Europe must 'fight for high quality R&D on it soil', says MEDEA+ Chairman
The chairman of MEDEA+, a European, industry-initiated programme for advanced cooperative research and development (R&D) in microelectronics, has said that the renewal of publicly funded technology research programmes is critical if Europe wants to be in control of its own destiny. Speaking at the MEDEA+ Forum in Monaco, Arthur van der Poel said: 'European R&D in nano electronics today is at world class level, but if Europe wants to be in control of its own destiny, then Europe has to continue to fight for high quality R&D on European soil.' The chairman pointed to a number of breakthrough innovations and the key role played by MEDEA+ in both semi conductor process technology and EUV lithography. Now the programme is looking at automotive electronics and forms of low power and secure wireless communications systems. MEDEA+ started in January 2001 under the umbrella of EUREKA. It has as a focus 'system innovation on silicon for the e-economy', and will run until 2008. It channels both private and public funding into microelectronics R&D projects. A white paper on its future avatar, Beyond Medea+, is expected for the middle of 2007. The Beyond MEDEA+ programme is expected to be a part of a framework that also includes ENIAC, the European Technology Platform (ETP) for nano electronics and ARTEMIS, the ETP for embedded systems.