Commission approves State aid: German electronics; UK and Belgian renewable energy investment
The Commission has approved State aid for German electronics research schemes and RTD in renewable energy in Belgium and the UK: - Germany: Research aid programme "Electronisches Auge" to establish a new highly-advanced technical concept of the electronic eye. Research activities are aimed at new information processing architectures and the combination of biologically inspired, neural processing methods with conventional image and signal processing (State Aid No N658/93). The scheme has a budget of ECU 23 million to 1996, with aid intensity of up to 50% for basic research (+10% in the case of SMEs, or companies in the former GDR, +15% for SMEs in the former GDR). - Germany: Aid for microsystems technology "Mikrosystemtechnik Bayern" to support RTD to create the conditions of technology and systems engineering required for the use of microtechnology in new products. The scheme, with a budget of ECU 18 million to 1998, finances basic industrial research and applied research and development in microsystems technologies. Projects must be carried out on the basis of close cooperation between several firms or firms and research institutes which all should have their seat in Bavaria (State Aid No N642/93). The maximum aid intensity is of 50% for basic industrial research and 25% for applied research (+10% in the case of SMEs). - United Kingdom: A renewable energy RTD scheme including programmes concerned with bioenergy, energy from waste, wind, solar, geothermal and tidal power to aid fundamental, basic industrial and applied research. The scheme aims to increase the understanding of the potential of technologies which remain promising but uncertain (State aid No NN56/93). The budget for 1993-1994 is ECU 20.9 million, with aid intensities up to 50% for basic industrial research and 25% for applied research. - Belgium (Wallonia): Renewable energy initiative to support investments favouring the use of renewable energy from solar, wind, hydraulic, non-polluting waste treatment, or biomass sources. The aim of the scheme is to encourage enterprises in the region of Wallonia to use such energy sources, entirely or in part (State aid No 3/93). Aid is limited to a maximum intensity of 15% of the investment concerned.
Paesi
Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom