Innovation Union

A handful of Nobel Prizes and the first-ever comet landing – 2014 was a good year for European Science.

If you are not afraid of heights, this one is for you. With your legs outstretched in front of you, glide around a palm-fringed island on a magic carpet, blissfully unaware of the deprivations of a cramped aircraft cabin. If the thought of flying does not appeal, you can choose a land-based scene, with gentle sounds or music to accompany it on your headset.

Made-to-measure glasses would be more comfortable than normal ones, look better and work more effectively, according to one of a group of research projects that are developing ways to 3D print healthcare products on demand.

Scientists at the University of Darmstadt, in Germany, have trapped a pulse of light inside a crystal for a minute, and used it to store an image, raising the possibility of light-based computers that could work faster than today’s electronic processors and transistors.

High-tech LED technology and sophisticated optical systems are being used to recreate natural sunlight.

Tsunamis are not very frequent events, but they can have a terrible impact on human life and on the economy of a country. They occur as a result of earthquakes, usually at the bottom of the sea, but at present such earthquakes cannot be foreseen.

A new type of plastic electronics made from organic materials is lighter, cheaper, and more flexible than any of today’s technology. Such circuits could be worn on clothing or placed inside medical sensors.

Europe must do more to encourage a culture of entrepreneurialism if it is to keep moving forwards – that’s according to some of the participants at the Innovation Convention 2014 who were interviewed by Horizon.

Innovation must cut across all sectors, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso told the Innovation Convention 2014, an event organised by the EU to enable people to discuss new ideas.

A researcher who discovered variations in a gene involved in Parkinson’s disease received the first prize at an award for women innovators, as entrepreneurs, scientists and policymakers gathered in Brussels for the EU’s Innovation Convention 2014.