UK industry shares in the European Union's research bonanza

The Fourth Framework Programme gives UK industry and academia the opportunity to share in a 12.3 billion ECU (f9.6 billion) European Union budget for research and tech no log ica I development .

by William C. Dobie

Agreement was reached by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on the Fourth Framework Programme on Research and Technology Development (RTD) on the 26th April 1994. It encompasses all the European Union's effort in the fields of research, technological development and demonstration for the next five years and is directed at improving the competitiveness of European industry and the quality of life within the member states. The programme lays down objectives, devises priorities and fixes the overall level of funding deemed necessary to undertake specific RTD activities within clearly defined areas. The programme is worth 12.3 billion ECU (f9.6 billion), with the possibility of a top-up of 0.7 billion ECU (f0.55 billion) in 1996.

Framework Programme IV contains four activities of which the first covers a number of specific RTD programmes, and the remainder deal with co-operation with 'third countries' (outside the EU); dissemination and exploitation of results; stimulation of the training and mobility of researchers. These are shown in Table 1.

cornerstone of the European Union's RTD effort. Each member state through its own national RTD programmes represents the main thrust of collective effort in mastering new technologies. However, because each state cannot hope to underpin alone the RTD necessary to meet the challenge of aggressive markets like Japan and the United States, a common collaborative approach in the fields of science and technology is increasingly i m porta n t .

Projects must be transnational, comprising partners form the member states, involving industry, universities and other organisations working together across Europe. The emphasis under Activity 1 (Table 1) is on precompetitive research, usually beyond basic research but not specifically involved with near market developments. An exception applies to the demonstration of newly developed or emerging technologies.

The collaborative projects are part-funded from the Union's resources (i.e. external

Framework Programme IV is the

tariff, VAT levy) usually on a shared-cost basis for industrial partners and 100% of marginal costs for universities. Each industrial partner is required to contribute the remaining 50%. The individual RTD programmes are planned and managed by the European Commission staff in Brussels.

European collaborative RTD programmes go back a long way. Nuclear energy research was first carried out under the 1956 Euratom Treaty, together with more limited research in the European coal and steel community. Non-nuclear energy collaborative research commenced in the 1970s and was widened

, Typical control rOOm operated by UK electricity suppliers

POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL AUGUST 1995 197

Table 1 Breakdown of Framework Programme IV activities

198

Activity 1 RTD and Demonstration Programmes

I lnformation and communication technologies 1 Telematics 2 Communication technologies 3 lnformation technologies

4 Industrial and materials technologies 5 Standards, measurements and testing

6 Environment and climate 7 Marine sciences and technologies

IV Life sciences and technologies 8 Biotechnologies 9 Biomedicine and health 10 Agriculture and fisheries

1 1 Non-nuclear energy 12 Nuclear fission safety 1 3 Controlled thermonuclear fusion

/I Industrial technologies

111 Environment

V Energy

VI Transport

Vll Targeted socio-economic research

Activity 2 Co-operation with third countries and international organisations

Activity 3 Dissemination and exploitation of results

Activity 4 Stimulation of the training and mobility of researchers

Total

14 Transport

15 Targeted socio-economic research

10 686

3405 843 630

1932*

1995 1707 288

1080 852 228

1572 552 336 684

2256 1002 41 4 840

240 240

138 138

540

330

744

12300

* including the JRC (Joint Research Centre) programmes

considerably in the Community's first Framework Programme (1 984/87). It adopted a strategy towards even coverage of energy, environment, industry, agriculture, raw materials and other RTD areas judged to be important to the Community (now Union) as a whole.

The second and third Framework Programmes followed, covering the periods 1987/91 and 1990/94, respectively.

UK major role their resources.

technical content and objectives of the individual programmes within Framework Programmes I, 11, 1 1 1 and IV. International collaboration is becoming increasingly important to UK industry if we are to compete with Japan and the United States. European collaborative research can help both by encouraging UK industryto carry out more research leading to innovative products and by the development, through common

standards, of more open markets within Europe, thus increasing international competitiveness.

are:

0 They are able to share the cost and risks of RTD, making use of complementaryskills and common facilities, so that they can participate in projects where the scale of investment would otherwise be beyond

0 They can gain commercial advantage from tapping into the technological expertise of firms in other European countries.

0 They may achieve a more significant role in the development of international standards for their industry, helping to ensure that a world standard is generated in Europe.

0 They are able to establish broader business contacts with their overseas

POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL AUGUST 1995

The benefits of collaboration to partners

The UK played a major role in defining the

counterparts so that they are well placed to take advantage of the completion of the Single Market.

Collaborative research enables work to be undertaken collectively that would be beyond the resources of most single company research and technological development teams. Many projects have a significant bearing on electrical engineering. A good example can be cited of a recently completed project under ESPRIT (European Strategic Programme for Research in Information Technology). The project is known by the acronym ARCHON (ARchitecture for Lo- operative Hetrogenous W-l ine Systems). It developed a computer software architecture (framework) which enables different computer programs to work together to solve real problems.

organisations, representing nine member states and one EFTA state: UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. The UK contribution was by EATechnology. Capenhurst, acting on behalf of the UK electricity industry, and Queen Mary and Westfield College, London (QMW). The overall initial budget was 14 million ECU (f 10.9 million)

industrial application areas but finally

POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL AUGUST 1995

ARCHON involved a large consortium of 14

The ARCHON project considered different

focused on electricity management, with additional studies in robotics, cement production control, and particle accelerator control and fault analysis. For example, the UK partners produced a knowledge-based system to help in the management of electricity distribution; CERN (Switzerland) demonstrated an application on a particle accelerator; and Amber (Greece) demonstrated control of cement kilns.

UK contribution EATechnologyand QMW developed a

software application system called ClDlM (Lo-operating intelligent Systems for - Dlstribution System Management). The project took the technologies from ARCHON research to build a number of intelligent information processing systems, termed agents. These agents were brought together in a common user interface and comprise: discrete dynamic data flow for fault diagnosis; switching scheduling; database access; access to SCADA &upervisoryLontrol - And Data Acquisition); access for lightning information; damage reports; customers' telephone calls reporting loss of supply. Key events, such as permanent faults, are used to trigger checks for lightning activity in the area, also rechecks of preplanned switching schedules on the post-fault network.

ClDlM in its prototype form has already demonstrated that much of the information

2 Preplanned maintenance on a transmission tower

199

William C. Dobie is a Consultant on European collaborative Funding. He isan IEE Member, and a member of the Editorial Advisory Panel of Power Engineering Journal.

EATechnology Ltd. IS located at Capenhurst. Chester CHI 6ES, UK.

POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL AUGUST 1995

3 A cluster of UK tower lines at different voltage levels

collection activities presently performed by control engineers can be automated. The system has the potential to be further extended to provide more emergency alarm rationalisation facilities and automatic network restoration switching. A video is available (from EATechnology) showing how any of the subcomponents of ClDlM can be integrated into existing control room systems.

Call for proposals Collaborative projects are normally

industry led and are formulated in response to a Call for Proposals announced in the Official Journal of the European Communities. The first Calls under Framework Programme IV were made last December. Applicants are required to meet strictly enforced closing dates, usually three months after the call is announced. Full

details of the technical areas and priority themes identified by the Commission are contained in information packages, along with guidance on how to prepare and deliver the proposal by the due date to the Commission in Brussels. These information packages are supplied through the Commission or may be obtained through the appropriate division of the Department of Trade and Industry whose officials are very helpful in providing advice and assistance on request.

0 IEE: 1995