PENTA – a new EUREKA cluster – has been launched with the ambition to stimulate up to €1.5billion of investment in research and development in the electronics components and systems industry. According to PENTA, it has already received guarantees for the first €500,000 of funding.
The organisation says it has been established to support the vision and strategy outlined by the Electronic Leaders Group (ELG). This 11 strong group was set up in 2013 in order to respond to the challenge laid down by Neelie Kroes, at the time vice president of the European Commission, for Europe to capture 20% of global semiconductor production within a decade. ELG produced its response in February 2014, suggesting Europe should focus on areas where it is strong, but also on emerging high growth areas, such as the IoT.
PENTA will run for five years, looking to complement and enhance the collaboration and contribution of the European industrial and technology organisations in the ECSEL Joint Technology Initiative. Initially focused on technology underpinning automotive, health and industrial productivity, PENTA says it will also address projects of common interest to industry and public authorities.
Outlining its vision, PENTA says industry needs a programme that is dedicated to micro and nanoelectronics, but which is complementary to and differentiated from ECSEL. It aims to be flexible and agile while taking advantage of European capabilities, with a special emphasis on enabling SMEs to bring new capability into the micro and nanoelectronics based systems markets.
Author
Graham Pitcher
Source: www.newelectronics.co.uk