EU Grants USD 2 Billon Microelectronics Project in Major IoT Push

European Union, recently,  approved and granted 1.75 billion euros ($2 billion) to a microelectronics project among EU countries led by France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, Reuters reported.

The project is expected to be completed by 2024 and further said to attract private sector investments of 6 billion euros.

Headquartered both in and outside the EU, a total of 29 companies and research organizations including Robert Bosch, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, Osram, Carl Zeiss, GlobalFoundries and Murata will be part of the effort, carrying out 40 closely interlinked sub-projects.

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said, “Innovation in microelectronics can help the whole of Europe leap ahead in innovation. That’s why it makes sense for European governments to come together to support such important projects of common European interest if the market alone would not take the risk.”

The project focuses on five different technology areas:

1. Energy efficient chips to reduce the energy consumption of electronic devices including those installed in cars
2. Power semiconductor for smart appliances as well as for electric and hybrid vehicles
3. Smart sensors to further help improve car safety through more reliable and timely reaction to allow a car to change lanes or avoid an obstacle
4. Advanced optical equipment
5. Compound materials to find an alternative to silicon-based material for advanced chips 

"The project's overall objective is to enable research and develop innovative technologies and components (e.g. chips, integrated circuits, and sensors) that can be integrated in a large set of downstream applications. These include consumer devices, for example, home appliances and automated vehicles, and commercial and industrial devices, for example the management systems for batteries used for electric mobility and energy storage.

In particular, the project is expected to stimulate additional downstream research and innovations in particular in relation to the broad area of the Internet of Things and to connected or driverless cars", European Commission said in the press release.