trade internationally create more
jobs and are more innovative. However,
just one in four SMEs has exported in
the last three years, prompting the
European Commission to promote
"internationalisation" in its
forthcoming innovation strategy.
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How to get IP protection for new
varieties of plants and animals
A new
‘low-risk’ peanut without the harmful
proteins which cause an allergic
reaction is great news for millions of
sufferers worldwide, and could bring
huge financial benefits to the
researchers who developed it. However,
seeking patent protection for such
inventions may not be a straightforward
matter.
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