Cornell University, the World Intellectual Property Organisation and graduate school INSEAD have released their findings on the world’s most innovative nations

And the one that won’t happen, at least for a while, is Murdoch-controlled News International’s minimum £12bn ($18.76bn) bid for complete control of UK-based satellite channel group BSkyB. The bid was withdrawn following general outrage after some of Murdoch’s British journalists hacked into the phones of celebrities and politicians.

The mega-merger that may not happen is the $39bn one between cellphone giants AT&T and T-Mobile USA. The parties reached agreement but the US justice department has sued to block it on anti-competitive grounds.

High-tech Singapore invaded Silicon Valley when the Acer computer group paid $395m for California’s iGware, a specialist in cloud technology, earlier this year.

In the latest step by Volkswagen boss Ferdinand Piech to topple Toyota as the world’s no. 1 automobile manufacturer, the group won official approval in late September to buy Munich-based truck-manufacturer MAN for $16.5bn.

Microsoft’s high-priced $8.5bn acquisition of Luxembourg-based Skype got the green light in October from the European Commission. However most analysts think Bill Gates’ old firm paid far too much.

In a rare Spanish takeover of a US company, family-controlled pharmaceutical group Grifols bought plasma specialist Talecris for $3.4bn in August.

China’s voracious appetite for energy assets saw a division of petro-chemical group Sinopec agree a $2.1bn all-cash purchase of Canada’s Daylight Energy in October.

The embattled Greek government heaved a sigh of relief when Alpha Bank and Eurobank EFG agreed to merge in August. Not only did it create an institution with €150bn ($216bn) in assets, it paved the way for similar exercises that should strengthen a beaten-up financial sector. The Athens stock market jumped 15 percent.