Innovation hubs have now been mapped out in Europe; And their relative strengths identified. Nesta's 2016 European Digital City Index (EDCi), is a composite indicator which measures the receptiveness of cities across Europe for young digital firms. These indicators include access to funding, business environment and the prevalent entrepreneurial culture in each city. London, Stockholm, Paris, Amsterdam and Helsinki round out the top five spots. Meanwhile, Berlin, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Dublin and Vienna comprising the top ten. Find out more about the role that local conditions can play in encouraging the entrepreneurship and scaling-up of innovative businesses. Read more [...]
When I started my PhD about 3 years ago, I think that the process had already started, but it’s ever increasing : what I want to talk about is the use of web-based services offered by private for-profit companies by researchers. Well, I must say Read more [...]
Hacking solutions to science problems are springing up everywhere. But what about the publishing industry? Where are the TripAdvisors for journals submissions, the Deliveroo for laboratory reagents? Clearly there are so many opportunities technology could bring to radically change the lives of scientists that it is a bit difficult to know where to start. Yet, the debate on the future of scholarly publishing may be about changing the incentives for researchers rather than embracing smart technology solutions. Find out from the experts in the industry who gathered in Frankfurt a few weeks ago. Read more [...]
As plans are underway to establish yet another instrument to support innovation in Europe, dubbed the European Innovation Council (EIC), entrepreneurs and research-based organisations have questioned the proposal. The determination that Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Carlos Moedas has shown in developing the concept, begs for further questioning concerning the details of the implementation of the proposed EIC. In this article, EuroScientist investigates whether those closely involved in innovation believe EIC is a good idea. Read more [...]
Technology-mediated interaction between geographically-distributed teams of scientists is about to happen on a much wider scale than before. And this trend is no longer limited to scientists from well-funded labs. It is now time for researchers to prepare for yet another shift in attitude when interacting with each other. They need to show greater willingness to give and share, encouraged by a new credit and reward system recognising the smallest contributions to science. Read more [...]
For every characteristic of uberisation, there is a parallel in the world of research. This raises the question of whether research was "uberised" before Uber even existed? In this article EuroScientist explores which aspects in research have been most impacted by technology, and the challenges ahead to leverage uberisation for the good of science and scientists. Read more [...]
Not every scientist has the comfort of a well-equipped lab. However, newly available open platforms for biomedical in silico discovery could soon spark the brains of millions of researchers forming a geographically-distributed work force across the globe. This no longer requires working in a high-tech lab to contribute to the discovery of new mechanisms in health and diseases. Meanwhile, new opportunities for trainees, scientists and patients to practice annotation of genetic databases, could push the boundaries of open science towards countries where it has not yet been possible to work on such projects. In the second part of a two-part series, Barend Mons from the Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands, explains how it could work in practice, and how close we are to realising this initiative. Read more [...]
The interface between science and business is where innovation is brought to life, but do the two fields always get along? Some of the speakers and session organisers of the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF2016) Business Programme, launching on 11th of April 2016 in London, UK, speak about how best to reconcile the two. Read more [...]
Disruptive innovation has to be accompanied by social and cultural progress. In the provocative opinion piece, Kirsten Drotner from the University of Southern Denmark and Mariachiara Esposito from Science Europe call for policy makers in Europe to abandon the prevailing approach to innovation that has informed European policies and funding programmes, in particular Horizon 2020. Instead, they call for a recognition of the role of arts and humanities research in fostering future innovation. Read more [...]
Since the last decade, wearable technology moved from developers’ drawing boards to stores, with barely a whisper of disquiet about data privacy. Yet, the implications for data privacy should not be underestimated. There is growing interest in the potential of wearables to mitigate, treat or prevent chronic conditions which put a strain on health economies--ranging from chronic back pain or physical stress injuries to mental health issues like work-related stress. EuroScientist investigates how the latest regulatory framework could secure people's privacy as they strive to prevent chronic conditions through wearable technology. Read more [...]
Thanks to advances in technology, the ubiquitous smartphone is not just a way to connect with friends. It also becomes a kind of “doctor in our pocket”. Health apps, wearable sensors and fitness trackers are all contributing towards ‘more and better data’ for monitoring everything from caloric intake to steps taken on a daily basis. If we want to better understand, manage, and prevent chronic diseases, then new technologies and innovations like these are vital. Read more [...]
Public databases of the toxic effects of chemicals that have been registered under the REACH directive have been sitting idle for too long. In an opinion piece, Thomas Hartung explains how the development of software by his team at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, at Johns Hopkins University, USA, helps make sense of the large volume of chemical database content. Now that they made such data machine readable, expectations are that it will soon be possible to provide open access to such public database. Ultimately, this could substantially decrease the number of animal tests. Indeed, the database makes it possible to do so-called read-across, allowing to infer toxicity of heaps of untested chemicals from existing data on chemicals of similar structure, which have already been tested. Read more [...]
European science conversations by the community, for the community
