1. LEADERSHIP IN ENABLING AND INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES

The successful mastering, integration and deployment of enabling technologies by European industry is a key factor in strengthening Europe's productivity and innovation capacity and ensuring Europe has an advanced, sustainable and competitive economy, global leadership in high-tech application sectors and the ability to develop effective and sustainable solutions for societal challenges taking into account, inter alia, user needs. Innovation activities will be combined with R&D, as an integral part of the funding. A major component of the specific objective 'Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies' are Key Enabling Technologies (KETs), defined as micro- and nanoelectronics, photonics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, advanced materials and advanced manufacturing systems. Many innovative products incorporate several of these technologies simultaneously, as single or integrated parts. While each technology offers technological innovation, the accumulated benefit from the numerous interactions of KETs and other industrial enabling technologies and their combinations can also lead to technological leaps. Tapping into cross-cutting key enabling technologies will enhance product competitiveness and impact, stimulate growth and jobs and provide new opportunities to tackle societal challenges. The numerous interactions of these technologies will therefore be exploited. Dedicated support will be provided for larger-scale pilot line and demonstrator projects to be implemented in various environments and conditions. This will include KETs and cross-cutting KET (multi KETs) activities that bring together and integrate various individual technologies, resulting in technology validation in an industrial environment to a complete and qualified system, ready or close to enter the market. Strong private sector involvement in such activities and the demonstration of how project results will contribute to market value for the Union will be a prerequisite, and implementation could therefore take the form of public-private partnerships. To this extent and through the Horizon 2020 implementation structure, a joint work programme for cross-cutting KET activities will be developed. Taking into account market needs and the requirements of the societal challenges, it will aim at providing generic KETs and multi KETs building blocks for different application areas, including societal challenges. In addition, synergies will be sought, where appropriate, between KET activities and the activities under the cohesion policy framework in the context of national and regional R&I strategies for smart specialisation, as well as with the EIT, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and, where appropriate, with the Member States driven activities under the Joint Programming Initiatives. Innovation activities will include the integration of individual technologies; demonstrations of capacities to make and deliver innovative products, systems, processes and services; user and customer pilots to prove feasibility and added value; and large-scale demonstrators to facilitate market take-up of the research results. Adequate focus will be given to small and medium scale projects. Furthermore, implementation under this Part will encourage the involvement of small and medium-sized research teams, also contributing to a more active participation of SMEs. Various individual technologies will be integrated, resulting in technology validation in an industrial environment to a complete and qualified system, ready for the market. Strong private sector involvement in such activities will be a prerequisite, including public-private partnerships. Demand-side actions will complement the technology push of the research and innovation initiatives. These include making the best use of public procurement of innovation; developing appropriate technical standards and technical activities in support of standardisation and regulation; private demand and engaging users to create more innovation-friendly markets. For nanotechnology and biotechnology in particular engagement with stakeholders and the general public will aim to raise the awareness of benefits and risks. Safety assessment and the management of overall risks in the deployment of these technologies will be systematically addressed. Where appropriate, social sciences and humanities will contribute to taking into account user needs preferences and acceptance as well as ensuring societal engagement and informed consumers' choice. The activities supported under this specific objective will complement support for research and innovation in enabling technologies, which may be provided by national or regional authorities under the Cohesion Policy Funds, within the framework of smart specialisation strategies. This specific objective shall, as part of the funding of actions, also support technology transfer activities (both at national and regional level), including the development of international and regional innovation clusters, to promote more effective linkages between universities and the industry. Strategic international cooperation initiatives will be pursued in areas of mutual interest and benefit with leading partner countries. Of particular, but not exclusive, interest for enabling and industrial technologies are: access to world-leading scientific and technological expertise; the development of global standards; the removal of bottlenecks in industrial exploitation, R&D collaboration and conditions for trade; the safety of nanotechnology-based and biotechnology-based products and the long-term impact of their use; the development of materials and methods to reduce energy and resource consumption; industry-led, collaborative international initiatives within the manufacturing community; and the interoperability of systems. A number of activity lines will target ICT industrial and technological leadership challenges along the whole value chain and cover generic ICT research and innovation agendas, including notably: The objective is to maintain and reinforce European leadership in technologies related to advanced, embedded, energy-and resource-efficient and robust components and systems. It also includes micro-nano-bio systems, organic electronics, large area integration, underlying technologies for the Internet of Things (IoT) Internet of Things will be coordinated as a cross-cutting issue. , including platforms to support the delivery of advanced services, sensors, smart integrated systems, embedded and distributed systems, systems of systems and complex systems engineering. The objective is to leverage European assets in processor and system architecture, interconnect and data localisation technologies, cloud computing, parallel computing, modelling and simulation software for all market segments, including engineering applications (such as uncertainty quantification, risk analysis and decision in engineering). The objective is to reinforce the competitiveness of European industry in developing, mastering and shaping the next generation Internet that will gradually replace and surpass the current Web, fixed and mobile networks and service infrastructures, and enable the interconnection of trillions of devices (IoT) across multiple operators and domains that will change the way we communicate, access and use knowledge. This includes R&I on networks, software, processes and services, cyber security, privacy, reliability and trust, wireless Including space-based networks. communication and all optical networks, immersive interactive multimedia and the connected enterprise of the future. The objective is to strengthen Europe's position as provider of products and services based on individual and business creativity. It will do so by providing professionals and citizens with new tools to create, access, exploit, preserve and re-use all forms of digital content in any language and to model, analyse and visualise vast amounts of data (big data), including linked data. This includes new technologies for arts, language, learning, interaction, digital preservation, web design, content access, analytics and media; and intelligent and adaptive information management systems based on advanced data mining, machine learning, statistical analysis and visual computing technologies. The objective is to reinforce European scientific and industrial leadership in industrial and service robotics, cognitive and communicative systems, advanced interfaces and smart spaces, and sentient machines, building on increases in computing and networking performance and progress in the ability to design and build systems that can learn, self-assemble, adapt and react or that optimise human-machine interactions. Where appropriate, the systems developed and advancements in the state of the art should be validated in real-world environments. The objective is to take advantage of the excellence of Europe in these key enabling technologies and support and further enhance the competitiveness and market leadership of its industry. Activities will also include research and innovation on design, advanced processes, pilot lines for fabrication, related production technologies and demonstration actions to validate technology developments and innovative business models as well as underlying next generation technologies exploiting advances in quantum physics. These six major activity lines are expected to cover the full range of needs taking into account the competitiveness of European industry on a global scale. These would include industrial leadership in generic ICT-based solutions, products and services needed to tackle major societal challenges as well as application-driven ICT research and innovation agendas which will be supported together with the relevant societal challenge. In view of the ever increasing advancement of technology in all areas of life, the interaction between humans and technology will be important in this respect, and part of the application-driven ICT research mentioned above. Research with a user-centred perspective will contribute to the development of competitive solutions. Included under each of these six major activity lines are also ICT-specific research infrastructures, such as living labs for experimentation, and infrastructures for underlying key enabling technologies and their integration in advanced products and innovative smart systems, including equipment, tools, support services, clean rooms and access to foundries for prototyping. This should be implemented in a way that ensures complementarity and consistency with the specific objective "Research infrastructures" under the priority "Excellent Science". Activities will support research and development of ICT systems in full respect of the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons and in particular their right to privacy. Development and integration of knowledge of nanoscale phenomena at the cross-roads of different scientific disciplines, aiming at fundamentally new products and systems enabling sustainable solutions in a wide range of sectors. Advancing scientific knowledge of the potential impact of nanotechnologies on health or on the environment for pro-active, science-based governance of nanotechnologies, and providing validated scientific tools, methods and platforms for hazard, exposure and risk assessment and management along the entire life cycle of nanomaterials and nanosystems, including standardisation issues. Addressing the human and physical needs of nanotechnology deployment and focusing on governance of nanotechnology for societal and environmental benefit, including communication strategies to ensure social engagement. Focusing on new flexible, scalable and repeatable unit operations, smart integration of new and existing processes, including technology convergence such as nanobiotechnology, as well as up-scaling to enable sustainable high precision large-scale production of products and flexible and multi-purpose plants that ensure the efficient transfer of knowledge into industrial innovation. Focusing on the underpinning technologies, supporting the development and market introduction of safe complex nanomaterials and nanosystems, including nanometrology, characterisation and manipulation of matter at the nano-scale, modelling, computational design and advanced engineering at the atomic level. Research on materials by design, functional materials, multifunctional materials with higher knowledge content, new functionalities and improved performance, such as self-repairing or biocompatible materials, self-assembling materials, novel magnetic materials and structural materials, for innovation in all industrial sectors, particularly for high value markets, and including the creative industries. Research and development to ensure efficient, safe and sustainable development and scale-up to enable industrial manufacturing of future design-based products towards a "no-waste" management of materials in Europe, e.g. in the metal, chemical or biotechnological industries, and to improve the understanding of material degradation mechanisms (wear, corrosion and mechanical reliability). Research and development for new and innovative techniques for materials, components and systems, joining, adhesion, separation, assembly, self-assembly and the disassembling, decomposition and deconstruction of material components, and management of life-cycle costs and environmental impacts through novel use of advanced materials technology. Developing new products and applications, business models and responsible consumer behaviour that increase the use of the renewable resources for sustainable applications, reduce energy demand in the product's entire life cycle and facilitate low-emission production, as well as process intensification, recycling, depollution, materials for energy storage and materials with potential for high added value from waste and remanufacture. Applying design and the development of converging technologies to create new business opportunities, including the preservation and restoration of Europe's heritage and materials with historical or cultural value, as well as novel materials. Promoting technologies such as characterisation, non-destructive evaluation, continuous assessing and monitoring and predictive modelling of performance for progress and impact in materials science and engineering. Research and development to investigate substitution and alternatives to the use of materials, including addressing the challenge of raw materials through tailor-made materials or the substitution of scarce, critical or dangerous materials, and innovative business model approaches and identification of critical resources. The objective is to lay the foundations for the European industry to stay at the front line of innovation, also in the medium and long term. It encompasses the development of emerging technology areas such as synthetic biology, bioinformatics and systems biology, as well as exploiting the convergence with other enabling technologies such as nanotechnology (e.g. bionanotechnology), ICT (e.g. bioelectronics) and engineering technology. These and other cutting-edge fields deserve appropriate measures in terms of research and development to facilitate effective transfer and implementation into new applications. The objective is twofold: on the one hand, enabling the European industry (e.g. chemical, health, mining, energy, pulp and paper, fibre-based products and wood, textile, starch, and food processing industries) to develop new products and processes meeting industrial and societal demands using preferably environmentally friendly and sustainable production methods and competitive and enhanced biotechnology-based alternatives to replace established ones; on the other hand, harnessing the potential of biotechnology for detecting, monitoring, preventing and removing pollution. It includes R&I on novel enzymes with optimised biocatalyst functions, enzymatic and metabolic pathways, industrial scale bio-process design, integration of bio-processes in industrial production processes, advanced fermentation, up- and down-stream processing, and gaining insight on the dynamics of microbial communities. It will also encompass the development of prototypes for assessing the techno-economic feasibility as well as the sustainability of the developed products and processes. The objective is to develop platform technologies (e.g. genomics, meta-genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, molecular tools, expression systems, phenotyping platforms and cell-based platforms) triggering leadership and competitive advantage on a wide number of economic sectors having econonomic impact. It includes aspects such as underpinning the development of bio-resources with optimised properties and applications beyond conventional alternatives; enabling exploration, understanding and exploitation in a sustainable manner of terrestrial and marine biodiversity for novel applications, bio-based products and processes; and sustaining the development of biotechnology-based healthcare solutions (e.g. diagnostics, biologicals, and bio-medical devices). Promoting sustainable industrial growth by facilitating a strategic shift in Europe from cost-based manufacturing to an approach based on the creation of high added value products and ICT-enabled intelligent and high performance manufacturing in an integrated system. This requires addressing the challenge of producing more, while consuming less material, using less energy and generating less waste and pollution aiming at high ecological efficiency. The focus will be on the development and integration of the adaptive production systems of the future, with particular emphasis on the needs of European SMEs, in order to achieve advanced and sustainable manufacturing systems and processes. Focus shall also be on methodologies for enhancing flexible, safe and smart production where adequate levels of automation are applied in worker-friendly environments. Reducing energy consumption and CO_(2) emissions by the development and deployment of sustainable construction technologies and systems and by the implementation and replication of measures for an increased uptake of energy-efficient systems and materials in new, renovated and retrofitted buildings. Life-cycle considerations and the growing importance of design-build-operate concepts will be key factors in addressing the challenge of a transition to near-zero-energy buildings in Europe by 2020 and the realisation of energy-efficient districts through the engagement of the wide stakeholder community. Increasing the competitiveness of process industries, such as chemical, cement, pulp and paper, glass, minerals or non-ferrous metals and steel industries, by drastically improving resource and energy efficiencies and reducing the environmental impact of such industrial activities. Focus will be on the development and validation of enabling technologies for innovative substances, materials and technological solutions for low-carbon products and less energy-intensive processes and services along the value chain, as well as on the adoption of ultra-low carbon production technologies and techniques, to achieve specific greenhouse gas emission intensity reductions. Cross-sectoral cooperation in concepts and methodologies for knowledge-based, specialised production can boost learning in organisations, creativity and innovation with a focus on business models in customised approaches that can adapt to the requirements of globalised value chains and networks, changing markets, and emerging and future industries. This includes addressing sustainable business models by covering the whole lifecycle of the product and process. In the field of space research, action at Union level will be carried out in conjunction with the space research activities of the Member States and the European Space Agency (ESA), aiming at building up complementarity among different actors. The objective is to maintain a globally leading role in space by safeguarding and further developing a cost-effective, competitive and innovative space industry (including SMEs) and research community and by fostering space-based innovation. Europe is playing a leading role in space research and in the development of space technologies and is continually developing its own operational space infrastructures (e.g. the Galileo programme and the Copernicus programme). In fact, European industry has established itself as an exporter of first class satellites and other space-related technologies. Nevertheless, this position is challenged by competition from other major space powers. The objective of this measure is the development of a research base by providing continuity in space research and innovation programmes, for example by a sequence of smaller and more frequent in-space demonstration projects. This will allow Europe to develop its industrial base and space research and technological development (RTD) community, thereby contributing to advancing beyond the current state of the art and to its non-dependence from imports of critical technologies. Standardisation should be supported in order to optimise the investments and to develop access to market. A number of challenges in space technologies have parallels to terrestrial challenges, for example in the fields of aeronautics, energy, environment, telecommunications and ICT, natural resource exploration, sensors, robotics, advanced materials, security and health. These commonalities offer opportunities for early co-development, in particular by SMEs, of technologies across space and non-space communities, including non-space industries, potentially resulting in breakthrough innovations more rapidly than achieved in spin-offs at a later stage. Exploitation of existing European space infrastructure should be stimulated by promoting the development of innovative products and services based on remote sensing, geo-positioning or other types of satellite enabled data. Europe should furthermore reinforce the incipient development of an entrepreneurial space sector, where appropriate, by well targeted measures, including support for space technology transfer initiatives. The objective is to develop advanced and enabling space technologies and operational concepts from idea to demonstration in space. The ability to access space and to develop, maintain and operate space systems in Earth orbit and beyond are vital to the future of European society. The necessary capabilities require research and innovation investments in a multitude of space technologies (e.g. for launchers and other vehicles, satellites, robotics, instruments and sensors) and in operational concepts from idea to demonstration in space. Europe is currently one of the three leading space powers mainly driven by investments by Member States through ESA and national programmes, but compared to the level of investment in space R&D in the United States (e.g. about 20 % of the total NASA budget) the European focus in future space technologies and applications needs to be strengthened along the entire chain: low technology readiness level (TRL) research, often relying heavily on key enabling technologies, with the potential of generating breakthrough technologies with terrestrial applications; improvement of existing technologies, e.g. through miniaturisation, higher energy efficiency, and higher sensor sensitivity; demonstration and validation of new technologies and concepts in the space and terrestrial analogue environments; mission context, e.g. analysis of the space environment, ground stations, protecting space systems and infrastructure against damage or destruction from collision with debris or other space objects, as well as the effects of space weather events including solar flares (Space Situational Awareness, SSA), fostering innovative data gathering and transmission and sample archiving infrastructure; satellite communication, advanced navigation and remote sensing technologies, covering the research essential for future generations of Union space systems (e.g. Galileo and Copernicus). The objective is to ensure more extensive utilisation of space data from existing, archived and future European missions in the scientific, public and commercial domain. Space systems produce information which often cannot be acquired in any other way. Despite world-class European missions, publication figures show that data from European missions are not as likely to be used as data from US missions. A considerably increased exploitation of data from European satellites (scientific, public or commercial) can be achieved if further effort is made for the processing, archiving, validation, standardisation and sustainable availability of space data from European missions as well as to support the development of new information products and services resulting from those data and, where appropriate, in combination with data from ground-based observations. Innovations in data acquisition and processing, data fusion, and data dissemination and interoperability, in particular promotion of access to and exchange of earth science data and metadata, utilising also innovative ICT-enabled forms of collaboration, can ensure a higher return on investment of space infrastructure and contribute to tackling societal challenges. Calibration and validation of space data (for individual instruments, between instruments and missions, and with respect to in-situ objects) are key factors in the efficient use of space data in all domains, and there is a need to enhance the standardisation of space-derived data and reference frames. Data access and exploitation of space missions is a matter that requires global coordination. For Earth observation data, harmonised approaches and best practices are partly achieved in coordination with the intergovernmental organisation Group on Earth Observation (GEO), aiming to sustain a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), in which the Union participates, namely by fully exploiting the Copernicus programme. A fast introduction of these innovations into the relevant application and decision making processes will be supported. This includes as well the exploitation of data for further scientific investigation. The objective is to support the European research and innovation contribution to long term international space partnerships. Although space information provides great local benefits, space undertakings have a fundamentally global character. This is particularly clear for the cosmic threat to Earth and space systems. The loss of satellites due to space weather and space debris is estimated to cost around EUR 100 million a year. Equally global are many space science and exploration projects. The development of cutting-edge space technology is increasingly taking place within such international partnerships, making access to such international projects an important success factor for European researchers and industry. The Union contribution to such global space endeavours needs to be defined in long-term strategic roadmaps (10 years and more), aligning with the Union's space policy priorities, and in coordination with the Member States and internal European partners, such as ESA and National Space Agencies, and, when relevant, with international partners and with the space agencies of space-faring nations. The implementation priorities of space research and innovation under Horizon 2020 are in line with the Union's space policy priorities as defined by the Space Council and in the Commission Communication of 4 April 2011 entitled "Towards a space strategy for the European Union that benefits its citizens". The implementation will, where appropriate, be based on strategic research agendas developed in consultation with the Member States and National Space Agencies, ESA, stakeholders from European space industry (including SMEs), academia, technology institutes and the Space Advisory Group. As regards the participation in international undertakings, the research and innovation agenda will be defined in collaboration with European stakeholders and international partners (e.g. NASA, ROSCOSMOS and JAXA). The application of space technologies shall be supported through the respective specific objectives of the priority "Societal challenges", where appropriate.

← PART II · All articles · General →

Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.