On Thursday 8 June, the European Commission approved an Important Project of Common European Interest - IPCEI ME/CT - which should help to strengthen European sovereignty in microelectronics and innovative communications technologies.
IPCEI ME/CT will support 68 innovative research and development projects at all stages of the value chain in the advanced microelectronics and new communications technologies sector.
No fewer than fourteen Member States are involved in the initiative and have prepared and notified the Commission of this IPCEI (Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain). They will provide up to €8.1 billion in public funding.
The Commission estimates that this aid could be used to unlock an additional €13.7 billion in private investment.
The institution also indicates that IPCEI ME/CT could support the creation of 8,700 direct jobs and numerous indirect jobs.
In addition, 30 participants from Belgium, Hungary, Latvia, Portugal, Slovenia and Norway, including research and innovation organisations, are involved in the IPCEI ME/CT ecosystem. The Commission has issued a reminder that, under the General Block Exemption Regulation, companies involved in this type of project can benefit from limited amounts of public aid that do not need to be notified to the Commission.
The IPCEIs include a “clawback” mechanism: the largest IPCEI projects that have a major impact on the market and receive high amounts of aid will repay part of the aid received if their projects prove to be very successful and generate additional net revenue.
Assessment by the Commission
The Commission found that the IPCEI ME/CT complied with European State aid rules and, more specifically, its 2021 Communication on IPCEIs.
In particular, the institution examined whether each of the projects was relevant and sufficiently innovative. Some of the projects were therefore not selected. However, the objectives and structure of the IPCEI remain unchanged from the initial project.
Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age and Commissioner for Competition, acknowledged that the Commission could do better, particularly with regard to the Code of Good Practices, a tool designed to guide stakeholders. The Commissioner pointed out that what had proved complicated for entrepreneurs was knowing what to expect, what data to provide and when, or how long the processes would take.
Margrethe Vestager welcomed the growing willingness of the Member States to participate in the IPCEIs, thanks in particular to the block exemptions by category. However, she pointed out that this creates complexity. She said that the European Commission had gained knowledge and expertise in evaluating IPCEIs, but that due to this complexity, the evaluation process would take some time anyway.
(Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)