What are Technology Infrastructures?
With rising technological complexity, industry’s innovation capacity and productivity heavily depend on facilities and services provided by Technology Infrastructures.
Technology Infrastructures (TIs) are described in European Commission Staff Working Document (SWD 2019/158) as 'facilities, equipment, capabilities and support services required to develop, test and upscale technology to advance from validation in a laboratory up to higher Technology Readiness Levels prior to competitive market entry. They can have public, semi-public or private status. Their users are mainly industrial players, including SMEs, which seek support to develop and integrate innovative technologies towards commercialisation of new products, processes and services, whilst ensuring feasibility and regulatory compliance.'
Technology infrastructures come in various forms and can be sector-specific or technology-focused, such as pilot lines, testing facilities, clean rooms, demonstration sites, and living labs.
Technology Infrastructures are usually hosted and operated by Research and Technology Organisations and technical universities. Companies can also offer Technology Infrastructures.
Why are Technology Infrastructures important?
Technology Infrastructures provide tailored services as well as advanced technical expertise and facilities to support industry including SMEs and start-ups in research and innovation, technology development, testing and upscaling.
In this role, Technology Infrastructures also
- help businesses reduce their investment risks by mitigating the uncertainties in testing new ideas, technologies and production processes
- accelerate deployment of research and innovation results and strategic technologies in industrial ecosystems and research and innovation ecosystems
- shorten time-to-market and enhance commercialisation
- offer cost efficient solutions to companies by minimising the requirement for specialised in-house equipment, along with access to expertise for evaluating technological and business opportunities
- ensure compliance with existing safety standards and certification requirements
Technology Infrastructures play a vital role in driving European innovation, in accelerating the green and digital transition goals promoted in the Policy Agenda for the European Research Area (ERA), and in enhancing Europe's strategic autonomy, technological sovereignty and competitiveness.
The development of Technology Infrastructures and their long-term sustainability requires public investment and highly skilled technical staff to remain at the forefront of innovation and technological excellence.
What the Commission is doing
Following the Commission Communication on a New ERA for Research and Innovation, the Commission has launched concrete work on a coordinated European approach to Technology Infrastructures to support European industry, especially SMEs and startups.
This is being prepared under the ERA Policy Agenda (2022-2024) and Action 12 “Accelerating the green/digital transition of Europe’s key industrial ecosystems”, developed under the Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe.
This will further implement the Council Conclusions on Knowledge Valorisation (23 May 2024), which call for a definition of Technology Infrastructures, a mapping of user needs, and the development of an EU strategy.
The European approach will address key-challenges like limited accessibility and visibility to industry, in particular SMEs, fragmentation of the Technology Infrastructure landscape and lack of coordination of services and investments.
The approach is built on 5 pillars
- Definition and Typology: Clearly define Technology Infrastuctures and categorise them by function
- User Needs Analysis: Understand industry's specific needs for Technology Infrastructures
- Strategic Pilot Areas: Identify areas where Technology Infrastructures can have the biggest impact
- Investment Prioritisation: Develop mechanisms for prioritising investments
- EU-Level Coordination: Explore options for a European coordination mechanism for Technology Infrastuctures
Survey on user needs
To gain a deeper understanding of the needs of industry the Commission has launched a survey on user needs for Technology Infrastructures. The answers to this survey will help the Commission draw conclusions on the future direction and support required for Technology Infrastructures.
The survey takes 5-15 minutes to complete
European Commission Expert Group on Technology Infrastructures
The Commission will be advised on the main elements of this European approach by a Commission Expert Group on Technology Infrastructures which has started its work in February 2024.
Publications
This report presents the results of the study “Policy Landscape Supporting Technology Infrastructures in Europe”. It consists of a thorough landscape analysis of all strategies, policies, programmes, instruments, public and private investment plans and funding streams supporting Technology Infrastructures (TIs) in Europe. It provides background information to support the discussions on the development of a more strategic and coordinated approach to Technology Infrastructures at the European level in the context of the European Research Area (ERA) Action 12.
This report presents the results of the study “Policy Landscape Supporting Technology Infrastructures in Europe”. It consists in a thorough landscape analysis of all types of strategies, policies, programmes, instruments, public and private investment plans and funding streams supporting Technology Infrastructures at regional, national and EU levels.
- Le paysage politique au soutien des infrastructures technologiques en Europe - Résumé
Ce rapport résume les résultats de l'étude “Le paysage politique au soutien des Infrastructures Technologiques en Europe”. Il s'agit d'une analyse approfondie de tous les types de stratégies, politiques publiques, programmes, instruments, plans d'investissement publics et privés et flux de financement soutenant les Infrastructures Technologiques.
français
This Annex presents the evidence collected on the European Union’s policies and programmes supporting Technology Infrastructures, consisting of a state-of-play of the current policy landscape. Additionally, it provides an overview of existing inventories and roadmapping of technology Infrastructures. It also documents the use of the concept of "Technology Infrastructures" within the European context as well as its integration into policy strategies at the EU level.
This Annex provides an in-depth analysis on 12 specific topics of interest for the development of a European approach to Technology Infrastructures. The developed 12 case studies cover the funding programmes and instruments supporting TIs; mechanisms that enable the synergies of funds supporting TIs; TI cases with specific business models, roadmapping exercises for TIs and other technology-specific topics (defence, advanced material). The results of these analyses are integrated into the final report of the study.
The objective of this Annex is to present the key findings from the data collected at national and regional levels related to Technology Infrastructures (TIs), for each one of the 27 EU Member States. The country reports are structured along the following dimensions: a) role of TIs in public policies and strategies at national and regional levels; b) overview of the (competitive) public funding schemes supporting TIs in each EU Member State.
The objective of this Annex is to present the key findings from the data collected at the national and regional levels of five non-EU countries, related to Technology Infrastructures. The report is structured along the following dimensions: a) role of TIs in public policies and strategies at national and regional levels; b) overview of the (competitive) public funding schemes supporting TIs in each country levels in all EU Member States (27). Third country reports serve as benchmark, with the aim of exploring how Technology Infrastructures are supported in other countries around the world, namely in Canada, Japan, Switzerland, the UK and the US.
This report presents a summary of the discussions from the workshop which was held on 14 February 2024 on the policy landscape supporting Technology Infrastructures in Europe. It gave the opportunity to the participants to provide additional insights and further contribute to jointly shaping the conclusions and recommendations from the EC-commissioned study on the “Policy Landscape Supporting Technology Infrastructures in Europe”.
Projects and results
Research project database (CORDIS)
The Commission's primary portal for results of EU-funded R&I projects. Here you can find projects related to Technology Infrastructures.
Examples of Technology Infrastructure projects
- RITIFI:Stimulating European research and technology infrastructure growth
- Convert2Green: Converting Facilities Network for accelerating uptake of climate neutral materials in innovative products
- Exploit4InnoMat: An Open Innovation Ecosystem for exploitation of materials for building envelopes towards zero energy buildings
- CLEANHYPRO: Open Innovation Test Bed for Electrolysis Materials for Clean Hydrogen Production
- H2SHIFT: Services for hydrogen innovation facilitation and testing
Contact
Want to find out more about the Technology Infrastructures or want to contribute?
Email us at: RTD-TECHNOLOGY-INFRASTRUCTURES
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (RTD-TECHNOLOGY-INFRASTRUCTURES[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
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