Jan 17 2014
The 63 ENIAC Joint Undertaking projects arising from 9 open and competitive calls for R&D proposals in nanoelectronics reach a total of 2.86 billion euro in eligible costs. They are supported by 490 million euro national and 444 million euro ENIAC JU contributions. The ENIAC JU reinvested its administrative cost savings into R&D therefore exceeding by 1% the initial budgetary allocation foreseen in the Council Regulation No 72/2008.
The ENIAC JU was established in 2008 to implement the Joint Technology Initiative on nanoelectronics within the specific programme “Cooperation” of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Union. Consequently, 2013 was the last year in which it could award grants. The specificity of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking consists in its three-way funding scheme: the private sector expenditures are partially reimbursed by the national funding authorities and the JU. The members of the ENIAC JU are the “Association for European Nanoelectronics Activities” (AENEAS) representing the industry at large, the Union - represented by the European Commission - and the 22 ENIAC member States. Four more countries participate in the projects without being members of the JU.
The ENIAC JU successfully established a framework and a mode of operation in which the whole nanoelectronics ecosystem could contribute towards the common objective of increasing investments in this key enabling technology (KET) with unparalleled systemic and strategic impact. The participating organizations include large enterprises (24%), medium sized and small enterprises (45%), as well as research institutes and academia (31%).
Andreas Wild, the Executive Director of the ENIAC JU said: “Once our members successfully aligned their objectives and strategies, we could demonstrate the added value of a small independent entity capable to act quickly upon new challenges and opportunities. For example, after the High-Level Experts Group on KETs issued its final report in June 2011, the ENIAC JU immediately pioneered the pilot line concept, executing two dedicated calls for proposals. With almost 1.8 billion euro engaged in 14 pilot line projects within two years, the ENIAC JU became a leading mechanism in implementing KET policies in Europe.”
The ENIAC JU will continue overlooking the execution of all launched projects until its merger with the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking (on embedded systems) and the European Technology Platform EPoSS (on smart system integration) planned to take place in 2014 under the Horizon 2020 programme. The future “Electronic Components and System for European Leadership” (ECSEL) Joint Undertaking will then take over the ENIAC JU legacy projects and will launch new calls. The ECSEL JU will further strengthen the impact of the Joint Technology Initiatives; its expanded scope will drive further increases in KET investments to ensure the competitiveness and sustainability of the European industry resulting in growth and jobs.