Over the next 7 years, the EU will invest more than 22 billion euros to foster innovation in industry. This was announced by José Manuel Barroso, specifying how most of the investments will be destined to public-private partnerships in the fields of innovative medicines, aeronautics, bio-industries, fuel cells and hydrogen and electronics.
The European Union therefore aims to give new impetus to the competitiveness of the industry in sectors that provide more than 4 million jobs. “The EU must maintain a leading role in strategic technological sectors at global level which create high quality jobs” specified Barroso.
The technology initiatives, explains the Commission, are open to a wide range of industries across Europe, including SMEs, and all types of research organizations can apply for funding. The Innovative Medicines Initiative, which aims to develop new treatments and vaccines, is already underway; the Clean Sky joint technology initiative whose objective is to develop the use of clean and efficient technologies for transport by reducing CO2 emissions; the ITC on hydrogen and fuel cells. On electronics, two existing partnerships will be combined, while the ITC for bio-based industries is a new initiative.
Overall, thanks to investments of 8 billion euros proposed on the basis of the next EU research and innovation program (Horizon 2020), around 10 billion euros will be guaranteed by industry and almost 4 billion by the Member States of the EU.
Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, Commissioner for Research, underlined how initiatives of this kind “not only strengthen our economy but are an investment in a better quality of life. This partnership will enable us to address issues that no single company or country could address alone."
