Business in 2006

Traditional medicine has spent decades in the wings of pharmacology. Now India is pushing it to centre stage, as K. S. Jayaraman reports.

The first foreign-based biotech company to list its shares in Japan has been caught up in bureaucracy — but its experience should help others. Ichiko Fuyuno reports.

Charities are starting to operate like venture capitalists, putting their cash into fledgling drug companies. Virginia Gewin reports.

India is traditionally suspicious of multinationals. So IBM's huge investment plan has provoked a mixed response, reports K. S. Jayaraman.

Miniature fuel cells are being developed as an alternative way to power portable devices. But they're not ready yet, as Kurt Kleiner reports.

Eastern Germany is landing major electronics industry investments — but needs to build up its own innovative capacity, reports Ned Stafford.

More and more venture capitalists are backing clean technology in the United States, but will it take off? Virginia Gewin reports.

Merck is tapping into academic research in its hunt for drug candidates. Meredith Wadman reports on the company's latest deal with Harvard.

Germany's best-known stem-cell researcher is leading a charge to build up more commercial acumen on the nation's university campuses. Ned Stafford reports.

Searing volatility has led some to dismiss Europe's nascent emissions market as a farce — but it is still hanging in there. Quirin Schiermeier reports on the project's teething troubles.