A stakeholder’s impact assessment of the ECSEL JU programme
ECS – Electronic Components and Systems: probably the most important technological competence of our times. They both enable and drive what we call today the digital transformation, transformation, bringing opportunities and intelligent answers for the huge global societal challenges we face: the climate crisis, the burgeoning cost of healthcare, more ecologically responsible mobility, as well as sustainable growth and citizens’ wellbeing. Valued at € 52.6 trillion in 2018, the ECS value chain represents some 72% of the worldwide economy (total GDP, € 72.7 trillion in 2018) and accounts for major shares of global employment and Research, Development and Innovation (R&D&I) activities. Mastering key elements of this value chain is crucial to the technological autonomy and sovereignty of continents and states, who are clamouring to secure leadership in a highly competitive arena.
Extrapolating from today’s performance, at completion in 2024, ECSEL JU is expected to have spearheaded about 90 world-class projects representing some € 5 billion investment in RD&I, engaging over 3000 participations by leading industrial companies, universities and research institutes, with roughly 1/3 of participants being SMEs. ECSEL JU’s risk-sharing model demonstrates unique leverage: each euro invested by the EU leverages an additional euro from the participating states, which in turn leverages 2 additional euro. ECSEL has brought partners together from the most diverse parts of the European ECS universe, who have together created a common
Strategic Research Agenda for this entire domain, around which the EU, participating states and the partners themselves see a common way forward: key eco-systems have been built that ensure the best conditions to valorise the investments made and the projects’ results. This pan-European Strategic Research Agenda – together with ECSEL’s co-funding mechanism – is aligning European and national RD&I efforts, thereby effectively implementing the European Research Area (ERA) in the ECS domain.
Impact on Europe’s business and on society for the greater good of both is the core of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking programme. At the request of the ECSEL JU Governing Board, Deloitte and VVA recently published updated reports in which the focus lay mainly on the direct impact and benefits for project participants. The stakeholder’s impact assessment of the ECSEL JU programme goes beyond this somewhat narrow scope to examine the broader impact and socio-economic value of RD&I programmes as championed by ECSEL JU, including several high-level evaluations and tangible examples. This impact lives and breathes in every conceivable aspect of our lives: in domestic appliances, infotainment, industrial processes, logistics, smart infrastructure, energy, mobility, aerospace, and healthcare, to name just a few.
To see the full Stakeholder’s impact assessment of the ECSEL JU programme, please click here.