Business urges quick establishment of JTIs[fr][de] 

JTIs are EU attempts, initiated under the EU's Seventh Research framework Programme (FP7), to avoid fragmentation of research efforts on strategic research fields. 

JTIs will 'combine' or merge the different strategic long-term research agendas on, for example, nanotechnologies. To avoid duplication, the actors will together conduct research on the areas addressed by all agendas and continue solitary research on specific issues identified by individual actors.      

A Commission June 2005 report  identified six areas, the most advanced technology platforms, in which JTIs could be established. These are:

• Innovative medicines;
• aeronautics and air transport;
• hydrogen and fuel cells;
• global monitoring for environment and security;
• nanoelectronics technologies 2020, and; 
• embedded computing systems.  

JTIs' research projects are set to be conducted under industry conditions on topics defined by industry. The expected results can vary from the development of common standards to defining software interoperability between products.

Each JTI is expected to gather some €2-3 billion funding from 2007-2013, with 50% of the costs being covered by industry, some 16% by the Commission's FP7 and 33% by the member states.

The official proposals for the six planned JTI are still on the Commission table, as the Commission is verifying the state of preparedness of the proposed first JTIs against a number of criteria linked with: 

• The strategic importance of the topic and presence of a clear deliverable;
• existence of market failure; 
• concrete evidence of Community value added; 
• evidence of substantial, long-term industry commitment, and;
• inadequacy of existing Community instruments.  

The two first official proposals on innovative medicines and embedded computing systems might be published by end of March 2007, after which the 27-member Council will need to find a 2/3 majority to decide on the proposal. The Parliament is only consulted.

As JTIs will be based on article 171 - the only example of the use of which so far is Galileo - there is no clear model on how to set up these initiatives. The content of Galileo and JTIs are not comparable, but their way of functioning as public-private partnerships (PPP) is.

The only joint undertaking launched on the basis of the Article 171 is the Galileo satellite navigation system, which is currently suffering from serious delays with initial estimated costs already exceeded. According to initial plans, Galileo was supposed to be fully operational by 2008, but is has now been delayed to 2011. Currently, only one of the 30 satellites has been launched and even the 20-year funding contract between the eight companies, originally to be signed in 2005, has not been finalised.

One of the main difficulties delaying Galileo contract has been the issue of sharing risks and responsibilities between public and private sectors. In addition, a number of legal issues has arised as the project advances. 

JTIs, complex construction without precedent at EU level, can therefore be expected to be faced with Galileo-like problems related for example to Council's internal decision-making or control of the use of community funds.

"Council disagrees on the priority of the JTIs to be funded, as member states have different interests. However, launching a JTI depends also on the state of preparedness of the industry. As JTIs will be industry-led, the industry needs to get organised first and prove that it is ready," explained a diplomatic source. 

BusinessEurope has repeatedly urged the need for establishing the JTIs on time and is concerned that there will be further delays due to the difficulty of finalising the proposals in a way that they are acceptable to all. "Joint Technology Initiatives are the industry equivalents of the European Research Council and are set to focus on applied research. The ideas for JTIs and the ERC were put forward by the Commission at the same time. ERC is already established and its first calls for proposals published wheras the JTIs don't even have their official proposals yet. Industry is ready, committed and a willing partner, and expects that the business input will quickly be reflected at member-state level and by the institutional actors," said Vincent McGovern from BusinessEurope.

"Galileo can serve as a model for setting up the JTIs. There are definitely some lessons to be learned, at least legal with regard to legal issues on setting up the JTIs, in particular the contractual nature," commented another diplomatic source. "Negotiating the Galileo funding contract has turned out to be far more complex than previously expected. When the timetables were initially set, one may have been somewhat too optimistic. The project is complex and it is the first time something of this scope is being done at European level. Issues and problems arise as we advance with the project and it takes time to clarify them, before one can move forward."