In February 2024, the Commission launched the Strategy on advanced materials for industrial leadership.

The objective is to create an ecosystem for advanced materials to contribute to the competitiveness, resilience and strategic autonomy of European industries.

Advanced materials will help make the digital and green transitions happen, particularly by driving innovation in new clean energy technologies.

Chips Act

The Chips Act aims to boosts EU’s competitiveness and resilience in semiconductor technologies and applications. It supports research, innovation, and chip production in the EU, with target of 20% of the global market share by 2030. It also introduced the Chips for Europe Initiative to support large-scale technological capacity building and innovation.

The Commission launched the European Chips Survey to understand current and forecast demand for semiconductor products across industrial ecosystems. These findings are presented in the European Chips Report.

Promoting Silicon Systems manufacturing

Electronics are increasingly central to all industries and to the digital and green transition. The EU continues to have international dependencies in key aspects of the value chain. That chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Addressing vulnerabilities and building on strengths requires a “silicon to systems” approach.

The Structured Dialogue on Electronics Manufacturing drew up recommendations for the future of EU Electronics Manufacturing, underlining the challenges and opportunities of the sector. Among other things, the report touches on electronic manufacturing services (EMS), Printed Circuit Board (PCB) fabricators, as well as their equipment and materials suppliers.

A broad value chains approach was deemed to help strengthen the entire European electronics manufacturing ecosystem (including PCB manufacturing and hardware assembly) as a necessary means to a secure, resilient supply chain and ongoing EU leadership in technological innovation.

Web 4.0 and virtual worlds 

This is an EU strategy to enable integration between digital and real objects and environments. It also aims to make enhanced interactions between humans and machines possible.

Structured dialogue on the industrial metaverse 

In February 2023, the European Commission and the European Round Table for Industry (ERT) organised a workshop to explore elements of the industrial metaverse. This event explored its relevance to European industry, uptake challenges and enabling factors, as well as the strengths, weaknesses, and dependencies of European companies. Additionally, industrial players identified areas in which the Commission could support the emerging ecosystem on a macro level.

The workshop provided the Commission with a working definition for the industrial metaverse. It is a place to experience the digital twin of industrial assets by

• visualising the digital twin and gaining insights in an immersive environment
• meeting in real time to collaboratively review the digital twin and make changes immediately
• continuously and interactively evaluating, simulating and predicting the behavior of the digital twin
• monitoring, analysing and managing real assets in closed loop with the digital twin.

Moreover, it provided insights into the internal segmentation of the ecosystem, which consists of a gaming-oriented value chain, an enterprise angle (digital workplace, virtual office, virtual learning), a consumer oriented one (social interaction, social media) and an industrial metaverse value chain, focusing on the industrial use cases.

The workshop included 5 use cases by VRdirect, Siemens, SAP, Nokia, Telefonica. These focused on metaverse implementation in manufacturing, product development, retail, and the green transition. The technology already provides early up-takers with real world benefits, in terms of faster development, reduced production time, higher product quality, fewer emissions and less waste.

The Virtual and Augmented Reality Industrial Coalition 

This initiative aims to inform policy making, encourage investment, facilitate dialogue with stakeholders and identify key challenges and opportunities for the European VR/AR sector. The Coalition forms part of the overall strategy on Virtual Worlds fit for people.

The European Commission is supporting additive manufacturing by gathering interests and needs of stakeholders, organising workshops and surveys for knowledge sharing, and preparing policy recommendations for the industrial uptake of the sector.

For more information on the European Commission’s current activities in the field of additive manufacturing, please contact grow-workshop@ec.europa.eu.

The below document summarises frequently asked questions about the industrial capacities offered by additive manufacturing processes.

Guidance on conformity assessment procedures for 3D printing and 3D printed products

欧盟委员会在《人工智能法案》上采取了先锋立场 建立世界上第一个全面的人工智能管理框架，促进值得信赖并维护欧盟价值观和法规的人工智能技术的发展和融合。

最近关于生成人工智能的通讯  通过概述旨在支持欧洲初创企业和中小企业的综合措施，进一步加强了这一基础。

该计划旨在通过提供欧盟超级计算机的特权使用权、资金支持和强大的创新生态系统，增强这些实体开发尖端人工智能技术的能力。

The Advanced Manufacturing industry is critical for Europe’s industrial competitiveness and economic resilience.

Read our report: Strategic Insights into the EU’s Advanced Manufacturing, or navigate through the underlying data with our dedicated online tool to find out more.