Joint partners in innovation
The Innovation Investment Package (IIP) is a €22bn investment in public private partnerships (PPPs), in the form of Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs), and public-public partnerships, known as joint programmes. The IIP sees the development of five JTIs, including two new PPPs on the bioeconomy and electronics, and four public-public partnerships, including the creation of a joint programme on metrology.
The JTIs will receive funding from Horizon 2020, estimated to be €8bn. A further €10bn will be sourced from industrial partners and an additional €4bn from EU member states. The public-public partnerships will also receive financing from the next framework programme. These joint initiatives between the European Commission and EU member states will receive a total budget of €3.5bn, with €1.5bn of financing sourced from Horizon 2020 and national governments contributing a further €2bn.
Changes
Addressing members of the European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) in Strasbourg, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, began by outlining the major modifications introduced to the JTIs since their first introduction under FP7.
“First, each JTI has clear and measurable objectives set out in the legal base. These are backed up with Key Performance Indicators, closely related to the challenges addressed. Second, there is a higher level of commitment from industry partners. This allows us to leverage more investment from the EU budget and enables the JTIs to bridge the gap between research and deployment.
“Third, we have introduced improved governance of the JTIs to ensure that they are open to new partners and new participants across Europe. In all cases, the majority of EU funding will be allocated through fully open, competitive calls.
“A fourth major change is simplification. All of the JTIs will follow the standard Horizon 2020 rules, with derogations kept to an absolute minimum. In addition, we have proposed a specific status for the JTIs under the new financial regulations that will make them more efficient.”
JTIs
The Commissioner continued by outlining the attributes of the five public private partnerships, which will receive a total budget of €17bn.
“The Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI2) JTI aims to get urgently needed next generation vaccines, medicines and treatments to patients faster. Specific objectives include a 30% better success rate in clinical trials of priority medicines identified by the World Health Organization; clinical proof of concept in immunological, respiratory, neurological and neurodegenerative diseases; and new antibiotics or new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.
“Fuel Cell and Hydrogen (FCH) technologies can make a major contribution to a low carbon society, but are still too expensive to compete with incumbent technology. The first generation initiative on FCH generated strong technical progress. The proposed successor will help bring down costs and improve performance so that the technologies can be successfully commercialised in many applications.
“Another strategic sector is aeronautics where strong co-operation between different countries has given Europe a leading edge. However, European aviation faces immense environmental and competitiveness challenges. The Clean Sky (CS) JTI has been very successful, with more than 500 organisations working together to make aviation cleaner. Now we are entering into the next, more challenging phase of this partnership. CS2 will develop and demonstrate new breakthrough technologies for the civil aircraft market to cut aircraft emissions and noise, and secure the industry’s future competitiveness.
“The Bio-based Industries (BBI) JTI … is a flagship of the European Bio-economy Strategy and updated Industrial Policy that aims to accelerate the transition towards a more resource efficient post-petroleum economy; boost regional growth and jobs, especially in rural areas; and increase the competitiveness of the European industries. This new JTI demonstrates the Commission’s conviction that the emerging sector of bio-based industries is a game-changer in the pursuit of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe. The JTI will generate the necessary momentum to unite world-beating European companies and researchers around new value chains that will make bio-based products a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels.
“The new Electronic Components and Systems (ECSEL) JTI will combine EU, national and industrial resources to cover the full electronics value chain and bridge the gap between research and deployment, through large scale projects and pilot lines for production. We are building on the lessons of the ARTEMIS and ENIAC JTIs, with a single partnership to cover hardware, embedded software and smart systems. That will make the programme easier, faster and more engaging and provide greater impact. The single initiative will strengthen the most important links in the value chain: namely design, manufacturing and integration in final products.”
Public-public partnerships
The public-public partnerships will aim to overcome “unnecessary overlap and fragmentation of public research and innovation efforts” according to the Commissioner. The joint programmes will focus on tackling key challenges facing European society as well as assisting the EU in remaining internationally competitive. Led by EU member states and associated countries, the partnerships will receive €3.4bn in funding. Member states will be placed at the heart of all aspects of the joint programmes, helping increase the impact of public research spending, whilst reducing overlap and fragmentation. Geoghegan-Quinn continued by outlining the details of the initiatives.
“The first European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) (2003-2012) have so far supported 88 clinical trials in Sub-Saharan Africa involving collaboration between experts from Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. New and better treatments for HIV/AIDS and malaria have been developed, especially for newborns, children, pregnant women and nursing mothers. Following this successful collaboration, EDCTP2 will have a broader scope, supporting the full clinical development of medical products against any poverty-related disease.
“The Eurostars initiative has addressed the needs of research performing SMEs and brought together resources from national programmes. Eurostars 2 will pursue the same objectives with a reinforced partnership, involving even more SMEs, particularly those new to transnational research. The new initiative will also usher in greater harmonisation and synchronisation of national programmes. Eurostars 2 will complement Horizon 2020’s other measures for innovative SMEs, notably the new SME Instrument and the financial instruments.
“The proposed European Programme for Metrology Research and Innovation (EMPIR) aims to integrate 50% of the research of National Metrology Institutes in Europe into a single initiative, with 28 participating countries. EMPIR will strengthen European leadership in providing measurement solutions to support industrial competitiveness and help solve societal challenges such as in health, environment and energy.
“The Active and Assisted Living Programme (AAL), which is under the responsibility of Commissioner Neelie Kroes, is a good example of how digital innovations can help older people stay independent and active for longer, while stimulating growth, jobs and European leadership. Member states, the EU and companies, especially small companies, are joining forces on new ideas for ageing well. This is the fast lane to a thriving market, with new products meeting European needs.”
The renewed AAL joint programme will be scaled up, given a wider scope, and financial support will be made more quickly available.
The ITRE committee will now debate the proposed partnerships with the hopeful adoption before the end of the year. It is expected all the partnerships will start in 2014.
