EU Announces Major Investment In IT Research

The European Commission will be investing more than $1 billion in 2011 in information and communications technology research aimed at boosting Europe's competitiveness. The commission, the European Union's regulatory arm, said the funding (780 million Euros) would go toward research focused on the Internet, robotics, smart and embedded systems, photonics, energy efficiency technologies and health. The effort is part of a commission goal of increasing information and communications technology research and development funding by 20 percent every year until at least 2013. Among the areas targeted for funding include $162 million (120 million Euros) for research and development into networking, digital media and service infrastructure for the future Internet.