FP9 needs stronger focus on industrial tech, experts say

The next EU Framework programme must provide more funding for Key Enabling Technologies, specialists have told Research Europe.

KETs—fields of technology that are expected to be important for economic growth—have a dedicated funding instrument under Horizon 2020: the Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies (LEIT) programme. But overall European funding for the KETs is insufficient and fragmented, said Leena Sarvaranta, vice-president of EU Affairs at VTT, Finland’s technical research centre.

“We still have the question of how to pool financial and other resources,” she said. “The different funding sources all have different rules, and the people running them need to think out of the box to look for new solutions. We also need some changes in the state aid rules.”