The European Commission invites comments on the application of EU antitrust rules for the assessment of technology transfer agreements, i.e. patent, know-how and software licensing. The current regime consists of a block exemption regulation ("TTBER"), that creates a safe harbour for certain non problematic agreements, and guidelines on the application of the TTBER as well as on the assessment of agreements that fall outside the TTBER. The regime has the aim to strengthen the incentives for research and innovation, facilitate the diffusion of intellectual property and stimulate competition. The current TTBER, which entered into force in May 2004, will expire in April 2014. In light of stakeholders' submissions, the Commission will make a proposal on how to assess technology transfer agreements after the expiry of the current TTBER in April 2014.

COMMODITY12 is a unique system for the analysis of multi-parametric medical data in patients suffering from diabetes. The consortium involves research institutes, university experts and industrial companies. Together they cover a broad field of expertise ranging from genomics, and medical knowledge to medical devices and e-health. COMMODITY12 will uptake the existing cutting-edge technologies and extend these technologies by combining state-of-the-art networks, software interoperation, and artificial intelligence techniques in order to realize the concept of translational medicine by means of a Personal Health System. Moreover, it will build a new level in patient empowerment, providing the tools for self-management support. Indirectly, this system will also help wider implementation of Personal Health Systems, reinforcing leadership and innovation capability of the European industry in that area.

The Commission has launched an Open Data Strategy for Europe, which is expected to deliver a €40 billion boost to the EU's economy each year. Europe’s public administrations are sitting on a goldmine of unrealised economic potential: the large volumes of information collected by numerous public authorities and services. Member States such as the United Kingdom and France are already demonstrating this value. The strategy to lift performance EU-wide is three-fold: firstly the Commission will lead by example, opening its vaults of information to the public for free through a new data portal. Secondly, a level playing field for open data across the EU will be established. Finally, these new measures are backed by the €100 million which will be granted in 2011-2013 to fund research into improved data-handling technologies.

The Playmancer project was selected as "best 2011 european video game for health", at the Fun & Serious Game Festival (8-9th November, Bilbao, Guggenheim Museum). Playmancer is an FP7 project funded by D2 Networked Media Systems. PlayMancer is implementing a new Serious Game environment, by augmenting existing 3D gaming engines with new possibilities. The motivation behind PlayMancer project is to investigate the potential of games in the Health Care sector. Its multidisciplinary team is composed of doctors,engineers, and computer experts, exploring innovative health treatments based on new technologies.

A final report on the public consultation on the eHealth Action Plan 2012-2020 has been published. The consultation, which involved a range of stakeholders including NGOs, academic institutions, enterprises, health and social care providers and public authorities from many Member States, aimed to validate four proposed objectives and to explore possible actions to be undertaken in the coming years. More than 90% of the stakeholders agreed with the four main objectives of the eHealth Action Plan and concluded that the main benefit of eHealth solution is to improve the quality, the efficiency and the sustainability of the available healthcare services.

A new European Project, WayFiS: Way Finding for Seniors, co-funded by the European Commission under the Ambient Assisted Living Joint programme has started in March 2011 with a duration of 30 months and involving partners from 3 different countries (Spain, Switzerland and Hungary). WayFiS project will be based on the development of a pilot to be tested by approximately 200 end-users in Spain and Hungary; the objective is improving the capability of seniors for projecting personalized route planning and elderly guiding in complex paths (indoor/outdoor/pedestrian/public transport). WayFiS will allow elderly people to overcome barriers and difficulties that often limit their possibility of feeling healthy-well and safe and that severely compromise their indoor and outdoor mobility. Some of the innovative features that WayFiS will provide to elderly people are: Allowing to identify the optimal physical activity route; Identifying routes that match with nutrition needs and disease's restrictions; Avoiding inaccessible routes; Finding necessary facilities along the route. WayFiS will affect the quality of life of elderly people at different levels: it will allow them to maintain mobility, which is a crucial issue for enabling independent and healthy living; it will also guarantee orientation, which is essential for safe moving around in an unknown environment and avoid isolation; it will also enable independent living by allowing elderly people to maintain a high degree of independence and autonomy; it will help elderly people to participate into digital self-service society.

A new European Project, GoldUI: Adaptive embedded human interfaces designed for older people, co-funded by the European Commission under the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme has started in July 2011 with a duration of 24 months and involving partners from 3 different countries (Spain, UK and Italy). The objective of GoldUI is to improve the independence and participation of older people, for whom technology can present some problems and difficulties particular to the elderly. In order to foster independence and participation, GoldUI adopts an end-user perspective to develop and test technological solutions in the home environment and other related activities of daily living. GoldUI will allow the elderly to access a wide range of cloud-based services by using content adaptation and personalization techniques GoldUI will provide an older person with access to an extendable range of online services such as local library, social networking, home delivery shopping through multiple devices and communication channels: traditional telephone, smartphone or tablet, IP-TV and home radio. The service will be designed to complement other methods of information access such as “traditional” web browsing, use of specialized mobile phone applications, etc. It will provide a tailored, clear interface that will encourage older people to make greater use of online services. The project effort is on customization and tailoring of access for the older user.

The Ambient Assisted Living Association (AALA) is seeking to hire a Director for the Central Management Unit, which is the body that carries out the operational management tasks of the AALA, and manages the AALA Joint Programme in close cooperation with the AALA Member organisations. The director is the head of CMU which is staffed with a further six people (2 programme officers, 1 communications officer, 1 financial officer, 1 legal officer and 1 management assistant). The Ambient Assisted Living Association (AALA) is the implementation body of the AAL Joint Programme (AAL JP), a programme of cooperation between the European Commission and 23 Partner States. The Members of the Association are funding authorities and agencies from the Partner States. The objective of the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme (AAL JP) is to enhance the quality of life of older adults through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), whilst strengthening the European industrial base for products and services in this domain. The AAL JP is set up for an initial period of a six-year funding programme (2008 – 2013) with administration of funded projects presumably lasting until 2017. During this period, the planned total public funding will be more than 300 Million €. The first term of employment for the new director will end December 31st, 2013, with the possibility of mutually agreed extension. The deadline for applications is Thursday 15th December 2011 at 17.00 CET.

During the Innovation Convention, the winners of the EU Prize for Women Innovators, Gitte Neubauer, Fabienne Hermitte and Ilaria Rosso, were awarded - see the winners's related videos. The European Commission has launched this contest to reward women innovators who have achieved outstanding innovations and brought them to market. The prize aims to inspire and raise awareness of the need for more women innovators and entrepreneurs. The contest was open to all women who have at some stage participated in the EU Framework Programmes.

ICT research is dramatically changing the possibilities open to people as diverse as victims of brain injuries and video game makers. Partners from Hollywood to hospitals are now reaping the benefits of this EU-funded research. Forty-five of Europe's best ICT research projects are on exhibition the EU's first Innovation Union Convention held in Brussels on 5-6 December 2011.

The first ever Innovation Convention, convened by European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, has been officially opened this afternoon by European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso. Both of them, along with Vice President Antonio Tajani, presented the first EU Women Innovators Prize. Also today, Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn and EIB President Maystadt have signed an agreement on the Risk Sharing Finance Facility, a joint initiative of the European Commission and the EIB to support higher risk and reward investment in research and innovation. Finally, President Barroso used this occasion to announce the name of the European Commission's first Chief Scientific Advisor.

President Barroso has today appointed the Commission's first Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor Anne Glover. Professor Glover will provide high-level and independent scientific advice throughout all stages of policy development and delivery. The Chief Scientific Advisor will provide advice directly to the President, and will give regular updates on major scientific and technological developments.

Today the European Commission and the European Investment Bank Group launch a new guarantee facility for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to help them access finance from banks. This builds on the success of the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF), launched in 2007, that has so far helped 75 companies benefit from over €7 billion in EIB loans to projects enhancing European growth and competitiveness. The new risk-sharing instrument for SMEs will be managed by the European Investment Fund (EIF). In addition, the EIB and the European Commission are to provide extra resources for research infrastructures.

p-medicine project, launched in February this year, is a 4-year Integrated project aiming at developing a new and state-of-the-art IT platform for personalized medicine. The researchers elaborated the first deliverables according to the agreed 'Description of Work', they identified and described motivated use case scenarios by underlining the p-medicine platform's end user needs and requirements.

The European Commission has today presented a package of measures to boost research, innovation and competitiveness in Europe. Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has announced Horizon 2020, an €80 billion programme for investment in research and innovation. Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou has put forward a Strategic Innovation Agenda for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), which will receive €2.8 billion of funding under Horizon 2020. In parallel, Vice-President Antonio Tajani has announced a complementary new programme to boost competitiveness and innovation in SMEs, with an additional budget of €2.5 billion. The funding programmes run from 2014 to 2020.

Promote access to finance and encouraging an entrepreneurial culture, including the creation of new enterprises are the core issues of the new financial support programme, tabled by the European Commission in Brussels today. With a budget of € 2.5 billions over the period 2014-2020, the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs, COSME is a funding instrument, which is largely continuing the activities under the current Competitiveness and Innovation programme (CIP). The new programme targets in particular: 1) entrepreneurs, in particular SMEs, which will benefit from easier access to funding for their business, 2) citizens who want to become self-employed and face difficulties in setting up or developing their own business, 3) Member States' authorities, which will be better assisted in their efforts to elaborate and implement effective policy reform.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is to significantly step up its efforts to drive innovation and entrepreneurship in the EU with the creation of six new cross-border innovation hubs, known as Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), in 2014-2020. The European Commission has allocated a budget of €2.8 billion in the next financial framework to enable the EIT to expand and consolidate the development of its existing KICs which focus on climate change, sustainable energy and ICT.

Several projects just started in this end of year. They will address Personal Health Systems (PHS): ARMOR, CareToy, CogWatch, Commodity12, CONTRAST, CuPiD, D-LIVER, Dem@Care, INTERACTION, MICHELANGELO, MovingLife, REMPARK, REWIRE, SCRIPT, SENSE-PARK, StrokeBack; Patient Guidance Services (PGS), safety and healthcare record information reuse: eHealthMonitor, Linked2Safety, MobiGuide, SemanticHealthNet, TRANSFoRm-EnlargedEU; and Virtual Physiological Human: DISCIPULUS. More information will be available soon.

The EU funded project PSIP has developed innovative computer-based applications able to automatically detect situations at risk and to deliver healthcare professionals and patients’ relevant “ad hoc” information helping them to prevent Adverse Drug Events. It has developed tools to search hospital databases and provide reliable numbers about Adverse Drug Events per country, hospital or medical unit, describing their type, consequences and probable causes. To date the prototypes are used routinely in different hospitals. The continuous evaluation of their impact on ADE rates is ongoing and has already provided promising and positive preliminary results.

The current Competitiveness and Innovation Framework programme (and predecessor of the new Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs", COSME) focuses on financial instruments for enterprises, the Enterprise Europe Network, Entrepreneurship and better framework conditions for enterprises in the EU. Other CIP actions, such as Innovation- and Energy-related actions, will be covered under the new Horizon 2020 Programme in the future.