52011DC0557

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

Annual Report on the progress achieved by the Joint Technology Initiatives Joint Undertakings in 2009

1. INTRODUCTION

The Annual Report on the progress achieved by the Joint Technology Initiatives Joint Undertakings (hereinafter referred to as "JTI JUs") is prepared pursuant to Article 11(1) of each Council Regulation setting up the individual JTI JUs[1], which states that:

"The Commission shall present to the European Parliament and to the Council an annual report on the progress achieved by the [name of the JTI] Joint Undertaking. This report shall contain details of implementation including number of proposals submitted, number of proposals selected for funding, type of participants, including SMEs, and [country statistics]."

In the case of Clean Sky, Article 11(1) of Council Regulation 2008/71/EC[2] also foresees that:

"In particular this annual report will include assessment results of the Technology Evaluator referred to in Article 8(1) of the Statutes, as appropriate".

This document constitutes the second reporting on the progress achieved by these JTI JUs. It is accompanied by a Commission Staff Working Document containing essentially statistical information on the 2009 research activities of the JTI JUs.

2. PROGRESS IN 2009

2.1. PREPARATORY ACTIONS

Further preparatory work for the set-up of the JTI JUs took place in 2009, in particular on the JTI JUs Financial Rules, the requirements for an Accounting System, the Staff Establishment Plans, the Implementing Measures of the Staff Regulations, the staff selection procedures and in particular the appointment of four Executive Directors, the model JU Grant Agreements, the model General Financing Agreement between the Commission and the JUs, the documentation for the calls for proposals, the Internal Control Framework of the JUs and the host agreement with the Belgian authorities. The JTI JUs were located in the COVE building in Brussels.

In autumn 2009, IMI, Clean Sky and ARTEMIS acquired the operational capacity to implement their budget (also called "autonomy"). These JTI JUs now operate without the direct involvement of the Commission in their daily work.

2.2. FUNDING RESEARCH

Calls were launched by all JUs in 2009. ARTEMIS published its second call for proposals on 05.03.2009 and ENIAC on 19.03.2009. Clean Sky published calls for partners on 15.06.2009 and on 25.11.2009. FCH published its second call for proposals on 02.07.2009. Finally, IMI published its second call for proposals on 27.11.2009. Detailed information on these calls is provided in the Commission Staff Working Document accompanying this Annual Report.

2.3. ASSESSMENT RESULTS OF THE TECHNOLOGY EVALUATOR REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 8(1) OF THE CLEAN SKY STATUTES

In 2009, no assessment results of the Technology Evaluator have been produced, as the various components of the tool were still being integrated. A calibration run covering the environmental impact of the current generation of aircraft, providing a benchmark for future comparison, is scheduled for 2010, to yield a refinement of Clean Sky's environmental targets.

3. OUTLOOK OF ACTIVITIES IN 2010 AND BEYOND

In 2010, the JTI JUs continued playing their role in shaping Europe's research landscape and integrating industrial research in their areas.

In 2010, the Commission granted autonomy to the last two JTI JUs, namely ENIAC and FCH. This meant the end of all Commission involvement in the preparatory periods for the JTI JUs launched under the Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration activities.

In 2010, the Commission launched the exercise related to the first interim evaluations of the JTI JUs, in accordance with Article 11(2) of the Council Regulation establishing each JTI JU. These interim evaluations were carried out by the Commission with the assistance of independent experts have addressed quality and efficiency-related issues as well as progress towards the objectives set. The conclusions of these interim evaluations will be later communicated to the Parliament and to the Council and will be accompanied by the Commission's observations and, if appropriate, measures to amend the JTI JUs regulatory framework.

4. FURTHER INFORMATION

Further information is available at http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/jtis/home_en.html, which provides a central access point to each JTI JU website.

[1] The five JTIs are: Innovative Medicines Initiative (supporting the development of new knowledge, tools and methods for new medicines, Council Regulation 2008/73/EC, http://imi.europa.eu), Clean Sky (seeking to increase the competitiveness of the European aeronautics industry while reducing emissions and noise, Council Regulation 2008/71/EC, http://www.cleansky.eu), Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (speeding up the development and deployment of hydrogen supply and fuel cell technologies, Council Regulation 2008/521/EC, http://www.fch-ju.eu), ARTEMIS (addressing embedded computing systems, Council Regulation 2008/74/EC, http://www.artemis-ju.eu), ENIAC (targeting the very high level of miniaturisation required for the next generation of nanoelectronics components, Council Regulation 2008/72/EC, www.eniac.eu).

[2] OJ L 30, 4.2.2008, p. 1-20 and its corrigendum OJ L 220, 15.08.2008, p. 35.