http://finneganstake.blogactiv.eu Europe, China and the rest... Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:47:55 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare EU officials are toying with the idea of renaming Europe's Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. At present, the seventh framework programme (FP7) is under review and governments are already jockeying ... http://finneganstake.blogactiv.eu/2010/02/12/what-should-we-rename-fp8/ A troubling thought: are the pro-innovation policy wonks talking to the cost-containment pencil pushers? Doing the rounds of innovation conferences in Brussels, it's clear that a huge section of the EU's political and industry machinery is convinced we need to be more innovative. The logic will be familiar to most: we ... http://finneganstake.blogactiv.eu/2010/02/04/can-we-afford-the-fruits-of-innovation/ More workers are being hired on 'no benefits' contracts as employers look to cut costs At a meeting of European industrialists in Brussels yesterday, the President & CEO of Philips Electronics highlighted a new trend: in the Netherlands, he said, there is a marked increase in the number of independent workers. ... http://finneganstake.blogactiv.eu/2010/02/03/jobs-crisis-growth-in-independent-employees/ Plans to publish a European Innovation Act ahead of the spring meeting of EU leaders are on hold. The new innovation strategy is now more likely to be published this summer. In the meantime, the new European Commissioners - particularly those responsible for industry and innovation - are trying to redraw ... http://finneganstake.blogactiv.eu/2010/01/29/european-innovation-act-delayed/ Sale of the century: EU governments are selling off swine flu vaccines Having grossly overestimated the demand for vaccines against the once-dreaded H1N1 virus, health ministers across Western Europe are rushing to flog spare flu drugs in a mass medicines January sale. France ordered 94 million doses of the new flu vaccine ... http://finneganstake.blogactiv.eu/2010/01/05/want-to-buy-cheap-drugs/ Ireland’s Máire Geoghegan Quinn has been handed the newly-created innovation portfolio at the EU executive. (Full coverage of new Commission, click here). The job is an expanded version of the old Research & Science post, and comes just months before the first European Innovation Act is due to be published. ... http://finneganstake.blogactiv.eu/2009/11/27/europe%e2%80%99s-first-innovation-commissioner/ Shock! Horror! NGOs have gotten their way despite fierce resistance from the pharma industry Pharmaceutical policy will move to the European Commission's health and consumer wing, DG Sanco, as part of a shake-up of responsibilities by President Barroso. This means control of medicines, which rested with DG Entrprise & Industry, is ... http://finneganstake.blogactiv.eu/2009/11/27/medicines-policy-moves-to-health-commissioner/ It’s a question set to cause bitter disputes at pub table quizzes, given the variety of plausible answers. EU Leaders have chosen Herman Van Rompuy as the first permanent president of the European Council. So will he be the boss in Brussels? Well, the new foreign affairs position – handed to the ... http://finneganstake.blogactiv.eu/2009/11/23/who-is-the-most-powerful-politician-in-europe/ The temporary 'crisis committee' should take on innovation policy Earlier this month, the European Parliament's new committee on 'financial, economic and social crisis' met for the first time, pledging to examine how Europe got into this mess and how we might get out of it. All the talk was of ... http://finneganstake.blogactiv.eu/2009/11/09/meps-crisis-group-should-morph-into-innovation-committee/ EU member states are undermining Europe's power by pursuing their own interests - and China sees it this way too I broke a story today on the EU's last-minute decision to scrap plans for an SME Centre in Beijing. The office would have helped European firms to do business in China. The ... http://finneganstake.blogactiv.eu/2009/11/04/national-interests-scuppering-eu-efforts-in-china/