By June 3, 2014 Read More →

New initiative to strengthen Europe’s position in Robotics

The world’s largest civilian research and innovation programme in robotics will boost Europe’s position in the global robotics market and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

140603_euRoboticsLaunched at AUTOMATICA 2014 (pictured), the scheme sees the European Commission and 180 companies and research organizations operating under the umbrella of euRobotics. It will cover applications of robotics in areas such as manufacturing, agriculture, health, transport, civil security and households The initiative – called SPARC – is the EU’s industrial policy effort to strengthen Europe’s position in the global robotics market, expected to be worth some €60 billion a year by 2020. This initiative is expected to create over 240,000 jobs in Europe, and increase Europe’s share of the global market to 42% – representing a boost of €4 billion per year.

The European Commission will invest €700 million and euRobotics €2.1 billion. European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes says: “Europe needs to be a producer and not merely a consumer of robots. Robots do much more than replace humans – they often do things humans can’t or won’t do and that improves everything from our quality of life to our safety. Integrating robots into European industry helps us create and keep jobs in Europe.”

President of euRobotics Bernd Liepert adds: “SPARC will ensure the competitiveness of European robotics industries. Robot-based automation solutions are essential to overcome today’s most pressing societal challenges – from demographic change to mobility to sustainable production.”

Robotics enables companies to continue manufacturing in Europe, where they might otherwise move operations to lower-cost countries. But the potential of robotics goes far beyond the factory – from helping nurses in hospitals to inspecting dangerous power plants and tedious farm work. Autonomous cars and drones are other examples of robots.

Visit the euRobotics website for more information.

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