What are European technology platforms?

European Technology Platforms (ETPs) help industrial and academic research communities in specific technology fields to co-ordinate their research and tailor it to a common “strategic research agenda” (SRA), which sets out research & development (R&D) goals, time frames and action plans for technological advances that are relevant to industry and society. SRA’s aim to mobilise a critical mass of national and European public and private resources.
 
SRAs typically seek to overcome barriers to the development, deployment and use of new technologies. Examples of such barriers might include how research is organised, outdated regulations, lack of common technical standards or a need for new ones, shortfall in funding, disinclination to accept new technologies, or a shortage of skills and training.

ETP stakeholders agree to support their SRA financially and to monitor its implementation. In the Commission’s view, each ETP should represent all major stakeholders, including small and medium-sized firms, provided that they are willing to pool their knowledge and resources and possess the requisite R&D expertise. In fostering effective public-private partnerships, technology platforms have the potential to contribute significantly to the renewed Lisbon strategy and to the development of a European Research Area of knowledge for growth. As such, they are proving to be powerful actors in the development of European research policy.
 
Full document (pdf): European Technology Platforms in ICT 

The ICT Technology platforms 

Artemis (Embedded Systems Unit)

eMobility (Communication Technologies Unit)

ENIAC (Nanoelectronics and Photonics Unit)

EUROP (Future and Emerging Technologies Unit)

ISI (Communication Technologies Unit)

NESSI (Grid Technologies Unit and Software Technologies Unit)

Networked and Electronic Media (Networked Audiovisual Systems Unit)

Photonics21 (Nanoelectronics and Photonics Unit)

EPoSS (Micro- and Nanosystems Unit)

Joint Technology initiatives (JTI)

A Joint Technology Initiative is a public-private partnership using the 'Joint Undertaking' model.
The European Commission has identified JTIs as a new strategy of implementing the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) to support, in a limited number of cases, large scale initiatives that could not be implemented efficiently, using the other R&D funding mechanisms. A JTI focuses on one specific industrial area, has a well defined objective, addresses a market failure and is funded by a combination of private and public investments.

Two ETPs have etablished JTIs

Artemis (Embedded Systems Unit)

ENIAC (Nanoelectronics and Photonics Unit)