A conference on 'Innovation and creativity in the hands of the young' will be held from 2 to 4 December in Reykjavík, Iceland.

Innovation and creativity are an important part of the solution to the current global economic crisis. The aim of this conference is to present knowledge and inspiration on how to generate innovation and creativity by motivating the young.

The content and the outcome of the conference ...

The economic downturn and global issues such as climate change could present new business opportunities, new markets and new jobs if Europe makes the transition to an eco-efficient economy, the EU's competitiveness ministers concluded at an informal meeting in Sweden on 14 and 15 October.

Held by the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the meeting followed on from discussions between ...

The final conference of the EU-funded MIRRORS ('Monitoring ideas regarding research organisations and reasons in science') will take place in Catania, Italy on 21 and 22 September.

Entitled 'Science policy and knowledge society beyond Lisbon', the events will look at the final research results of the project. These will be a synthesis of what has been discussed during previous meetings, conferences and ...

In 2007 the EU spent EUR 229 billion on research and development (R&D), equivalent to 1.85% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to newly-released figures from Eurostat. The EU has set itself the goal of spending 3% of GDP on R&D by 2010; however, spending has remained stable at around 1.85% of GDP over the past few years.

For comparison, the US spent 2.67% of GDP on R&D in 2007, and in 2006 (the ...

The EU and its Member States have made good progress on innovation in recent years. Nevertheless, further action is urgently needed if the EU is to become the world's leading knowledge-based economy. This is the main message from a newly released Commission Communication which reviews progress on innovation in the EU and highlights the challenges ahead.

Over the past few years, in the framework of the ...

The first European Innovation Summit (EIS) will take place on 13 and 14 October in Brussels, Belgium.

Organised by the Knowledge4Innovation (K4I)/Lisbon Forum at the premises of the European Parliament, the event will provide a unique opportunity for organisations to demonstrate and explain how they contribute to making Europe a global leader in innovation.

The EIS will gather policy makers from the EU ...

Since being founded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry over a year ago, the Enterprise Europe Network has become a point of reference in cross-border and EU-related matters for companies in more than 40 countries.

A main focal point of the Network lies in providing information on funding opportunities open to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Possibilities ...

The EU-funded PICO ('Academic entrepreneurship from knowledge creation to knowledge diffusion') project is organising its final workshop on 23 June in Paris, France.

The PICO project focused on research-based spin-offs (RBSOs). The project's goal was to understand the conditions under which RBSOs effectively contribute to the generation of new knowledge, technologies, products, services and processes and ...

The European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT) has launched a call for proposals for the establishment of 'Knowledge and Innovation Communities' (KICs).

KICs are an integral part of the EIT concept. As highly integrated, creative partnerships including education, technology, research, business and entrepreneurship, they are designed to produce new innovations and innovation models, as well ...

A conference entitled 'The innovation economy - getting new ideas, new partners and new growth for the global economy' will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on 2 June.

In the light of the economic role of innovation and recent and upcoming elections in Europe and the United States, the conference is dedicated to looking at how to go about creating the right global climate to deliver innovation.

An estimated ...