Competitiveness Council to discuss KETs, raw materials, ESA

The second meeting of the Competitiveness Council under the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union will take place in Brussels on 26 May 2014.

Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) are amongst the topics to be discussed. The EU strategy for KETs aims to close the innovation gap and to reverse the trend of deindustrialisation, to accelerate the rate of transfer, and use and exploit KETs in the EU to stimulate growth and jobs.

Significant progress has been made in adapting and aligning different European instruments to support of KETs deployment (in particular Horizon 2020, Structural Funds and the EIB) and work is also ongoing in support of SMEs’ specific needs as well as regarding the promotion of the required industrial skills. The Commission says implementation of the European Council Conclusions and of the EU strategy for KETs will require strengthened co-operation between the different industries, large companies and SMEs, and key stakeholders.

The meeting will also feature a revision of the EU list of Critical Raw Materials and the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials; a new list of critical raw materials for the EU will be adopted by the Commission on the same day and 20 raw materials are now considered critical by the EU. The list aims to contribute to the implementation of the EU industrial policy and to ensure that European industrial competitiveness is strengthened. It should also help to incentivise the European production of critical raw materials and facilitate the launching of new mining activities.

The Council will also adopt conclusions on the future of the EU’s relationship with the European Space Agency. Current council conclusions confirm the importance and the need for establishing appropriate, stable and transparent relations between the two organisations in order to maximise the impact of European investments in space and make the best use of competencies available in Europe.