Parliament votes to support ECSEL and AAL

The European Parliament has voted in favour of the new Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership (ECSEL) Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) and the Active and Assisted Living Research and Development Joint Programme (AAL).

ECSEL will lead to a Europe-wide research and development programme in the fields of nanoelectronics and smart and embedded systems. ECSEL replaces the ARTEMIS and ENIAC JTIs and will have a budget of over €4bn through the Innovation Investment Package (IIP); it will be part funded by Horizon 2020.

Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President with responsibility for the Digital Agenda, said: “The ECSEL Joint Undertaking is to provide a major opportunity to co-operate across Europe and leverage investments in the field. I welcome the strong emphasis on creating a Europe-wide research and innovation programme with an incentive for industry, member states and the EU.”

The AAL, which will also receive funding through the IIP, will receive a total budget of €350m and will run until 2020. It will address the challenges and opportunities of an ageing population through new ICT-based products and services. Research will be focus around six themes: medication adherence; fall prevention; frailty and malnutrition; integrated care; independent living; and age-friendly environments.

Kroes added: “The new AAL Programme will be closer to the market and will ensure that the results respond to actual user needs. It will have SME partners and greater user-involvement in each phase of each project. AAL will help having real products for the real needs.”