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AENEAS

AENEAS

AENEAS addresses high priority RDI areas providing key technological contributions in view of solving major European societal challenges.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Interim Evaluation of Digital Europe

19 Sept 2024

The Digital Europe programme is designed to bridge the gap between digital technology research and market deployment . Furthermore, according to the Chips Act, the Chips for Europe Initiative (i.e. Pillar I of the Chips Act, which is largely implemented by the Chips JU) shall support pilot lines for production, testing and validation bridging the gap from the lab to the fab of advanced semiconductor technologies. These pilot lines will most probably be set up, hosted and operated by consortia primarily or even only consisting of RTOs (Research and Technology Organisations). Once up and running, the pilot lines will be available to a wide range of public and private users such as start-ups, SMEs, large companies, universities and RTOs for the purpose of production, testing and validation. However, for truly bridging aforementioned gaps and ensuring effective technology transfer, this approach is not good enough: we believe it is crucial for each hosting consortium of such pilot lines to have collaborative Lab to Fab accelerator projects together with industry, complementing the set-up, integration and process development activities funded under Horizon Europe and the operational activities of the pilot line funded under the Digital Europe programme. To optimally address user requirements, these Lab to Fab accelerator projects should already begin in the set-up phase of the pilot lines. See attached file.
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Meeting with Tiemo Wölken (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur for opinion)

29 Sept 2022 · Chips Act

Meeting with Ivars Ijabs (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and INSIDE and European Technology Platform on Smart Systems Integration e.V. - EPoSS e.V.

11 May 2022 · Chips Joint Undertaking

Response to Europe’s digital decade: 2030 digital targets

9 Mar 2021

Convinced that we can contribute concretely to the digital transformation of Europe, AENEAS, ARTEMIS-IA and EPoSS, the three industry associations acting as the private members of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (JU), are eager to provide their joint feedback on the roadmap for the Digital Decade Communication. The digital transformation is driven by digital technologies, particularly including Electronic Components and Systems (ECS). The ECS domain is valued at €2 trillion worldwide and brings embedded intelligence to almost €5 trillion of industrial equipment, automotive, aero-defence and security systems. ECS also generate around €44 trillion of associated services, essentially through digital services. Therefore, almost 75% of world GDP depends on ECS, demonstrating the crucial importance for the strategic autonomy of Europe to master the key elements of this value chain. ECS also accounts for major employment in Europe, as well as significant research and innovation. The ECS value chain, starting from materials and semiconductor equipment developing the micro and nanoelectronics technologies adopted in electronic devices, modules and smart systems, requires capital intensive production facilities for hardware and systems integration as well as development of sophisticated software for systems and System of Systems. In our feedback, we are particularly focusing on two key issues identified in the roadmap for the Digital Decade Communication: i. Building the capacity to develop and deploy strategic cutting-edge digital technologies at sufficient scale, to empower and offer a wider choice to our society (point 4 on page 2); ii. Scaling up European capacities, develop and deploy critical technologies through Multi Country Projects, for which a simple and ready-to-use mechanism is allegedly lacking (second bullet point on page 4). In the ECS domain, both issues are actually being addressed by the following initiatives, each of which will be continued and extended during Europe’s Digital Decade: 1. The ECSEL Joint Undertaking, a Public-Private Partnership under Horizon 2020, with our three associations, the European Union (represented by the European Commission) and 29 Member States and Associated Countries to Horizon 2020 as its members. Thanks to its tri-partite approach, ECSEL has created a well-structured framework where the Union, participating states, industry (including SMEs), academia and research institutes work together to develop and implement a coherent European strategy for ECS. The efforts of ECSEL and its Lighthouses will be continued, extended and strengthened in the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking (KDT JU), to be set up as an institutionalised European Partnership under Horizon Europe. 2. The clusters PENTA on micro and nanoelectronics and EURIPIDES on smart electronic systems under the intergovernmental Eureka initiative for international R&D collaboration, both of which will be continued under the revitalised EUREKA Clusters Programme initiated by the Dutch Chairmanship, implemented by the Austrian Chairmanship and supported by our associations. 3. The IPCEI on Microelectronics (Important Project of Common European Interest), promoting innovation up to First Industrial Deployment. Approved at the end of 2018, the last sub-projects will be completed by 2024. On December 7, 2020, 20 Member States signed a joint declaration to work together to bolster Europe’s electronics and embedded systems value chain, where feasible through the Recovery and Resilience Funds, and to design a multi-country European Flagship Project by proposing a new IPCEI. Whereas our R&I efforts under the above initiatives will be guided by our common ECS SRIA 2021 and implemented in close partnership with public authorities, an Industrial Alliance on microelectronics is foreseen to ensure overall strategic coherence. We trust that the Digital Decade Communication will pay due attention to these initiatives.
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Response to Communication on the future of research and innovation and the European Research Area

31 Jul 2020

AENEAS, ARTEMIS-IA and EPoSS, the three industry associations acting as the private members of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (JU), very much welcome the European Commission’s intention to revitalise and reinforce the European Research Area (ERA). According to the roadmap proposed by the European Commission, the ERA will ”pull together all national and European efforts”, contribute to ”setting the direction for Member States and the Union to the delivery on their research, innovation and investment agendas”, help “combine EU and national research and innovation investment instruments” and be “crucial in supporting the development of coherent national agendas providing added value in realising critical mass and efficient allocation of resources”. Actually, this is precisely what ECSEL has been doing successfully in the domain of Electronic Components and Systems (ECS) since its establishment in 2014 as a Public-Public-Private Partnership on the basis of article 187 TFEU. In a unique tri-partite approach involving the European Commission (representing the Union), participating states (currently 25 Member States and 4 Associated Countries) and AENEAS, ARTEMIS-IA and EPoSS as the private partners representing R&I actors, public and private resources are combined. As a result, 1.2 B€ EU funding from Horizon 2020 will leverage 1.2 B€ national (and in some cases also regional) co-funding and 2.4B€ in-kind contributions from the R&I actors involved in ECSEL projects. This co-funding mechanism - in combination with ECSEL’s Multi-Annual Strategic Plan based on the pan-European Strategic Research Agenda for ECS developed by the three industry associations - is aligning European and national R&I efforts, thereby putting an end to fragmentation and effectively implementing the ERA in the ECS domain. See https://www.ecsel.eu/sites/default/files/2020-07/ECSEL%20JU%20Compendium%20-%2016%2007%202020%20Final%20%282%29.pdf. After 2020, it is the intention to basically continue this tri-partite approach in the envisaged institutionalised European Partnership on Key Digital Technologies (KDT). The stated objective of the KDT partnership is to reinforce Europe's potential to innovate through the contribution of electronic components and systems, including microsystems, software technologies, sub-assemblies, and systems of systems giving secure and trusted technologies to strategic value chains. It aligns R&I policies among its participating states to reach the critical mass needed for achieving Europe’s sovereignty through the tri-partite involvement of Member States, Associated Countries, the EU and R&I actors from industry and research. Key changes in the KDT partnership vis-à-vis ECSEL include: • An extension of the technological scope to related aspects of software and photonics, emerging computing technologies and flexible electronics; • A doubling of R&D efforts; • Strengthened collaboration with other partnerships and programmes; • An improved co-funding mechanism on the public side; • Measures for maximising impact; • Contributions to Europe’s green and digital transitions; • A broadened range of activities beyond research and innovation; • More synergies with other EU funding programmes; • A more effective governance. The full KDT partnership proposal will soon be made available on the European Commission’s website for “European Partnerships for Horizon Europe”. We are convinced that the ECSEL Joint Undertaking and the KDT partnership as its successor are both worth mentioning in the forthcoming ERA Communication, as prime examples of putting the ERA into practice.
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Response to European Partnership for Key Digital Technologies

26 Aug 2019

AENEAS, ARTEMIS-IA and EPoSS, the three industry associations being the private members of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (JU, see https://www.ecsel.eu), very much welcome the identification by the Commission – in close cooperation with the Member States – of a European Partnership for Key Digital Technologies (KDT) as a priority in the strategic planning for Horizon Europe. Within cluster 4 of its second pillar, we see a pivotal role for such European Partnership for KDT as the successor to the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (JU) after 2020. The new JU will not only strengthen European leadership in KDT, but applications of KDT will also be instrumental in addressing global challenges such as transport & smart mobility, health & wellbeing, energy, digital industry and digital life, as well as driving the digital transformation of Europe’s economy and society. Based on our favourable experiences with ECSEL, we expect the European Partnership for KDT to: • Leverage EU funding from Horizon Europe with co-funding from national, regional and other public sources, as well as in-kind contributions from R&I actors in a proven tri-partite approach; • Assemble the critical mass needed to make a real difference in this strategic domain; • Build a vibrant ecosystem involving large firms, SMEs, universities and institutes, fostering fruitful collaborations between industry sectors and along value chains, covering not only KDT technologies, but also their applications beyond the KDT industry; • Strengthen the global competitiveness of European KDT industry and ensure Europe’s sovereignty and autonomy by providing Europe’s other industries and markets with independent and unrestricted access to KDT; • Align European and national R&I efforts on KDT thanks to its co-funding mechanism and its industry-driven Multi-Annual Strategic Plan (MASP); To make the European Partnership for KDT even better than its predecessor ECSEL, we have the following suggestions: • Double the budget; • Foster synergies with other relevant European Partnerships and EU funding programmes by ensuring compatibility of the respective rules and modalities and making good use of Lighthouse Initiatives for building bridges to relevant projects in other programmes, including EUREKA clusters; • Simplify the co-funding mechanism, with more alignment of funding rates, procedures, timing and requirements between Participating States, as well as multi-annual financial commitments, a higher degree of central financial management, a single funding source for each beneficiary (instead of funding from both the JU and national/regional authorities), and single (instead of double or triple) reporting on activities and costs; • Increase efficiency by sharing back office tasks of the JU with other JUs. Furthermore, it makes sense to widen the scope – but only if EU and national/regional budgets for the new European Partnership for KDT get commensurate enlargements w.r.t. the ECSEL JU – to semiconductor-based integrated photonics, as well as selected software technologies (beyond embedded software) and their applications within the current domain of ECSEL to cover full value chains and networks. By and large, we very much support the Commission’s plans for a European Partnership on KDT as outlined in the Inception Impact Assessment. For detailed comments we refer to the attachment. As indicated therein, we have a strong preference for Option 3, because only an institutionalised European Partnership based on Article 187 TFEU will bring together the critical mass of public and private resources needed to ensure Europe’s competitiveness, sovereignty and autonomy in the strategic domain of KDT and act on the basis of an industry-driven, truly pan-European common strategy. A JU would create a long-term dedicated implementing structure representing the deepest level of integration, engagement and up-front commitment from public and private partners.
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Response to Targeted modification of the General Block Exemption Regulation in relation to the EU funding programmes

18 Feb 2019

Dear Sir/Madam, On behalf of AENEAS, I would like to submit the attached feedback on the proposed targeted modification of the General Block Exemption Regulation in relation to the EU funding programmes. Best regards, Caroline Bedran, Director General AENEAS
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