Council gives green light to Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Agreement
EU Member States have given the green light to the agreement on research and development activities in the field of intelligent manufacturing systems (IMS). The decision was adopted at a recent meeting of the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council. The IMS initiative aims to encourage researchers from the participating countries (the EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, South Korea, Japan, Switzerland and the USA) to work together on projects designed to boost industrial competitiveness and develop advanced manufacturing technologies. 'The agreement is a framework which allows researchers to come together to do collaborative research worldwide,' explained Dr Erastos Filos of the European IMS Secretariat, which is jointly managed by the European Commission's Directorates General for Research and Information Society and Media. The system also provides an effective system for the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), making it particularly attractive for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) keen to collaborate with international partners. Under the scheme, each signatory is responsible for funding its own researchers. The scheme's first cycle finished in 2005, and the new agreement will have a duration of ten years.
Countries
Australia, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, Norway, United States