The European Defence Agency (EDA) will facilitate six dual-use projects to access European Structural Funds in order to support maintaining and developing key technical and industrial priorities. This work is part of the Agency’s efforts to promote greater innovation across the defence industry in Europe. It can also be linked to the expected discussions on the state of Europe’s defence industry during the European Council in December.
The Agency has presented an initiative to promote the best use of European Structural Funds by defence actors during the meeting of the Steering Board on 23 April 2013. Together with Member States, the Agency has also organised in recent months a series of workshops – in Brussels and in Member States – on the potential use of European Structural Funds by defence actors.
European Structural Funds may be used by Member States to co-fund dual-use activities in Research and Innovation, as part of a national or regional smart specialisation strategy. Thirteen Member States submitted some 70 project proposals to the Agency to assess their potential for submission for structural funds. Six pilot projects from Poland, Germany, UK, Portugal, France, and Bulgaria have been selected. Topics include for example intruder detection and collision avoidance system for flight aircraft or the improvement of the urban security and defence through the implementation of advance detection sensor’s system. EDA will now accompany these projects to access available EU resources for research and innovation, in line with identified technological and industrial priorities.
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