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European R&D short of money, scientists
Crossing the divide
Click here for EU research
Motion carried
SIG scores at Sun-Rype
I can see clearly now
Fast test for water vapour
Briefly
Coca-Cola
and Japanese cosmetics maker Shishedo expanded their cooperation deal
by launching new brands based on fragrance "aroma works". Shiseido
will introduce a body lotion Body Stylish Mist while Coca-Cola will
hope to erase the embarrassment of dropping Dasani in the UK with the launch
of Body Style Water on 21 April.
The first international treaty to
protect biodiversity will become law on 29 June 2004. This follows its
ratification by 11 European countries, Egypt and the European Community. The
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture gives farmers the right to collect and plant seed from their
harvests. This means they will no longer have to buy new seed every planting
season from the manufacturers of patented seed.
The move coincides with Bayer’s
decision not to pursue commercial sales of its GM maize, the only one
ratified in the UK.
”Consumers need more education on how to eat, not what to eat,” the US
food industry’s spokesperson, Rhona Appelbaum, said in response to a
National Academies of Science report, Exploring a Vision: Integrating
Knowledge for Food and Health, which advocated calorie-counting to avoid
over-eating and consequent obesity.
Mitsubishi
Materials has agreed to transfer of its biomaterial business with Pentax.
Pentax will take over the business rights, intellectual properties, fixed
assets and inventories on 30 April.
Caloric intake and body mass have
independent effects on longevity, according to a study in the March
2004 International Journal of Obesity. Researchers found that body
mass partially, but not fully, accounts for the effect of caloric
restriction on mortality rate.
Procter & Gamble
said it is selling the troubled Sunny Delight and Punica juice-based drink
businesses to JW Childs Associates, a Boston-based private equity firm, for
an undisclosed sum.
e.centre, a not-for-profit supply
chain efficiency association, will launches the first EPCglobal Network
standards for RFID technology in the UK on 28 April. Multiples such
as Tesco and Sainsbury’s are expected to outline their plans to introduce
the technology in their stores at the same event.
Research
European
R&D short of money, scientists
Finland and Sweden are the only
countries to beat the European Commission’s target R&D spend of 3% of
GDP, but Europe might miss that target unless it can recruit 500,000 more
scientists before 2010.
This come from a report by the
European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) released today. The
study for the European Parliament Industry Committee shows that Finland and
Sweden already spend 3.4% and 4.3% respectively of GDP on R&D. Most of
the money comes from the private sector; Sweden is bottom and Finland is
third from bottom in the EU league table of relative public spending on
research and development.
In 2002 the European Council of
Ministers in Barcelona set a target of 3% of GDP by 2010, two-thirds to come
from the private sector. Overall expenditure in the European Union at that
time was about 1.9% of GDP.
 A high level group told EC Research
Commissioner Philippe Busquin last week that in the current 15-member
European Union, the number of researchers per 1000 of the workforce is 5.7.
But that drops to 3.5 for the 10 countries joining the bloc next month. By
comparision Japan employs 9.14 researchers per 1000 of the workforce, and
the US 8.08.
The EASAC report says Finland and
Sweden performance is due to “an explicit and consistent commitment to
prioritising public expenditure on R&D, and a high-powered national
policy on R&D that included major industrial concerns.”
The integrity of the policies was
maintained despite a financial crisis in Finland, and the devaluation of the
Swedish Krona.
Finland and Sweden lead the EU in
patent applications per head. An effective system of intellectual property
rights is central to promoting industrial investment in R&D, the report
said. But the European regime for intellectual property rights is regarded
as inferior to those in the USA and Japan but increasingly to those in China
and India, it added.
Last week the British Office of
Science and Technology reported that “the UK has all–round strengths in
research, but despite recent increases in the Science Budget, it is failing
to match the investment of its competitor countries”. It argued that the
UK’s future performance can only be improved through more investment, but
British researchers are highly productive.
The OST also castigated the UK
Department of Trade & Industry for its approach to nanotechnology. “We
find the DTI culpable of failing to build on an early successful
nanotechnology programme in the 1980s. The…levels of investment planned
are insufficient to match those of other major international competitors.”
Meanwhile, in the US, researchers
have discovered that nanomaterials have a toxic effect on fish brains. The
finding has prompted calls for more federally-funded research into safety
threats posed by nanotechnology.
And in France, the National Centre
for Scientific Research (CNRS) is busy refusing the resignations of more
than 500 research directors who quit in protest over government science
policies. The refuseniks plan a partial administrative strike in response.
Development
Crossing the divide
The UK Engineering and Technology
Board has called for tax-breaks to allow companies to commercialise science
research.
This is one of more than 30
recommendations for increasing the commercial exploitation of science,
engineering and technology (SET) results contained in a draft report, The
frontiers of innovation: wealth creation from science, engineering and
technology led by Sir Peter Williams, chairman of the Engineering and
Technology Board.
The report calls for better
coordination of SET expenditure across government departments, especially in
health and defence sectors; new government procurement guidelines linked to
its R&D spending; tax breaks to encourage charitable involvement in
early stage technology companies; more publicity to encourage take up of the
R&D tax credit; and more money earmarked to take research from the
development stage to the commercial stage.
For details click here.
Click
here for EU research
The European Commission's Directorate
General (DG) for Research has launched a new web service, the Research
Information Centre.
Based on articles and stories from
various editorial sources, the new website aims to provide faster access to
research projects, policies and activities in Europe. The content is indexed
under 14 main headings. To access the Research Information Centre, click here.
Innovation
Motion carried
 An Israeli-developed imaging device,
the M2A capsule, allows diagnostic staff to see pictures of the digestive
tract without invasive procedures.
Over 80,000 patients worldwide have
swallowed the “videocamera in a capsule” technology developed by Given
Imaging. Now kids aged 10 to 18 can also be given the M2A to diagnose
Crohn's, celiac disease and other intestine conditions, the company says.
The patented capsule endoscope takes
two frames a second during its passage through the gastro-intestinal tract.
These are then downloaded to enable doctors to detect problems.
Packaging
SIG scores at Sun-Rype
 Canadian fruit snacks maker Sun-Rype
Products has implemented a new contact-free automatic production and
packaging process from SIG Pack Systems, to increase its production capacity
and cut costs.
The British Columbia company makes
top quality fruit juices and snacks. These range from 100% pure fruit juices
through to its Fruit to go and Energy to go fruit snack bars.
A change in the fruit bars’ recipe prompted the decision to install the
new line.
Three customised SIGHBM high-speed
flow wrappers can pack up to 700 bars a minute, double the former output.
But the new, stickier recipe meant there must be no contact at all between
the bars, which called for a new infeed system.
Belt speeds were changed to ensure a
regular gap between each bar and the overhead cross chain was slightly
adapted. The stainless steel parts were coated with a very thin layer of
Teflon to prevent the bars from sticking to the equipment.
Sig also installed a SIGTTL
toploading robot to automate the final packing into transport boxes.
I
can see clearly now
 US-based Graham Packaging has given
Signature-owned Libby’s a “clear” advantage in the canned fruit market
with a new transparent polypropylene (PP) plastic jar for its
California-grown sliced peaches, apricot halves, and fruit medley.
Kathy Sheldon, vice president,
marketing, of Signature Fruit Company, said “We are making the product
visible to people, so they can see for themselves the superior quality of
what they’re buying for their families.”
The lightweight, multi-layer,
wide-mouth polypropylene container is believed to be the first le to
withstand the 93.5 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes retort process.
The new jar incorporates vacuum
panels that “barrel out” when heated and then pull back into shape after
cooling. The six-layer walls include an oxygen barrier and an ultraviolet
absorber. The jar weighs 695g net and holds 680ml. Graham also claims the
plastic jar is easier to grip than metal cans, doesn’t break, runs better
on filling lines, and is lighter.
Fast
test for water vapour
There is a new quick and simple way
to test water vapour permeability and transmission rates for most types of
packaging, films, coatings and containers.
The Versaperm WVTR (Water Vapour
Transmission) meter can test several samples at once, giving a reading in as
little as 30 minutes that is accurate to better than one part per million
(with some samples a few parts per hundred million). Sensitivities are in
the range 0.05 to 3200g/m2/day.
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