EUREKA labels ITEA 3 Cluster - defining a next level of innovation

EUREKA labelled ITEA 3 as the successor to ITEA 2 at its High Level Group meeting in Budapest, Hungary on 20 June. The new Cluster offers an even more dynamic approach to co-operative European research on software-intensive systems and services in a time when change will be the norm. It will be a living organisation with a living roadmap and the intention to shorten dramatically the period from idea to project start to 10 months. It will also take a more global approach to research partnerships and exploit its strong relationships with other clusters, such as ARTEMIS, EUREKA Clusters, EIT ICT Labs and national competitiveness clusters. 

“Both ITEA 2 and its predecessor ITEA have had a major impact on European industry and users of information and communications technology (ICT),” says ITEA 2 chairman Rudolf Haggenmüller. “Our projects focus on innovation, business impact and fast exploitation of results – enabling us to stay at the global forefront on innovative research, development and innovation. ITEA 3 will enable us to seize the high ground to ensure that European industry continues to be at the leading edge worldwide.” 


Preparations underway 
Preparations for ITEA 3 have been underway in co-operation with industry, the Public Authorities and the ITEA community since mid-2011. ITEA 2 is already working closely with its partners to speed up labelling and funding for new projects. Many of the innovations envisaged when preparing for ITEA 3 will already be introduced in the remaining ITEA 2 call in 2013 – enabling a smooth transition to ITEA 3 in 2014. ITEA 3 will run to 2021. 

Work is also underway on the new roadmap, which involves a complete rethink. The new approach will support people in the field to decide where innovation is required and provide a baseline for evaluation of project success. Based on actual project results, the living roadmap will be the main tool of the ITEA 3 innovation steering and evaluation processes, reinforcing the bottom-up approach of EUREKA Clusters. It will describe a set of societal challenges and take into account a shared state of the art to keep projects on track and provide a continuously updated indication of where innovation is next needed. 


Strong support 

ITEA 3 has obtained strong backing from industry and the public authorities in the EUREKA member countries. 

“We are very happy with the labelling of ITEA 3 and the strong support it received from the public authorities in the EUREKA countries,” says Aart van Gorkum, the Philips member of the ITEA 2 Board. “Software-intensive systems and services are key for innovation in the Philips businesses of Healthcare, Lighting and Consumer Lifestyle. The approval of ITEA 3 provides an excellent basis for future partnerships to address our new growth initiatives.” 

“We believe the EUREKA Network has taken a strategic step towards European leadership in software-intensive systems and services by adopting the continuation of ITEA 2 with ITEA 3,” says Okan Kara of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) and EUREKA High Level Representative for Turkey. “We congratulate members of the ITEA 2 Board and representatives of all supporting public authorities for the successful preparation and application process for the ITEA 3 Cluster.” 

ITEA 2 (Information Technology for European Advancement) stimulates and supports innovative and pre-competitive R&D projects that will contribute research excellence to Europe’s competitive Software-Intensive Systems and Services (SiSS) sector. SiSS are a vital growth engine for Europe’s economy and a key driver of innovation in Europe’s most competitive industries – such as automotive, aerospace, communications, healthcare and consumer electronics. ITEA 2 and its predecessor ITEA have a proven track record with major achievements and results in these industries. 

As a EUREKA Cluster programme, our approach is intergovernmental, bottom-up, market-oriented and industry-driven. Following the EUREKA structure, each ITEA 2 project partner can apply for national funding in their own country – allowing a project idea to attract funding from all participating countries. ITEA 2 is open to partners from large industrial companies and SMEs, as well as research institutes and universities. 

ITEA 2 Board members are: Airbus, Alcatel-Lucent, Barco, Bosch, Bull, Daimler, Italtel, Nokia, Philips, Siemens, Technicolor, Telefonica, Telvent, Thales and Turkcell Technology. 

The current set of more than 150 projects (ITEA + ITEA 2), with more than 1000 partners from 30 countries, has established a solid basis for further development. Many of these projects have led to the creation of completely new products. 

More information: http://www.itea2.org 

Kay van Ham-Jeunhomme 
ITEA 2 Office 
PR & Communications 
Tel: +31 88 003 6136 
Fax: +31 88 003 6130 
Email: kay.van.ham@itea2.org