EU funding opportunities in Microsystems in 2009
A new call for R&D proposals on "Microsystems and smart miniaturised systems" will open on 31 July 2009 and close on 3 November 2009. With a dedicated budget of 80 M€, it will cover R&D activities on 3 topics: heterogeneous integration, autonomous energy efficient smart systems and application-specific Microsystems and smart miniaturised systems. An Information Day on "Microsystems and Smart Miniaturised Systems" to present in detail this R&D objective will be held on 23 June 2009 at the EC premises in Brussels (http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/micro-nanosystems/events-20090623_en.html).
R&D activities in Microsystems continue to be a priority objective in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Work Programme for 2009-2010. A key target of the R&D objective "Microsystems and smart miniaturised systems" is the development of application-specific Microsystems. Technology developments should address the following application sectors: biomedical; telecommunications; environment, food and beverage; transport, safety and security; and smart fabrics and interactive textiles (SFIT). Of particular relevance for the organic and large area community are the application-specific topics and in particular SFIT, environment, and food & beverage.
The objective for the SFIT application sector is the development of multi-functional textiles and fabrics, in which sensing, actuating, communicating, processing and power sourcing are seamlessly integrated. Special emphasis is put on the integration of fibre-level components into textiles, on stretchable and wearable electronics embedded in textiles, and on fully integrated smart fabrics and interactive textiles. For environmental applications (including water treatment applications) and for food/beverage applications, reliability and cost reduction are the targeted challenges to be covered by integrated multi-sensing Microsystems.
With respect to the sub-topic heterogeneous integration, the focus is on heterogeneous technologies for more intelligence in Microsystems, on the integration of the multiple elements of the value chain of heterogeneous systems and on disruptive approaches for nanosensor-based Microsystems. Autonomous energy efficient smart miniaturised systems are also targeted in this call, with the ultimate objective of developing autonomous smart Microsystems for long-lasting operation. In this domain two major challenges are to be addressed: energy and communication.
The impact of the activities to be carried out within this objective is expected to crystallise in a strengthened global competitiveness of the European industry in Microsystems and smart miniaturised systems, and a wider use of smart systems in relevant application sectors, which will strengthen the competitiveness of the user industries and meet the societal needs of the citizens.
For further information please consult the ICT Work Programme 2009-2010 available at: ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/ict/docs/ict-wp-2009-10_en.pdf