EUREKA Ministerial Conference - June 1997
The 15th session of the EUREKA Ministerial Conference was held in London on 19 June 1997. The conference marked the end of the UK's year-long presidency of the EUREKA initiative. Ministers approved the entry of Romania to the initiative, bringing the number of members to 25 countries, plus the European Commission. Commissioner Edith Cresson addressed the Conference, calling for greater cooperation between EUREKA and the Community's Framework Programme, as well as with COST. In the context of the preparations for the Fifth Framework Programme, she outlined a number of areas where such cooperation could take place. The proposed key actions, she suggested, would be ideal for developing projects in areas such as biotechnology, aeronautics, electronic commerce and microelectronics. In particular, she said, EUREKA would play an important role in bringing the results of such projects to the market. The Conference approved a batch of 164 new projects, with a total estimated cost of ECU 600 million. This latest batch of projects brings the number of on-going EUREKA projects to 668. A further 511 projects have been completed in the 12 years of EUREKA's existence. The whole project portfolio is worth over ECU 16.7 billion in total costs. EUREKA has successfully generated over 100 projects in every year of the 1990s, despite the economic downturn throughout the continent in that period. Projects range from big multi-billion (ECU) electronics initiatives such as JESSI, completed in 1996, which gave Europe's microelectronics industry a major boost, to small-scale cross-border feasibility studies involving two or three SMEs. The participation of SMEs has been particularly encouraging in recent years, with around 40% of on-going projects involving SMEs. The 1997 Annual Impact Report, prepared by an independent panel, was presented to the Conference. This shows that EUREKA projects normally produce good to excellent technological results, but that translating them into commercial success is much harder, and dependent on external socio-economic, cultural or economic factors. However, the success rate of almost two in three shows the value of the initiative. The Ministerial Conference gave the 1997 Lillehammer Award jointly to two projects which have demonstrated substantial environmental benefits. These are: DEPOSA, which developed a new non-woven fabric using polylactides; and CLAIR, a new plasma cleaning process using activated ozone in place of toxic chemicals. To ensure that European companies are not disadvantaged through being unable to cooperate with non-European companies, EUREKA has taken steps during the UK's presidency to change its rules on participation. Following the wishes of the business community, companies will be encouraged to collaborate with the best in the world. Other changes have been made to make EUREKA's procedures more simple and user-friendly. These changes will be implemented under the Portuguese presidency, which will chair EUREKA for the next year.