FantasticSearch

1. Synergies of the Initiative with the Specific Objectives 1 to 5 of the Digital Europe Programme shall ensure that:

(a) the targeted thematic focus of the Initiative on semiconductor and quantum technologies is complementary;

(b) Specific Objectives 1 to 5 of the Digital Europe Programme support digital capacity building in the advanced digital technologies, including High Performance Computing, AI and cybersecurity, and advanced digital skills;

(c) the Initiative will invest in capacity building to reinforce advanced design, production and systems integration capabilities in cutting-edge semiconductor technologies, next-generation semiconductor technologies and cutting-edge quantum technologies for innovative business development, strengthening the Union’s semiconductor supply and value chains, serving key industrial sectors and creating new markets.

2. Synergies with Horizon Europe shall ensure that:

(a) although thematic areas addressed by the Initiative and several areas of Horizon Europe converge, the type of actions to be supported, their expected outputs and their intervention logic are different and complementary;

(b) Horizon Europe provides extensive support for research, technological development, demonstration, piloting, proof-of-concept, testing and prototyping, including pre-commercial deployment of innovative digital technologies, in particular through:

(i) a dedicated budget in the pillar ‘Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness’ for the cluster ‘Digital, Industry and Space’ to develop enabling technologies (AI and robotics, Next Generation internet, High Performance Computing and Big Data, key digital technologies (incl. microelectronics), combining digital with other technologies);

(ii) support to research infrastructures under the pillar ‘Excellent Science’;

(iii) the integration of digital across all the Global Challenges (health, security, energy and mobility, climate, etc.); and (iv) support for scale-up breakthrough innovations under the pillar ‘Innovative Europe’ (many of which will combine digital and other technologies).

(c) the Initiative is exclusively focusing on building large-scale capacities in semiconductor and quantum technologies across the Union. It will invest in:

(i) fostering innovation by supporting two closely interlinked technological capacities that enable designing novel system concepts and their testing and validation in pilot lines;

(ii) providing targeted support to build training capacity and enhance applied advanced digital competences and skills to support development and deployment of semiconductors by technology development and end-user industries; and (iii) a network of national competence centres, which facilitate access and provide expertise and innovation services to end-user communities and industries, to develop new products and applications and to address market failures.

(d) the technology capacities of the Initiative will be made available to the research and innovation community, including for actions supported through Horizon Europe;

(e) as the development of novel digital technologies in the area of semiconductors matures through Horizon Europe, those technologies where possible progressively will be taken up and deployed by the Initiative;

(f) the Horizon Europe programmes of Regulation (EU) 2021/695 for the development of skills and competencies curricula, including those delivered at the co-location centres of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology’s Knowledge and Innovation Communities, are complemented by capacity building in advanced applied digital skills and competences in semiconductor and quantum technologies supported by the Initiative;

(g) strong coordination mechanisms for programming and implementation are put in place, aligning all procedures for both Horizon Europe and the Initiative to the extent possible. Their governance structures will involve all Commission services concerned.

3. Synergies with Union programmes under shared management, including the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, shall ensure the development and strengthening of regional and local innovation ecosystems, industrial transformation, as well as the digital transformation of society and of public administrations. This includes support for the digital transformation of industry and the take-up of results, as well as the rolling out of novel technologies and innovative solutions. The Initiative will complement and support the transnational networking and mapping of capacities it will support and make them accessible to SMEs and end-user industries in all Union regions.

4. Synergies with the Connecting Europe Facility shall ensure that:

(a) the Initiative focuses on large-scale digital capacity and infrastructure building in the areas of semiconductors aiming at the wide uptake and deployment across the Union of critical existing or tested innovative digital solutions within a Union framework in areas of public interest or market failure. The Initiative is mainly to be implemented through coordinated and strategic investments with Member States, in building digital capacities in semiconductor technologies to be shared across the Union and in Union-wide actions. This is particularly relevant in electrification and autonomous driving, and is intended to benefit and facilitate the development of more competitive end-use industries, particularly in the mobility and transport sectors;

(b) the capacities and infrastructures of the Initiative are to be made available to testing of innovative new technologies and solutions that can be taken up in the mobility and transport industries. The Connecting Europe Facility is to support the roll-out and deployment of innovative new technologies and solutions in the field of mobility and transport as well as in other domains;

(c) coordination mechanisms are to be established, in particular through appropriate governance structures.

5. Synergies with InvestEU Programme shall ensure that:

(a) support through market-based financing, including pursuing policy objectives under the Initiative is provided by Regulation (EU) 2021/523; such market-based financing might be combined with the grant support;

(b) a blending facility under the InvestEU Fund is supported by financing provided by Horizon Europe or the Digital Europe Programme in the form of financial instruments within blending operations.

6. Synergies with Erasmus+ shall ensure that:

(a) the Initiative supports the development and acquisition of the advanced digital skills needed for the development and deployment of cutting-edge semiconductor technologies in cooperation with relevant industries;

(b) the advanced skills part of Erasmus+ complements the interventions of the Initiative, addressing the acquisition of skills in all domains and at all levels through mobility experiences.

7. Synergies with other Union programmes and initiatives on competencies and skills shall be ensured.