Brussels, 21/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - The first joint technological initiative (JTI), to be launched at the start of 2007, will be ARTEMIS. The ARTEMIS JTI will steer Europe's research in embedded computing systems, which are increasingly important for many key industrial sectors. This initiative will serve as a beacon for further such initiatives to follow. Industrial leaders and national and EU research experts met in Helsinki on Tuesday 21 November further discuss this new method of European research funding, and research priorities in information and communication technologies over the next seven years. In the new research framework programme, due to begin on 1st January 2007, information and communication technologies take the lion's share, with €9 billion or one sixth of the financial envelope of €54 billion available for the 2007-2013 period.
Over the coming years, JTIs are expected to become an important means of boosting Europe's innovative capacity, says a Commission press release. Under Article 171 of the Treaty, JTIs can be established as independent legal entities that pursue industry-driven research agendas. They can receive and manage funding from any source, including national, and Community funding and they remain open for other partners, public or private, to join in.
The ARTEMIS initiative will sustain Europe's world lead in embedded systems. European industry's own research investment in this field is estimated at around €15-20 billion per year. Today, nearly half of the 100 biggest European companies invest in embedded systems research, and most of the top 25 European research spenders rely on embedded systems for their products and services. The budget of the ARTEMIS initiative is expected to be around €3 billion over seven years, with more than 50% coming from industry, and the rest financed by the EU Member States and associated States involved and by the Commission. It is expected that the proposed mechanism will leverage €7 of overall R&D effort for every euro of Community contribution. ARTEMIS was established in June 2004 as a European Technology Platform, which to date comprises 17 major European companies, including Philips, Nokia, Thales, Daimler Chrysler and ST Microelectronics. Some 14 European governments have also expressed their desire to be involved in the planned ARTEMIS joint technology initiative. (oj)