Science|Business is about connecting buyers and sellers of
emerging technologies - and it organizes a regular series of special
events and reports to help that happen. Here's what we did in 2006, 2007 and 2008. For what we're doing now, please see our list of
upcoming and recent events.
Champagne with the Chef de Cabinet: Framework 7 - A Progress Report
A discussion with Peter Dröll, chief of staff for
Commissioner Janez Potocnik
13 March 2008, 17:00 to 19:00 - Brussels, 98 rue du Trone, 6th
Floor, Helmholtz Association
The European Commission's premier R&D initiative, Framework Programme 7, is now more than a year old. So how is it doing? Is the paperwork any easier for participants? Is the selection of projects any fairer? Is the quality of R&D better? And is the potential economic impact any greater than prior Framework programmes?
Peter Dröll, chef de cabinet for the EU’s research and science commissioner, would like to give a short outlook on the next policy projects and hear preliminary feedback from the Brussels R&D-funding community from the national research agencies, the Brussels liaison offices and project participants.
Science|Business, an independent R&D-investment news service, and the Brussels representation of the Helmholtz Gemeinschaft, one of Germany's leading research organisations, invite you to join in a live roundtable discussion and reception.
By invitation only.
Who will
lead the Lead Markets?
An open discussion on the development of innovative markets in
Europe.
12 March 2008, 10.30 to 1.30 - EFTA Secretariat, Brussels - Rue
Joseph II, 12-16 B1000 Brussels
Supported by:
Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen is determined to repeat the GSM standard success story. To do so, the European Union must step in to help bring innovative products and services to market. "The lead market initiative (LMI) has identified promising emerging markets in which the EU has the potential to become world leader and where coordinated action is urgently needed," he said. The six markets are eHealth, protective textiles, sustainable construction, recycling, bio-based products and renewable energies. Although in their infancy, the chosen areas already generate over €120 billion in sales and employ over 1.9 million people in the EU. All six of the chosen areas promise lucrative returns to companies that get established quickly.
The opportunity to take the lead in these areas has "a rather short time span", Verheugen said, adding that Europe's small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are well placed to be among the market pioneers because of their ability to move fast.
This session will hear from two of the key officials involved in the LMI: Jiri Plecity, from Mr. Verheugen's Cabinet, and Pierre Vigier, from the Directorate-General Enterprise & Industry, European Commission. It will also, following the normal Policy Bridge format, include ample opportunity for event participants to air their own suggestions for LMI priorities.
Participants will be:
- Senior DG Research and DG Education representatives
- Corporate R&D heads
- Researchers from the Science|Business university network
- Human resources executives
- Public affairs professionals
- Employment lawyers
Science|Business will consolidate the discussion highlights into a report which will be widely distributed across all relevant stakeholders in Europe.
Event size: max 30 participants
Location: Brussels
Participation fee: EUR650
Get involved
How
should the EU spend its R&D money?
An open discussion of new ideas on priorities for EU research
spending.
Mission of Switzerland to the European Union, Place du
Luxembourg 1, Brussels - 17 January 2008
Supported by:
Mission of Switzerland to the European Union
A roundtable discussion on future priorities for EU R&D spending. January 2008 will mark the opening of an important, multi-pronged effort to change how and where the EU spends its billions in R&D subsidies. First, the European Commission - under the leadership of the new EU presidency from Slovenia - will start unveiling its proposals to make a reality of its long-imagined "European Research Area", an effort to knock down the borders that make it difficult for researchers and their ideas to move from country to country. Second, a mid-term budget review announced by President Barroso is in full swing, pitting against each other for more funding such EU constituencies as researchers, farmers and regional-development authorities. And lastly, it marks the first full year of the new European Research Council, the latest Brussels experiment in awarding research grants. This session will hear from two of the key officials involved in this R&D strategy: Zoran Stancic, deputy director-general for DG Research, and Ernst-Ludwig Winnaker, secretary general of the European Research Council. It will also, following the normal Policy Bridge format, include ample opportunity for roundtable participants to air their own suggestions for R&D priorities.
Keynote speaker: Zoran Stancic, Deputy Director General, DG RTD, European Commission
Keynote speaker: Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, Secretary General, European Research Council
Participants will be:
- Senior DG Research and DG Education representatives
- Corporate R&D heads
- Researchers from the Science|Business university network
- Human resources executives
- Public affairs professionals
- Employment lawyers
Science|Business will consolidate the discussion highlights into a report which will be widely distributed across all relevant stakeholders in Europe.
Event size: max 30 participants
Location: Brussels
Participation fee: €500
Get involved
Strengthening EU cooperation in R&D with the Western Balkan Countries
Brussels - January 17, 2008
Over
the past two years, the National Authority for Scientific Research
(ANCS), through the Romanian Office for Science and Technology in
Brussels (ROST), has conducted annual seminars to strengthen European
cooperation.
This year, reflecting EU enlargement and enhancing cooperation (one of the Slovenian EU Presidency objectives), ANCS will convene their 2008 annual event on 17 January with the topic "Stability through Science and Technology - Strengthening EU cooperation in R&D with the Western Balkan Countries". We want to make this geographical area an attractive centre for the EU scientific community. Therefore, the event will investigate ways to support Western Balkan countries in modernising their RDI system and adapting it to European integration requirements.
For more information:
Ms. Letitia-Clara Stanila
phone: +322 505 3009
fax: +322 513 3200µ
e-mail: letitia-clara.stanila@rosteu.net
New
Perspectives on Education and
Skills for the 21st Century
An open discussion of new ideas for reforming Europe -
knowledge base
EFTA Secretariat, Brussels - 28 November 2007
Supported by
Keynote speaker: Odile Quintin, Director General for Education and Culture, European Commission
A fundamental weakness of European innovation lies in its academic sector. It is under-funded, over-regulated, inflexible and, in the end, not very productive. Just two EU universities rank among the world's top 20; and the EU's share of Nobel prizes is sinking to less than one in four. Inflexible tenure and pension rules make it difficult for academics to move to industry and back. And in the broader society, not enough people are learning the new skills needed for a competitive economy. The meeting will solicit and debate new proposals aimed at reforming the way education and academic research works in Europe. Likely topics:
- Proposals to improve researcher mobility
- University reform - governance and financing
- New initiatives: the European Institute of Innovation and Technology
- E-Skills and continuing education for EU competitiveness
Event size: max 30 participants
Location: Brussels
Participation fee: €500
Get involved
THE 5th FREEDOM - RESEARCH IN EUROPE
An event with the EU Commissioner Janez Potocnik
12 June 2007, Brussels and beyond
Supported by:
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Missed the event? Get involved
now:
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How should Europe manage its R&D? That’s the question that, on 4 April, the European Commission decided to pose to researchers across Europe. Ideas on the table, in this Green Paper on creating a European Research Area, include changing pension and tenure rules, so it’s easier for researchers to switch countries or labs. They include coordinating national R&D programmes to end duplication, opening EU programmes to more non-EU researchers, and fundamentally re-prioritizing EU budgets to create a Europe of knowledge. The goal: To make mobility of knowledge the “5th Freedom” in the EU (alongside free movement of people, capital, products and services). The Commission is seeking public comment through 31 August, and will incorporate public views into policy proposals it will bring forward in 2008.
To broaden the debate, the Science|Business news network has organised a “town meeting” among researchers and EU Research and Science Commissioner Janez Potocnik. The event has taken place in Brussels at a gathering of academic and industrial researchers, and linked via Internet to satellite meetings on university campuses across Europe. The debate has been moderated, in person and online – and is continuing after the meeting with on-line discussion boards and a final summary report, which will be submitted to the Commission as part of its comment process.
Science|Business, a news network dedicated to connecting buyers and sellers of emerging technologies across Europe, is uniquely positioned to help engage researchers across Europe, quickly, in the debate. Founded by the former managing editors of the Wall Street Journal Europe and of Nature, it works with a network of 14 leading European universities and professional organizations to promote technology transfer, spin-out company investment, and collaboration between industry and academia in Europe. Member universities include Imperial College London, Karolinska Institutet, the University of Cambridge, ETH-Zurich, the Politecnico di Milano, ParisTech, TU Delft, University College London and Chalmers University of Technology.
For more information, contact:
Terri Robinson
Science|Business
terri.robinson@sciencebusiness.net
+32 484 500883
Innovation - the demand side. A look into the future of EU innovation policy
Friday 16 March 2007, followed by a networking lunch
A fundamental shift in European innovation policy is under discussion, one that could improve the climate for technology business and enhance the continent’s economic performance. The change is simple: away from a sole focus on programmes that raise the supply of researchers and inventions, and towards those that encourage market demand for new technological products and services. Our discussion analysed this important trend - with some of the leaders of EU innovation policy.
Keynote: Esko Aho
Lead author of “the Aho report”, president of Sitra, and former prime
minister of Finland
Held at: Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union, Brussels
Click here for more information
Investing in education: Spending more, and smarter, on education
20 November 2006, in Brussels: A luncheon debate on EU education policy, featuring a new report on "Educating for Global Competitiveness" by SAS.
Click here for more information
"Shadow Summit" on Innovation
9 October 2006, in Brussels. In anticipation of an informal summit of EU leaders on Oct. 20, Science|Business organized a Roundtable discussion on EU innovation policy at the Hotel Silken Berlaymont, Brussels. It featured the launch of our own "Innovation Manifesto: 9 ideas to bridge the gap between industry and academia - and make Europe more competitive in global technology." And it was followed by a celebration, in Brussels, of our first year of publication.
Click here to see who was at the Roundtable
'Catching the wave - How to take advantage of the rising tide in biotech finance' See report here
June 13, 2006: A roundtable discussion Organized by Karolinska Institutet, the Unit for Bioentrepreneurship, Stockholm Bioregion and Science Business Publishing With the support of TVM Capital
With the support of TVM Capital and Stockholm BioRegion
The financing market for biotech companies in Europe has been showing signs of life lately - with more private fundings, IPOs and trade sales. Latest data suggest 2005 was the best year for financing in the history of the European biotech industry in Europe, save for the bubble year of 2000. In fact, for the first time in the 30-year history of the sector, there were more public offerings in Europe, with 23 IPOs, than in the U.S., with 13, according to a recent report by Ernst & Young. The strength of the European market was further highlighted in May, when Astra Zeneca announced a surprise bid for Cambridge Antibody Technologies.
So how to take advantage of that trend - and will it continue?
'The Science|Business Roundtable - a dialogue to bridge the gap'
March 7, 2006: A high-level meeting of academia, industry and government, organized by Science|Business, hosted by ParisTech
If Europe's economy is to prosper into the 21st Century, it needs to get more ideas out of its famous university labs and into its commercial markets.
