Yesterday, the European Commission published the 2007 European Innovation Scoreboard. Overall innovation performance is calculated on the basis of 25 indicators covering five dimensions of innovation: • Innovation drivers measure the structural conditions required for innovation potential; • Knowledge creation measures the investments in R&D activities; • Innovation & entrepreneurship measures the efforts towards innovation at the firm level; • Applications measures the performance expressed in terms of labor and business activities and their value added in innovative sectors; and [...]

The Los Angeles Times reveals that “[i]n an effort to recapture some of the national advertising dollars that have fled the pages of newspapers for major websites, Tribune Co. and three other leading media chains today will announce a joint venture to sell ads on their Web pages on a national scale.  The alliance, called QuadrantONE, is financed by Tribune, the parent of The Times, along with Gannett Co., Hearst Corp. and New York Times Co.  […]  QuadrantONE, scheduled to [...]

The Register reports that “[t]he European Commission's reform of VAT on internet-delivered services such as software, ringtones and music has been adopted and will take effect from 2015.  Europe's finance ministers yesterday agreed the proposed measures, which means that they become EU legislation, shortly to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The proposal was hammered out in a political agreement on the issue last December.  VAT on ‘telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services supplied to consumers’ will [...]

The Sidney Morning Herald reports that “Internet security provider Marshal has released the findings of its latest Threat Research and Content Engineering report for the second half of 2007, which found that the total volume of spam increased by more than 50 per cent.  Spam promoting pharmaceuticals, such as weight loss pills, were the dominant category in 2007, comprising nearly 70 per cent of all spam.  The biggest drop in spam was those relating to stocks and options, comprising only [...]

The Sidney Morning Herald reveals that “Canada has joined China and Russia on the US software, music and movie industries' annual list of countries with the worst record of fighting piracy of copyright goods.  ‘While there has been a few positive developments in these key markets over the year, the bottom line is that piracy levels have not come down at all or only marginally, and in some countries the situation has grown worse,’ Eric Smith, president of the International [...]

The Guardian writes that “[t]he founders of 20 of the UK's most promising internet start-ups are to be invited to Silicon Valley in April as part of a joint UK government and technology industry initiative to support upcoming entrepreneurs.  Web Mission 2008 aims to encourage partnerships between UK web talent and influential San Francisco-based firms.  The initiative is being backed by the government's UK Trade & Investment Department, the enterprise campaign Make Your Mark and tech giant Microsoft.” The New [...]