Germany took the opportunity to look back at its impressive performance in the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) as it held a national launch event for FP7 in Bonn on 15 and 16 January.

Germany is ranked first among all participating countries for FP6. The latest available statistics from the European Commission show 7,449 German participations in 3,027 FP6 contracts, with a total EU contribution to German participants of around €2.3 billion.

A new study on the economic impact of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) on the European information and communication technologies (ICT) sector has found that it could increase Europe's competitiveness.

The Commission is launching ERAWATCH, a new online information platform on research systems and policies within the European Union. ERAWATCH supports the ongoing construction of the European Research Area (ERA) by providing policy makers and policy analysts working in the field of science and research with condensed and updated information and analysis on the development of research systems and policies in all Member States of the European Union plus selected other countries.

The ScanBalt association reports that ScanBalt BioRegion at the end of 2006 hosts 2129 Life science companies including 671 biotech companies, 323 phama companies and 370 medical device companies.

CORDIS, the Community Research and Development Information Service, has launched a new online service covering the research and innovation activities carried out under the German Presidency of the European Union (1 January - 30 June 2007).

A three-year EU-funded project has found that dental X-rays could be used to detect the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.

The researchers found that by measuring the thickness of part of a patient's lower jaw, using software developed by the team, dentists could easily identify women and men at risk of the disease.

The EU's largest ever funding programme for research and technological development, the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), was launched on 1 January.

The programme cleared its final hurdle when it was adopted by the Council on 18 December 2006. The decision was widely expected following an agreement on a common position between the Parliament and Council in November. The common position meant that the decision could be adopted by the Environment Council without discussion.