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THAILAND’S new tax incentive scheme, due to take effect in just over a year, is provoking mixed reactions from tax experts and foreign investors.

As the country looks to move away from low-cost, low-value, environmentally damaging manufacturing industries towards those that might foster a sustainable, knowledge-based economy, Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) has drawn up a new investment promotion policy that will go into effect in January 2015.…

STATE support for the development of the Internet of Things (IOT) sector in China has the potential to drive demand for premium protective coatings across the Asia Pacific region, according to IOT and coatings industry experts.

During China’s recent change of government leadership, the State Council this February promised to launch tax breaks for companies using these technologies, vowing to achieve widespread “application of the IOT in key areas by 2015, as well as breakthroughs in core technologies.” …

PRODUCERS of confectionery mixing machinery around the world continue to improve their machines, but generally opt for incremental improvements in sanitation and multi-purpose functions rather than creating entire new products.

Dutch confectionery equipment producer Tanis Confectionery, plans to unveil new mixing technology at Germany’s Interpack processes and packaging trade fair in May, Leo Tanis, CEO of Tanis Confectionery told Confectionery Production.…

WHILE the international market for certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) was boosted at a Berlin conference last autumn (2012) when Germany and France established national business forums, there are concerns that this green market system could be failing. And according to the governing body, the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), production of certified sustainable palm oil is now about 9.6 million tonnes annually (16% of global crude palm oil production).…

Hopes have risen that a significant cut in the EU’s research grants for 2014 can be avoided following a vote in the European Parliament (EP) this week to restore money dropped from the budget by the council of EU government ministers earlier in the year – though  final agreement on the numbers will not be reached until mid-November.…

MASSIVE open online courses (MOOCs) are not a threat to bricks-and-mortar universities as some in Europe fear, a conference organised yesterday (Thursday) in Brussels by the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) and the European University Association (EUA) heard.

One reason that should reassure universities is the difference between the students who study on campus and those who choose to study through MOOCs.…

ENSURING that costs of providing positive assurance are outweighed by benefits hinges on a good reporting framework that addresses relevant issues, a high powered debate on positive assurance on narrative reporting heard in Brussels, Belgium on September 26.

This was the view of Anthony Carey, of Mazars LLP and ICAS, speaking at an ICAS-FEE debate around issues concerning positive opinions provided by auditors on company managers’ narratives in annual reports.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has gone on the record and confirmed it is working on a legislative proposal to limit the use of plastic bags. Julius Langendorff, deputy head of unit at the directorate general for the environment said: “We are working on a proposal on plastic bags which we hope will see the light of day still this year,” he said, speaking at an event organised by the European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment (Europen) in Brussels on Wednesday.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has voted to reduce the support the European Union (EU) gives to the traditional biofuel sector, backing European Commission proposals to amend the renewable energy directive (2009/28/EC). MEPs agreed that the law should insist that first-generation biofuels (from long-standing sources, notably food crops) should not exceed 6% of EU energy consumption in transport by 2020, compared to the 10% target for all biofuels in the existing legislation.…

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project is looking for diagnostic markers that will help earmark medication treating complex diseases for specific groups of patients. The ‘Multi-layer network modules to identify markers for personalised medication in complex diseases’ (MULTIMOD) project has worked with translational clinical studies based on high-throughput genomics, advanced computing and systems biology.…