Brussels, 21/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has endorsed a report by a panel of independent experts which calls on EU industry and member states to reinforce their support for ARTEMIS and ENIAC, two public-private partnerships (established as joint undertakings) for collaborative research in the fields of nanoelectronics and embedded systems (used widely in cars, smart phones, power plants and other applications). The experts concluded that the current partnership model is good for industry, good for member states and good for Europe. However, they also found that more financial resources are needed from EU member states and that industry needs to demonstrate a stronger commitment towards a European strategy if ARTEMIS and ENIAC are to realise their full potential. The commissioner responsible for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, said that “to continue European success in nanoelectronics and embedded systems we will need to pool more resources. Industry and EU member states need to invest twice as much in the next three years as they have so far if we wish to accomplish our initial ambitions of €2.5-3 billion programmes”.
Established in 2008, these partnerships commit industry, 23 EU member states, Norway, and the EU to pool financial resources and jointly implement European research agendas on embedded systems and nanoelectronics which strengthen Europe's future growth, competitiveness and sustainable development. ARTEMIS and ENIAC run projects, which help address societal challenges such as environment protection, energy efficiency, health, communication, transport and lifestyle. To date, ARTEMIS and ENIAC have launched 43 projects. For example, they have invested a total of €150 million (of which €65 million comes from public funding) in 8 projects which target energy efficiency improvements across various technologies and applications. The report notes that the EU and the joint undertakings' member states together have so far committed €576 million across the two partnerships, well short of the €900 million initially forecast to meet the objectives of the partnerships between 2008 and 2010. The Commission acknowledges the experts' recommendations and will take immediate action with the other parties to achieve the original objectives of ARTEMIS and ENIAC in strategic and financial terms. (I.L./transl.fl)