CORDIS Archive : Euroabstracts: Feature: Editions Menu

The present flurry of interest in corporate social responsibility represents a characteristically European response to the liberalising of markets over recent years. But can companies be persuaded to build a voluntary ethical dimension into their business strategies? And can SMEs, in particular, benefit from responsible entrepreneurism?

December 2003 - Clustering for innovation

One of the most characteristic features of Italy's industrial landscape is the industrial districts - clusters of SMEs dense enough to feed off each other's innovative thinking, human resources and specialist suppliers and sub-contractors. The idea is so potent that Italian firms are now exporting it - for their own benefit.

October 2003 - Europe’s environment: still a long way to go

On its way to developing a knowledge-based economy, Greece has at its disposal well-designed research and innovation policy implementation tools with concrete objectives and clear priorities. In recent years it has achieved a fast rate of development and has succeeded in converging economically with its European counterparts. It has placed particular emphasis on international co-operation, especially with Balkan and Mediterranean countries.

August 2003 - Climbing the down escalator

On its way to developing a knowledge-based economy, Greece has at its disposal well-designed research and innovation policy implementation tools with concrete objectives and clear priorities. In recent years it has achieved a fast rate of development and has succeeded in converging economically with its European counterparts. It has placed particular emphasis on international co-operation, especially with Balkan and Mediterranean countries.

June 2003 - Towards a knowledge-based economy

On its way to developing a knowledge-based economy, Greece has at its disposal well-designed research and innovation policy implementation tools with concrete objectives and clear priorities. In recent years it has achieved a fast rate of development and has succeeded in converging economically with its European counterparts. It has placed particular emphasis on international co-operation, especially with Balkan and Mediterranean countries.

April 2003 - Being enterprising

If the EU is to meet its Lisbon commitment to create a world-beating dynamic economy by 2010, it must first become more entrepreneurial. Policy is coming to grips with the step changes needed to achieve this.

February 2003 - Two steps forward, one step back?: The third edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard suggests that the weaker innovators are catching up with the leading Member States, with stronger growth rates on many of the key indicators. But on the other hand, Europe as a whole continues to trail the US and Japan on the most significant indicators, even if there is some evidence of the gap closing.

December 2002 - Denmark cranks up the research machine: Denmark's research institutions have international fame and prestige. But the government is demanding more from them, and reform is the name of the game. Stakeholder representatives on university boards, a massive expansion of staff and student numbers, shorter courses and more specialisation are some of the actions. Meanwhile a tax freeze is in place as an incentive to undertake higher education. The eventual aims: more research, a boost to productivity, and a bigger chunk of the knowledge services cake.

October 2002 - The next step towards a free market for knowledge, science and innovation: Five years - the length of the Sixth Framework Programme - is not a long time in science. But what will follow FP6? Euroabstracts asked EU Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin. His answer: "ERA represents our long-term vision for European research, FP6 is more of a catalyst and mid-term tool to get the process started and get the heavy machine of EU research moving."

August 2002 - Looking at SMEs from all sides: The Observatory of European SMEs, established and funded by the European Commission, has been reporting on Europe's SMEs for nine years. Now, to get its message over, it has abandoned generic annual reporting in favour of a series of thematic reports that enable policy-makers to better understand how SMEs operate and how they differ in member states. Rob van der Horst, project director of the Observatory, talks to Euroabstracts.

June 2002 - Rebuilding trust in science: In today's technical world, more and more decisions rely on scientific expertise. But scientists working at the borders of human knowledge cannot be categorical in their pronouncements. They can make the best possible predictions in the circumstances, but we rely also on politicians to make wise judgements of value. Inevitably, things will go wrong from time to time. But the contemporary crisis of credibility that governments are facing seems to say we need to fundamentally remake the way we take decisions, and the way we share information about the factors involved.

April 2002 - Spain tackles the European paradox: The Spanish government has made great strides in reforming its national policies for the support of innovation. Now holding the presidency of the European Union, Spain is promoting its concept of a European Research and Innovation Area alongside the Sixth Framework Programme. Euroabstracts talked to Dr Arturo González Romero, Director General of Technology Policy in the Ministry of Science and Technology, about how the 'European paradox'- the gap between academic research and industrial innovation - should be addressed.

February 2002 - Vertical segregation, subtle discrimination: Nicole Dewandre, who heads the European Commission's Women and Science Unit, explains how women in scientific research are being empowered in the face of continuing gender discrimination. She reminds us that discrimination today is still pervasive and continues to damage women's careers - but now it has become an elusive beast, hard to pin down.

December 2001 - Small business - big ideas: Being Europe's de facto capital is not an economic vocation in its own right. Although it has an awful lot going for it as a location for the service sector, Brussels needs to stay diverse. André Dewint, head of the regional research and innovation directorate, is the man charged with turning the city's considerable academic prowess into industrial reality. As a member of CREST, the EU's Scientific and Technical Research Committee, he sees things from the European level too.

October 2001 - What is happening to our climate?: The world's climate is an area where science and politics have become too closely entangled. Dr Anver Ghazi, Head of Unit at the Research DG responsible for research into climate change, gives us his views on what went right for Europe at the Bonn climate conference, the strength of global collaboration on climate research, and what he believes the key issues to be pursued now are.
August 2001 - Genomics: the key to future life: European genome research to date has led to some significant scientific advances in biotechnology. These are resulting in a range of benefits to humanity, the most obvious being a more stable and healthier food supply. European laboratories have also been active in the worldwide effort to unravel the mystery of the human genetic code. Under the proposals for the next framework programme, both aspects of genomics are brought to bear on the issue of human health.

June 2001 - eContent: connecting worlds

Launched in March, the European Commission's 100 million eContent programme is an integral part of the eEurope initiative. Euroabstracts spoke to Commissioner Erkki Liikanen on how the new programme aims to stimulate Europe's content industry in the digital age.

April 2001 - Ideas on the move: Human resources are being given an ever larger place in Europe's science policy. The budget proposed for the training and mobility of researchers in the next Framework Programme is twice that in the current one. It is also proposed to knock down some of the walls dividing European Union research from the rest of the world. Euroabstracts asked Jocelyne Gaudin, who heads the Research DG's mobility unit, why human resources are getting so much attention.

February 2001 - Innovation in Sweden: Sweden assumed the Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers on 1st January. During its tenure, negotiations will shape the structure of the Sixth Framework Programme, which will take us till 2006. How will Sweden influence the outcome? Euroabstracts talked to Göran Marklund, head of the Innovation Systems division of Vinnova, the newly-established Swedish Agency for Innovations Systems. At home, Sweden is adopting a more focused policy on innovation,he says. And many of the new ideas spring from involvement in EU research.
December 2000 - A new way of innovating: At the Lisbon Council in March, the EU adopted the 'open co-ordination' approach to policy-making, whereby experience throughout the Member States is set out as a series of 'benchmarks' from which everybody can learn. One of the first areas in which it has been applied is innovation, in the form of the European Trend Chart on Innovation. The Enterprise DG's manager for the Trend Chart project, Peter Löwe, sees the benchmarking process as perhaps heralding the birth of a European model of policy-making.

November 2000 - Cordis - the first 10 years: Ever since its introduction in late 1990, CORDIS has been a cornerstone service for members of Europe's research and innovation communities. It hosts a vast amount of information, which is growing daily. It has evolved from an early attempt to offer electronic dissemination of European R&D results into a sophisticated - yet user-friendly - mine of information. Euroabstracts talked with Kurt König, the Head of Unit responsible for the service within the Innovation Directorate of the Enterprise DG, to find out a little of its history, how it stands today, and his vision for the future.

August 2000 - Multimedia content and tools: On 1st July 2000 France took over the presidency of the European Union. Hitherto renowned for its hands-on approach, particularly in the major areas of technological development, it is today giving priority to networking and spin-offs from innovative SMEs. Marie Deketelaere, who handles European technological affairs for the French ministry of the economy, finance and industry, explains that this does not deter France from its ambition to bring greater momentum to European research and innovation.

June 2000 - Multimedia content and tools: The multimedia content industry is now worth five per cent of Europe's GDP - more than telecommunications, hardware and software put together. Yet Europe still lags behind the United States in this booming sector of the economy. Euroabstracts asked Frans de Bruïne, who heads Directorate D of the Commission's Information Society DG, to explain how the European Union is meeting the challenge of multimedia.

April 2000 - Innovation in Portugal: On 1 January 2000, Portugal took on the Presidency of the European Union. Unlike its predecessor, Finland, which has established itself as a leading manufacturer of high-technology products, Portugal is not known for its science and technology. But over the past five years, the country has taken major steps to create a strong foundation for its newly emerging technological culture.
February 2000 - Taking care of business: The EU has identified the promotion of ent repreneurship as one of the four pillars of the employment guidelines which form the basis of a co-or dinated strategy for employment policy by member states. This means developing a more entrepreneurial culture - a culture which may be at odds with the European social model. How can Europe square the circle? How can we create an environment where risk-takers can fly high, while at the same extending social pro tection to guarantee everyone a soft landing? How can we expect entrepreneurs to create lean, mean profit machines, while developing and refining legislation to protect employees and safeguard the envir onment? Can we take care of business and still take care of each other?
December 1999 - Older people - new opportunities: Medical advance - and peace - mean that more and more people are getting old. A blessing - but an actuarial nightmare too, because fewer earners will have to support more pensioners. Ageing is however not just a financial problem, but a social, cultural and technological opportunity. If we are to turn things around, we can't stay as we are. We need to stop worrying about our pensions, and start being creative.

October 1999 - Environment: Looking the future in the face: In 1995, the European Environment Agency set a benchmark by publishing the Dobrís Assessment - the first-ever report to consider environmental data on a pan-European level. Now, Europe's environment: the second assessment takes another look at several key topics to see what, if any, progress has been achieved.

August 1999 - Innovation in Finland: Suddenly it seems that everyone is talking about Finland. It holds the European Presidency till the end of the millennium, and to kick off the year 2000, Helsinki is to be European City of Culture. Euroabstracts interviews Martti Mäenpää, Director General of Tekes, the National Technology Agency of Finland to find out how this small peripheral country has grown into a major European player.

June 1999 - Aeronautics: On the up: German business pulled itself out of recession in the mid-1990s by going into the world markets with innovative goods and a vast array of product-related, enterprise-oriented services. But many of the technologies it used in the process were imported. And although it is holding its own in research-intensive technologies that create jobs, the country's strongest suit, high technology, is shedding labour.


April 1999 - Germany: Innovation by Consensus: German business pulled itself out of recession in the mid-1990s by going into the world markets with innovative goods and a vast array of product-related, enterprise-oriented services. But many of the technologies it used in the process were imported. And although it is holding its own in research-intensive technologies that create jobs, the country's strongest suit, high technology, is shedding labour.


February 1999 - The changing face of European technology policy: For more than a quarter of a century the EU had no effective policy on industrial development. Yet since the 1980s successive programmes within and outside the EU have made co-operation between European companies, universities and research institutes a familiar and welcome fact of life.


December 1998 - Electronic Commerce: As part of the information revolution, electronic commerce will affect everybody. It promises consumers more choice, lower prices and new services. It offers businesses instant access to world-wide markets, and the opportunity to cut costs through collective action. But for governments it poses problems both ethical and financial: how can one police - or tax - a borderless activity? Can the industry resolve the issues on its own?


October 1998 - Innovation in Austria: In parallel with its economic success, Austria's research and innovation system has come a long way in recent years. And the country has a plan for the future.

August 1998 - Working in the Knowledge Society: What could we change to create for Europe an innovation system that works?
June 1998 - S&T Indicators show Europe the way forward: The European Commission's Second Report on Science and Technology (S&T) Indicators is a detailed assessment of research and innovation in the 50 countries world-wide that devote the most resources to science and technology. The report is much more than a phenomenal collection of statistics. It also analyses and discusses many economic, scientific and technological indicators to provide plenty of food for thought. ERSTI contains something of interest for anyone involved in science and technology, from a ground-level researcher to a high-level government decision-maker.
April 1998 - With the Benefit of Foresight: A recent Parliamentary review provides a good introduction to how the United Kingdom's 'Technology Foresight Programme' is orienting the UK's research priorities towards the future.