Brussels, 18/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 18 September, the European Commission announced that together with industry and academia, they had agreed to launch a public private partnership (PPP) in robotics, to help Europe-based companies take a larger share of the €15.5 billion annual global robotics market. Representatives (Bernd Liepert, CEO at KUKA AG and president of EUROP (European Robotics Platform), and Herman Bruyninckx, Professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and coordinator at the European Robotics Research Network) joined European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes in signing a Memorandum of Understanding, the first step towards a PPP launch in 2013. The Commission believes that the future PPP will strengthen the EU robotics sector. Commissioner Neelie Kroes declared that “A strong robotics industry is key to Europe's future competitiveness. Growing our robotics industry means new jobs and a strong European manufacturing sector”.
Robotics is a key driver for Europe's growth and competitiveness. Three million jobs are created or maintained worldwide as a result of using one million industrial robots. Europe's robotics industry is highly successful, accounting for about a quarter of the global production in industrial robotics and a 50% market share in professional service robotics. According to the Commission the domestic and professional service robot markets are expected to grow by 40% in the coming years, with the strongest growth in rescue, security and professional cleaning applications. By 2020, service robotics could reach a market volume of more than €100 billion per year. The partnership aims to: 1) develop strategic goals for European robotics and foster their implementation; 2) improve the industrial competitiveness of Europe through innovative robotic technologies; 3) provide robotic products and services as key enablers to help solve Europe's societal challenges; 4) strengthen the networking activities of the European robotics community; 5) promote European robotics; 6) reach out to existing and new users and markets; 7) Contribute to policy development and address ethical, legal and societal issues.
The European Commission has funded more than 120 robotics research projects with around €600 million in the last five years. It also supports Robotics research through its research and innovation framework funding programmes. The European Parliament and Council are currently discussing the Commission's proposal for Horizon 2020, running from 2014 to 2020. According to a recent Eurobarometer study more than two-thirds of EU citizens (70%) have a positive view of robots; the majority agree that robots “are necessary as they can do jobs that are too hard or too dangerous for people" (88%) and that "they are a good thing for society because they help people” (76%). (IL/trans/fl)