Robotics: from FP7 to Horizon 2020 Libor Král, Head of Unit Unit A2 - Robotics DG Communication Networks, Content and Technology European Commission Robotics in Regions 30 October 2013
Key issues research challenges Millions of robots in the world today many more tomorrow Not just on the factory floor, but also in services sectors Can we afford to have a lot of dumb machines running around?
How do we address today s issues A dedicated unit created nine years ago More than 100 ongoing projects today with over 700 partners 70-80 M funding of new projects per year Usually 1 Call/year with up to 200 proposals 20 new projects launched every year Not the only robotics activity
Impact of the EU effort Largest public funded programme in the world (civil) Substantial addition to the body of knowledge (hundreds if not thousands of publications, papers, presentations etc) Catching public imagination (e.g. London Science Museum, European robotics weeks) Uses can be envisaged in serious areas e.g. search & rescue Progressing towards socio-economic aspects
Robotics in FP7 Portfolio of >100 projects, ~500 M funding
Experiments Structured dialogue, outreach Research and Innovation Facilities (RIFs) Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) Pilots ECHORD++ Examples of on-going initiatives
ECHORD++: Research and Innovation Facilities To address needs of different stakeholder groups Large Manufacturers Small businesses Academia New user groups Quick and easy access to infrastructure and expertise needed RIFs as physical infrastructures with very low entrance barriers
ECHORD++ Three RIFs in three countries Bristol Robotics Lab, UK SSSA, Pisa, Italy CEA, Paris/Grenoble, France
RIFs: Infrastructure and access Infrastructure provided: HW and SW: robots, sensors, standard software packages, simulation tools, etc. specified for each RIF and its focus areas Support: technical staff, business advice, coaching, etc. PR and outreach: information events to explain the concepts access procedures, public dissemination events (respecting users IPR), thematic workshops, etc. Access procedures: Users are selected frequently (2-monthly) based on short proposals Panel with E++ and external experts No accession to E++ consortium (no amendment needed) Travel support for users possible, but no other budget provided
ECHORD++ Pilots for potential Pre-commercial Procurement Two Public Bodies (ideally different fields) provide realistic applications Few companies (e.g. 3 per public body/application) perform R&D After initial prototyping, the most promising one for each application will develop a small-scale test series Preparatory phase Active search for public bodies Evaluation and selection of public bodies Open call for R&D proposals Monitoring of the R&D progress Selection of most feasible prototypes and development of small-scale test series Result extraction and final performance assessment
EuRoc: European Robotic Challenges Launch and run three industrially-relevant challenges Three stages of increasing complexity I Simulation / II Realistic benchmark environment/ III End-user site Challenges address application scenarios of the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) of European robotics robotics for ICT-enabled intelligent manufacturing of EFFRA multi-annual roadmap for Factory of the Future (FoF)
Horizon 2020 Horizon 2020: stronger focus on innovation and bringing research closer to the market Simplified access for all companies, universities, institutes in all EU countries and beyond New instruments to foster innovation, for example Pre- Commercial Procurement or the SME Instrument Three priorities: Excellent Science Industrial Leadership (contains the main part of robotics) Societal Challenges
Growth, Jobs & Competitiveness H2020 Goals Better articulation of research and innovation Seamless funding from idea to market What's new: More innovation, from research to market, all forms of innovation -> NOT SHIFT BUT EXTENSION BETTER SYNERGIES BETWEEN VARIOUS FUNDING PROGRAMMES 13
Towards Horizon 2020: Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in robotics Basic Research R&D Innovation Uptake EXTENSION 14
What is a PPP? PPP stands for Public-Private Partnership Public side = European Commission Private side = Companies, universities (which can be public bodies), research organisations, NGOs Goal: To strengthen the competitive position of Europe in a particular business sector Mutual development of research strategy & commitment to invest in a sector Not limited to research, also looking at other areas such as regulation, policy, trade, non-technical barriers, etc.
Coming soon: H2020 ICT Call 1 LEIT CHALLENGE 5: ROBOTICS Roadmap-based R&D&I in Robotics Publication: 11 December 2013 Submission deadline: 23 April 2014 ICT23.a - Research and Innovation Action PRIORITY: Market domains: manufacturing, commercial, civil, agriculture RTD to advance key technologies relevant for industrial and service robotics, including shared resources and assessment ICT23.b - Technology transfer - Robotics use cases Industrial and service sectors ICT23.c - Pre-commercial procurement in robotics Public safety and monitoring of environment and infrastructure 74 M 57 M 12 M 5 M Draft - Commission's proposal
ICT 23.a Research and Innovation Action: R&D Advance robotics abilities + key technologies and their combination Market domains: manufacturing, commercial, civil, agriculture Demonstrate increased TRL (Technology Readiness Level) relevant for the market domains Research results will have to be validated in real-world setting, demonstrating progress in abilities/technologies RELEVANT to these market domains 100% funding -> Focus on RTD, not innovation From basic research to more applied research (depending on TRL) REFER TO Strategic Research Agenda and Multi-Annual Roadmap* *This roadmap is publicly available on the eurobotics AISBL website; its content results from continuous consultation of the whole European robotics community. The prioritisation of the topics follows a formal procedure established by the eurobotics AISBL, whose membership is open to all European stakeholders in Robotics http://www.eu-robotics.net/ppp.
ICT 23.a Research and Innovation Actions: HORIZONTAL SUPPORT ACTIVITIES System development processes, techniques and technologies applicable across markets Shared resources and assessment Mechanisms for sharing (incl. sharing of HW and engineering support for developing demonstrators) Harmonisation of system design practice Definition of standards High quality validation, maintenance and documentation (Optimise re-use) Performance evaluation and benchmarking Optimise quality, efficiency, sharing and re-use of results Demonstrate and support continuous progress
ICT 23.c INNOVATION ACTIONS: Pre-Commercial procurement in robotics Application areas: Public safety, environment and infrastructure monitoring Gathering public procurers with common needs One large project (up to 5m ) including 2 major components - Refining requirements; organizing the selection of suppliers and evaluation of progress - RTD work to be procured Frequently Asked Questions on PCP: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/pcp/faq_en.html
THANK YOU!