Electronics Leaders Group signs up to Kroes’ action plan

The 11 strong group was created to respond to Kroes' 10:100:20 proposal made in May 2013. In this, '10' referred to €10billion of EC funding, '100' called for €100bn to be invested by industry, with the target being a 20% share of global semiconductor production. The ELG says the EU should focus on areas areas where Europe is strong – automotive, energy, industrial automation and security – but also on emerging high growth areas, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and 'smart X' markets. The ELG's target is to capture 60% of this emerging market by 2020. Meanwhile, the group also calls for Europe to capture 20% of the projected growth in the wireless and wired comms markets. Kroes said: "I want us in the driver's seat; the sector wants to be back in the driver's seat. So my message is this: we are going to make Europe the place to make and buy innovative micro and nanoelectronics." The report considers the supply and demand sides of the equation. In order to generate demand, the group proposes the 'Smart Everything Everywhere' initiative, with centres of excellence and zones for large scale, real life testing of emerging technologies. Meanwhile, the group can see a 'clear opportunity' to increase capacity by 70,000 wafers per month from 2016/17 – a boost in annual capacity of 10%. The ELG says it will now work on transforming these ideas into concrete actions by June 2014. Its report concludes 'The European semiconductor industries and the associated electronic system community, announce their immediate intent to work together with the support of the EC and Member States and the Regions to deliver a real growth of market share for Europe in this area'.