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NEWS & ANALYSIS
Europe fiddles while innovation burns
Delays to new framework initiative could further stifle R&D in the European Union.
wake-up call, says Janez Potonik, European Commissioner for Science and Research.
The European Commissions seventh framework programme (FP7) for science funding in the EU is an essential part inthe revival, says Octavi Quintana-Trias, Head of Health at the ECs Directorate General for Research. Learning lessons from previous framework programmes, FP7 was due to receive 73 billion for the years 20072013 more than double the budget of the previous framework project. TheEC also streamlined much of the red tape
Conflict: arguing member states could deal a severe blow for R&D in Europe.
Simon FrantzEurope has reached a major turning point concerning the pharmaceutical sector. These ominous words, spoken by Gnter Verheugen, Vice President of the European Commission (EC) responsible for Enterprise and Industry, at a recent EFPIA meeting in Brussels, echoed the feeling that it is now or never for Europe to revive R&D innovation. But continued uncertainty over the European Unions (EU) science budget raises serious doubts that Europe will ever reclaim its position as a leading pharmaceutical research base.
Years of concern about the impact of increasing numbers of researchers migrating to the United States, and more recentlyAsia, are finally being borne out. Fewer treatments are being developed in Europe, and R&D investment in the EU is stagnating
(BOX). If current trends continue, China will be spending the same amount of GDP on R&D...