EuropaBio Internal Newsletter

EuropaBio Weekly
Contact us	02 - 08 March 2010

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Upcoming event
3 - 5 March - EMBL Workshop on Visualizing Biological Data (VizBi), Heidelberg, Germany 4 - 6 March - European Course for Life Sciences Executives, Basel, Switzerland 8 - 10 March - Bio-Europe Spring, Barcelona, Spain

Past news
You can find the previous weekly newsletters on EuropaBio's website

Green Biotech	Red Biotech	White Biotech	Other


HEADLINES
Commission gives green light to genetically-modified potato In a controversial move, the European Commission yesterday (2 March) gave the green light for the first genetically-modified potato to be cultivated in the European Union.
Publication - EuropaBio Welcomes Commission Decision to Approve Five GMOs
“We feel encouraged by this decisive regulatory approach” commented Willy De Greef, EuropaBio’s Secretary General. “It offers the necessary predictability to industry and also to the general public regarding the development of a technology that has much to offer to Europeans as a whole”.

GM crops increased 7% in 2009 Genetically modified crops continued to spread across the world last year, according to the most comprehensive annual survey of GM planting.
Publication - Cultivation of GM crops increases worldwide, but Europe is missing out
EuropaBio Publishing in “Innovation Europe – BIO Innovation 2010” EuropaBio is sponsoring the special edition BIO Innovation supplement by contributing a selection of articles, including a foreword by our Secretary General and pieces on innovation in Healthcare, Agricultural and Industrial biotechnology, as well as a piece on the importance of SMEs, in the upcoming May publication “Innovation Europe” details of which can be found here. There is also an opportunity for Members to participate with a 40% discount in this publication, either through articles or adverts, and costs can be found here. For more information about the publication, or to discuss placing an article or advert, please contact Faye Hampton before 10 March.

GREEN BIOTECH
Food and Agriculture Policies for a Sustainable Future emphasizes food security and the role of innovation in agriculture - Communiqué of the OECD
GM and farming technology 'key to fighting climate change' Lord Smith tells National Farmers' Union that climate change 'could provide opportunities for novel crops and systems'

RED BIOTECH
Healthcare innovation: The cost killer? Healthcare innovations such as eHealth and telemedicine offer new prospects for cost savings and improved quality of care, but expensive new technologies are also driving medical inflation and the benefits may not always be distributed equally.
Ageing Europe forcing change to EU health services Europe is steadily greying. Already the oldest continent in the world, figures for the EU's 27 member states show that by 2060, the ratio of people of working age to those over age 65 will be two to one.

WHITE BIOTECH
New biorefinery project gets underway Work has begun on a new EU-funded project to dramatically improve the performance of Europe's biorefineries. Dubbed EUROBIOREF ('European multilevel integrated biorefinery design for sustainable biomass processing'), the project aims to improve cost efficiency by 30%, cut energy use by 30% and reduce feedstock consumption by 10%.

OTHER
Unreason marches on As celebrities endorse nonsensical diets and journalists lend credence to anecdote over science, are we heading for disaster?
SME - Why SMEs succeed in EU research projects What are the performance factors that strengthen participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the health and biotechnology fields? The KAPPA-Health ('Key performance factor assessment and valorisation for successful EU-FP project participation of innovation SMEs in the area of health') project is finding out. KAPPA-Health is backed with almost EUR 750,000 in funding under the Health Theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).
EU climate chief: 'No climate deal likely before 2012' Global divisions on climate are so acute that a binding UN deal is unlikely for almost another two years, Europe's new climate commissioner believes.