The projects are the result of the fourth call for proposals for the Information Society Technology part of the EU’s Sixth Research Framework Program.
“Investment into research in information and communication technologies is our best-bet contribution to growth and jobs,” Information Society and Media European Commissioner Viviane Reding, said in a statement issued by the European Commission.
“However, Europe continues to underinvest considerably into ICT research for lack of sufficient resources both at EU level and at national level. Today, half the ICT research projects proposed for EU funding have had to be turned down, despite meeting all the requisite quality criteria. If Europe wants to be part of the game of global competition for better ICT services, we need to step up our resources considerably.”
Over 1,300 proposals were submitted in response to the fourth request for proposals under the Research Framework Program. The EC said 462 proposals met it requirements, of which 276 were retained.
Selected projects cover such topics as micro- and nano-electronics, mobile communications and broadband technology for accessing the Internet, the commission said.