Analysis calls for infrastructures to be mapped and for a dedicated funding programme
The EU needs to better coordinate its support for technology infrastructures, according to an analysis carried out for the European Commission.
Led by the consultancy Technopolis, the analysis defines technology infrastructures as “the facilities, equipment, capabilities (physical or virtual) and associated support services required to develop, test and upscale technologies…to support technology maturation from validation in a laboratory to competitive market entry”.
These infrastructures are “essential enablers” of the EU’s strategic technology, says the analysis report, which was published on 17 September. They have been recognised by priority action 12 of the European Research Area policymaking initiative as being particularly important for the green and digital transitions in industrial ecosystems.
But there is “fragmentation” of relevant policies across Europe, a “lack of maturity of the technology infrastructures concept”, “only a few mappings or inventories of existing technology infrastructures” and “often no overarching coordination mechanism to oversee investments in technology infrastructures in Europe”, the report says.
It recommends fostering “European-scale collaboration” on such mapping, governance and definitions, and it calls for a dedicated EU funding scheme to support “large-scale” investments in technology infrastructures, as well as the alignment of funding rules to allow funding from different sources to be combined.
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