Tag: Technology

Europe’s proposed cybersecurity strategy would see companies reporting incidences of when they have been attacked. Microsoft’s Paul Nicholas says that there needs to be more clarity on what the reason for the reporting is, and calls for more collaboration between governments to harmonise cybersecurity controls.

Since the dawn of the jet age, aircraft engines have gotten progressively quieter and technological developments will make them even easier on the ear, says Alan H. Epstein, who helps produce quieter and more fuel-efficient aircraft propulsion systems.

SPECIAL REPORT / The world’s largest technology companies have announced new partnerships in mobile payments and image changes, as they seek to maintain dominance in the fast-shifting technology market. EurActiv reports from the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

SPECIAL REPORT / A move by Finnish company Rovio to produce Hollywood-style blockbuster children’s cartoons demonstrates how innovators in the European tech scene are looking to capitalise on the digital revolution.

SPECIAL REPORT / Europe seeks to capitalise on clusters of internet-driven businesses – such as those in Dublin and Helsinki – whose success relies on a mixture of policy initiatives ranging from education through to taxation, but also word-of-mouth.

Entrepreneurial capability is not confined to business; it is just as important for non-profits, for health, education and even for public services. Hence, we need to form and educate entrepreneurs, and we must cultivate a deep and systematic understanding of the discipline of entrepreneurship, says Dr Richard Straub.

The European Parliament´s internal market and transport committees have adopted a non-binding resolution calling for all new cars to be fitted with eCall devices to alert rescue services in case of crashes by 2015.

The European Parliament must think long-term and take bold decisions to incorporate ‘change’ in its organisational culture, said its Secretary-General Klaus Welle in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.

After the failure of the Lisbon Agenda and in anticipation of 'Europe 2020', the EU must draft a new civilisation project that respects the environment and future generations, leading Europe towards a new industrial revolution capable of giving birth to a "natural" capitalism, writes Laurent Ledoux, director of Philosophie & Management and a senior executive in a major bank.

The EU will invest billions in green technologies using a series of public private partnerships (PPPs), Janez Potočnik, Commissioner responsible for Science and Research, has said in an interview with EurActiv Slovakia.

"It is up to corporate and government strategists to exploit the potential of 'green IT'," argues Stefan Heng, a researcher at Deutsche Bank, in a February paper.

"Listening to personal music players at a high volume over a sustained period can lead to permanent hearing damage," according to an opinion delivered by the EU Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR).

While the Union's cautious approach to granting market authorisation to new technology applications like GMOs or products derived from nanotechnology has meant that EU has not suffered from any major backlash, it could also mean the bloc is missing out on major opportunities to improve its competitiveness, argued a policy analyst from a Brussels-based think tank in an interview with EurActiv.com.

A change of mindset regarding academia-industry collaboration is key to successful tech transfer, argued stakeholders debating the conditions for turning research results into economic growth and competitiveness yesterday (28 May).

Successful technology transfer stems from a pool of talented people with smart ideas supported by the right incentives to help their companies thrive, said Microsoft's research chief in an interview with EurActiv.

Slovakia has joined Austria's bid to host the proposed European Institute of Innovation and Technology in the hope that a twin-city headquarters initiative will convince ministers to give them the nomination.

Dialogue between big companies and research organisations should be improved in order to boost the EU's innovation potential, argues Michel Cosnard from the French national institute for research in computer science (INRIA) in an interview with EurActiv.

Politicians and scientists need to listen to the people and strive towards more democracy in science by means of interactive new technologies such as blogs, said Michel Serres, a French philosopher and member of the French Academy.

EU ministers in charge of research policy reached a political agreement this morning on the European Institute of Technology, leaving the more difficult issue of its financing to economy ministers discussing the 2008 budget today.

The costs of early action on climate change are likely to be "several orders of magnitude below those of inaction" and are not just economic, writes Janet Sawin for the Worldwatch Institute.

In an article published in the American science magazine The Scientist, Ed Silverman examines the state of university-industry technology transfer on the other side of the Atlantic.

To succeed, the European Institute of Technology (EIT) will need the full support and commitment of both business and academia as well as institutional backing from  Parliament and the Council. But, at present, the only unconditional support comes from its initiator, the European Commission.