European governments agreed today to establish a new Joint Investment Programme (JIP) for research into emerging technologies which might have a disruptive effect on the battlefield, using an innovative structure devised by the European Defence Agency to boost collaborative European efforts on defence Research & Technology.
A ministerial meeting of the EDA’s Steering Board approved the new two-year programme, building on the experience from first JIP launched in 2006 which focuses on the protection of armed forces. 11 European countries will contribute to the new initiative, which will be funded by a common budget of €15.5 million.
"I am delighted to see that this new way of collaborating in a more integrated and efficient way has proved its worth and is being repeated,” said Javier Solana, the Head of the Agency, who chaired the meeting of defence ministers. “Investing more in Defence R&T and spending more together will be achieved only through this kind of pragmatic approach.".
The new JIP on Innovative Concepts and Emerging Technologies will look into technologies such as nano-materials and structures, remote detection and health monitoring. The JIP structure features a management board which decides how funds are to be allocated for individual projects with no pre-determined formula about how much will be spend in each contributing country.