Outlook

In the search for novel therapies, drug developers have begun crowdsourcing molecules.

University research powers innovation and economic development. Countries with intensive research and development (R&D) programmes differ in their approach to turning lab studies into commercial enterprises. By Alla Katsnelson, infographic by Mohamed Ashour.

Austrian social scientist Helga Nowotny was president of the European Research Council between 2010 and 2013. Now a professor emerita of ETH Zurich and author of The Cunning of Uncertainty (Polity, 2015), Nowotny discusses the growing pressure to capitalize on academic research, and how countries can get it right in the absence of a universal recipe.

After starting one of Germany's first biotech companies, biochemist Horst Domdey co-founded BioM, a non-profit organization that has managed and developed Munich's biotechnology cluster since 1997. He talks to Nature about nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit in “a country of competitions”.

A broader understanding of 'impact' could help governments to measure the diverse benefits of their investment in research.

When it comes to translating its own research into practical applications, China falls short. A forum in Shanghai put the spotlight on ambitious plans to accelerate the process.

The value that Australia places on publication quality over quantity has elevated it into the top echelon of science. Can it now improve its flagging track record in commercialization?

Despite the ubiquity of the Internet, innovation still happens mainly in hubs, where face-to-face contact matters more than ever.

Universities aid entrepreneurs by helping them to turn their research into companies. In return, universities can reap financial benefits.

For the past decade, venture philanthropists have been working to propel promising therapies and vaccines into the clinic, with some success.

The science done in university laboratories can change the world, but only when discoveries can be transformed into innovations.

Pollution poses a significant challenge to food production in urban environments, says Andrew A. Meharg.

From their earliest beginnings, cities have brought both benefits and risks to the health of their inhabitants. Although some of the hazards have been banished, others remain — and new ones have emerged. By Stephanie Pain

Deprivation leads to stress, and stress to bad health. A park, and the science behind it, aims to break that chain.

Transporting people around the cities of the future is a public-policy challenge, but it's also an opportunity to improve the health of urban populations.

Cities are complex environments. Planning interventions that borrow principles from theoretical physics could help to improve peoples' lives.

Water is a necessity for any city, but too much of it can threaten lives and infrastructure. As climate change looms, new approaches can help to turn a threat into a resource.

Exposure to nature makes people happy and could cut mental-health inequalities between the rich and poor.