EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 30.09.2009 
SEC(2009) 1257 final 
  
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
 
accompanying the 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE CO MMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMI TTEE OF THE REGIONS 
 
"Preparing for our future: Developing a comm on strategy for key enabling technologies 
in the EU" 
 
Current situation of key enabling technologies in Europe  
{COM(2009) 512} 
 
EN 2   EN COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
 
accompanying the 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE CO MMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMI TTEE OF THE REGIONS 
 
"Preparing for our future: Developing a comm on strategy for key enabling technologies 
in the EU" 
 
Current situation of key enabling technologies in Europe  
  
1. T HE IMPORTANCE OF ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES  
Currently there has been no shared understandi ng within the EU on exactly what should be 
considered as key enabling tec hnologies (KETs). As a result there is no coherent strategy on 
European level on how these tec hnologies can be better brought to industrial deployment at a 
European level. The Communication on key enabling technologies develops a common 
strategy for KETs in the EU and proposes a set of measures to improve the related framework 
conditions1. 
KETs are knowledge intensiv e and associated with high R&D intensity, rapid innovation 
cycles, high capital expenditure  and highly-skilled employment . They enable process, goods 
and service innovation throughout the economy a nd are of systemic relevance. They are 
multidisciplinary, cutting across many technology areas with a trend towards convergence and 
integration. KETs can assist tec hnology leaders in other fields to capitalise on their research 
efforts.  
Several Member States have started to identify enabling technologies that are relevant to their 
future competitiveness and prosperity and targeted their R&D spending accordingly (see 
Table 1). Individual Member Stat e technology policies, while sim ilarly focused, often lack the 
synergies and benefits of economies of scale and scope that arise from more coordinated joint 
actions. Discussions have been also taken place at European level, but have so far not led to a 
shared understanding on which of these technologies a more strate gic cooperation is needed to 
improve industrial competitiveness2. The fragmentation of EU efforts is often caused by a lack 
of a long-term vision and of coordination. Better  division of work is needed to improve 
conditions for industrial exploitation in the EU. 
2. O VERVIEW OF KEY ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES  
The following section provides a brief description of the multidisciplinary characteristics of 
some KETs in the EU and explains why a dvanced materials, na notechnology, micro- and 
                                                 
1 COM(2009) 512. 
2 Synthesis report of the key technologies expert group (2005); Creative system disruption: towards a 
research strategy beyond Lisbon. 
 
EN 3   EN nano-electronics, industrial biotech  and photonics have been identi fied as priority to improve 
European industrial competitiveness. 
2.1. Advanced materials 
Advanced materials technologies lead both to new reduced cost substitutes to existing 
materials and to new higher added-value products and services. This will reduce resource dependency and environmental waste and hazard s at the same time. Besides the costs of 
capital, expenditure on materials is the most impor tant cost factor in high-technology related 
industries. They are of key importance for the co mpetitiveness of EU industry especially since 
Europe is not well endowed with natural resources. Overall, advanced materials markets are expected to offer an additional annual volum e within the EU of €55bn over the next 5 to 7 
years
3. There is considerable potential in the area of energy €19bn (e.g. catalysts and 
batteries), environment €12bn (e.g. polymers a nd smart packaging), health (e.g. tissue 
engineering), transport (e.g. lig htweight materials) and IC T (e.g. optical fibres and 
semiconductors).  
Material innovations can be used in practical ly all manufacturing industries and form an 
important element in the supply chain of many  high value manufactur ing businesses. They 
have the potential to lead to innovations in  key industries such as energy, aeronautics and 
space, automotive, engineering, textiles, electr onics and consumer goods. With a world-class 
research base and major strengths in both produ cer and user industries, the EU is a world 
leader in advanced materials. R&D in the key materials producing/using sectors4 is over € 
44bn per year in the EU compared to €25bn in the US and €23.5bn in Japan. Maintaining competitive strength will require an increase in  the added-value of the materials produced and 
the “knowledge embedded” in th em, as well as the productivity of industr ial processes while 
reducing energy and material consumption. Th e EU Framework Programmes for Research 
and Technological Development provide fundi ng for new and advanced materials. The 
National Science Foundation in the US alloca ted $257m of funding in the area of Materials 
Research in 2007
5. As part of the FP7 an annual averag e of €120m of EU funding (excluding 
support at national level) has b een allocated for materials res earch with increasing synergy 
thanks to FP7 and increasing EU-wide networking6.  
2.2. Nanotechnology 
Nanotechnology is an umbrella term that covers  the design, characterisation, production and 
application of structures, de vices and systems by controlli ng shape and size at nanometre 
scale. 
The global market for nanotechno logy has been estimat ed to amount to $147bn in 2007 and to 
grow to in most optimistic  assessments to $1 trillion7 and possibly to over $3 trillion by 
20158. The United States (40%) constitutes the biggest market for nanotechnology, followed 
by Europe (31%). Both regions are expected to amount to 35% of the worldwide market in 
                                                 
3 European Technology Platform on Sustainable Chemistry (2008). 
4 Defined as chemicals industry (excluding ph armaceuticals), industrial metals, aerospace, and 
automotive. 
5 National Science Foundation (2009).  
6 The European Multifunctional Materials Institute was created in the framework of the FP6 Network of 
Excellence. It serves as a European  platform to create and conduct proj ects in research and education in 
the field of multifunctional materials science. 
7 National Science Foundation estimates, see Red Herring (2001): “The Biotech Boom: the view from 
here”. 
8 LuxResearch (2009): “Nanomateria ls of the Market Q1 2009: Clean tech’s Dollar Investments, Penny 
Returns”. 
 
EN 4   EN 2015. Like today, the majority of global sale s will be attributed to manufacturing and 
materials (over 55%), followed by electronics and IT (over 23%).  
Advanced and novel materials can greatly bene fit from the integration of biotechnology and 
nanotechnology, e.g. for coating/surface engineer ing. The nanotechnology research base is 
well established in Europe (particular ly in nanomaterials, nanophotonics and 
nanobiotechnology). In 2008, EU research spen ding on nanotechnology from public sources 
was $2.6bn (some 30% of the world total) comp ared with $1.9bn in the US and some $2.8bn 
in Asia9. In Europe, over 240 research centres and 800 compan ies dedicated to the R&D of 
nanotechnology have been identified10. 
However, commercialising these research  efforts is proving difficult in Europe11. Private 
R&D investments amounts to only $1.7bn in Europe compared to $2.7 in the US and $2.8bn 
in Asia12. Moreover EU nanotech patenting lags well behind the US where most of the 
significant developments in the creation and act ivity of nanotech companies and related jobs 
can be observed. Despite the pote ntial interest from key EU indus tries such as aeronautics and 
space or automotive, a lack of engineering e xpertise seems to have held back adoption13. The 
EU market is fragmented, resulting in a lack of  critical mass that reduces the effectiveness of 
the commercialisation of na notechnology. Considering the st ate of technology maturity, 
issues related to environmental, health and sa fety (EHS) concerns, standardisation and public 
opinion needs to be addressed to ensure market acceptance and the deployment of 
nanotechnology14.  
European SMEs using nanomaterials are mostly  present in the automotive and medical and 
healthcare sectors followed by energy15. Within medical and heal thcare, implants (44%), 
molecular diagnostics (28%) and drug delivery  (27%) are the most important fields of 
application. Applications in the energy fiel d are mostly related to energy conversion or 
production (66%) followed by energy savi ng (38%) and energy storage (28%). 
2.3. Micro– and nanoelectronics 
Micro- and nanoelectronics de al with semiconductor compone nts and highly miniaturised 
electronic subsystems and their integrat ion in larger products and systems.  
The worldwide microelectronics market is  valued at $261bn in 2008 (up from $200bn in 
2000)16. Electronic data processing  and the telecom sector ar e the largest markets for 
microelectronics. However, semiconductor compone nts are rapidly penetrating in automotive, 
medical, industrial or consumer markets. The automotive sector for instance accounts for a 
larger proportion of microelectronics sales in Europe (19% in 2008) than it does in the world 
as a whole (8%)17 and Europe can further develop its st rengths in the automotive sector with 
excellent customer access and highly specialised  applications. Microelectronic components, 
                                                 
9 LuxResearch (2009). 
10 Conseil Economique et Social – France (2008) : "Les nanotechnologies" and AFSSET (2008):"Les 
nanomatériaux: sécurité au travail". 
11 26% of nanotech related patents are filed by the EU25, 40% by the US (Source: OECD patent database 
2007). 
12 LuxResearch (2009).  
13 Federal Ministry of Education and Research “The High Tech Strategy for Germany”. 
14 The European Commission adopted in February 2008 the Code of Conduct for Responsible 
Nanosciences and Nanot echnologies Research. 
15 Steinbeis Europa Zentrum (2005): “nanoroad  
SME“:http://www.nanoroad.net/download/sme_survey.pdf. 
16 OECD (2009): “OECD Information Technology Outlook 2008“. 
17 Future Horizons (2009): “Sem iconductor Market Overview”. 
 
EN 5   EN such as designer-customised integrated circuits  are also essential and major constituents of 
spacecraft. To qualify this technology for space, substantial efforts are needed to meet the 
harsh environment and reliability requireme nts (e.g. related to ra diation, temperature 
fluctuation, impossibility of repair, etc). Due to the required quality control, rigorous 
qualification and detailed analysis , the know-how gained has the potential to be used in other 
high reliability sectors (e.g. aeronautics, automotiv e or defence), as well as green technologies 
(e.g. low energy consumption). Microelectronics applications are present in many industries 
such as for industrial equipment or for consum er products (cameras, TV), automotive (safety 
management, fuel efficiency, engine controls ), computing and communications (e.g. wireless, 
smartcards). Microelectronics enables greate r energy efficiency in devices and control 
systems in many end-user applications. 
Europe has a declining share of worldwide i nvestment in microelectronics. From a total 
investment of €28bn in microelectronics in 2007 , only 10% was made in the EU compared to 
48% in Asia. Europe’s semiconductor market share has declined from 21% to 16% since 
200018. Nonetheless, total direct em ployment in microelectronics in Europe is over 110 000 
plus 105 000 in equipment manufacturers. Nevert heless, Europe has a number of dedicated 
regions with critical mass a nd particular semiconductor comp etencies which are recognised 
world-wide. These clusters, which address all a pplication fields and have access to the most 
advanced technologies are key assets fo r European industrial competiveness. 
2.4. Industrial biotechnology 
Industrial biotech is the application of bi otechnology for the indus trial processing and 
production of chemicals, materials and fuels.  It includes the practice of using micro-
organisms or components of micro-organisms li ke enzymes to generate  industrially useful 
products, substances and chemical building blocks  with specific capabilities that conventional 
petrochemical processes can not provide. Th ere are many examples of such bio-based 
products already on the market. The most mature applications are relate d to enzymes used in 
the food, feed and detergents sectors. More recent applications incl ude the production of 
biochemicals, biopolymers and biofuels from agricultural or  forest wastes. 
The contribution of industrial biotech to EU economic performance is currently modest, but 
growing rapidly. In a recent OECD study, it is estimated that biotechnology’s share of 
chemical production will increase from under 2% in 2005 to between 9 and 13% in 2010, 
accounting for $130-180 billion in value19. This implies annual grow th rates in the range of 
40-50% for bio based chemicals compared to 3% for overall chemical production.  
Europe is the world leader in key industrial biotec hnologies such as enzyme technologies and 
fermentation. The most important enzyme produ cers are located in Europe with a total of 
about 80 in Europe compared to 20 in the US20. Nearly 70% of the estimated $313bn spent in 
2006 on R&D of relevance to biotechnology by lead ing companies in industrial applications, 
was spent by European firms21. 
The global industrial enzyme market was wort h about €2.1 billion in 2008. Approximately a 
third of that figure was accounted for by deterg ent enzyme sales and another third by food and 
feed enzymes. The detergent enzymes market is growing by about 4.5% per year, mainly for dishwasher and liquid detergents. Enzymes fo r food manufacturing have an estimated annual 
                                                
 
18 OECD (2009): “OECD Information Technology Outlook 2008“. 
19 The Bioeconomy to 2030, Designing a Policy Agenda, OECD 2009. 
20 The Bio4EU Analysis report (European Communities 2008). 
21 The Bioeconomy to 2030, Designing a Policy Agenda, OECD 2009. 
 
EN 6   EN growth rate of 2-3%.In biofue ls, large quantities of biodiesel and bioethanol are being 
produced, largely driven by government support a nd high energy costs. While this is mostly 
produced using conventional t echnologies, improved industria l biotech processes that 
facilitate the conversion of biom ass into fuel are being developed. For example, pilot plants 
are producing bioethanol from lignocellulosic bi omass such as wood or agricultural waste and 
full-scale commercialisation is conceivable in 2011–201222. 
2.5. Photonics 
Photonics is a multidisciplinary domain deali ng with the science and technology of light, 
encompassing its generation, detection and ma nagement. The EU has strong positions in 
many photonics applications such as solid stat e lighting (including LEDs), solar cells, and 
laser assisted manufacturing. The Optoelec tronics Industry Deve lopment Association 
estimates that the global optoelectronics ma rket reached a value of $565 billion in 200623. The 
global market for optoelectronic components was worth $356 billion in 2008 and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 3.1% up to 2020. In particular, the green photonics (e.g. 
solar/photovoltaics, LEDs, solid-st ate lighting, and displays) share of this market is expected 
to grow from some 8% to over 50% in 2020. The $200bn global market for optoelectronic-enabled products (including consumer display/TV  and computing/processi ng) and is expected 
to double in size by 2020. The European photonics industry accounted for revenues of about 
€49 billion in 2006 and is growing rapidly.  
Photonics is a good example of an enabli ng technology, as there are around 5 000 photonics 
manufacturers in Europe employing around 246 000 persons (excluding subcontractors) 
directly. In addition, the jobs of over 2 milli on more employees in the EU´s manufacturing 
sector depend directly on photonic products . Germany accounts for 39% of European 
production volume, followed by France and UK (12%  each), the Netherlands (10%) and Italy 
(8%). Private R&D investment by the Europe an photonics industry am ounts to €3.3 billion 
annually, which represents 9% of turnover
24. The European production made up some 19% of 
the world market in 200525. However, production is dominated  by Asia, notably Japan (32%), 
Korea (12%) and Taiwan (11%). North Americ a has some 15% of the worldwide production 
volume.  
The potential of these technologi es is largely untapped. Increas ingly systemic solutions will 
be needed and evolve in order to address ma jor societal challenges, such as ensuring high-
speed communication, preserving food produc tion, the environment, finding appropriate 
transport solutions, ensuring high levels of health care for an ageing population, unlocking the 
potential of services, ensuring internal and external security and addressing the energy 
question. Low carbon technologies and applications will play  a vital role in reaching 
European energy and climate change targets. For instance, CCS and CO 2-related transport 
grids will be needed to reduce CO 2 emission in countries that will  continue to re ly heavily on 
fossil energy sources. KETs, such as new ma terials for energy production, transportation and 
storage play an essential role. They could lead to better re source and energy efficiency and 
                                                 
22 Novozymes 2008 report and The Bio4EU Analysis report (European Communities 2008). 
23 The “Photonics in Europe” study by Photonics21 presents a smaller figure for the world market for 
photonics products (€228 billion in 2005). This figure doe s not include accessories, parts and service, 
retail sales cost, optical fibres and fi bre cables for communication purposes. 
24 Towards a Bright Future for Europe, Strategic Research Agenda in Photonics, Photonics21, 2006. 
25 Photonics in Europe, Economic  Impact, Photonics21 and Opt ech Consulting, December 2007. 
 
EN 7   EN their environmental impact need to be assessed in a life-cycle pe rspective, taking  advantage of 
the related initiatives promoted at EU level in this context26.  
In the supply chain of KETs advanced manufacturing systems  denote the range of high-
technologies involved in manuf acturing, leading to improvements in terms of new product 
properties, production speed, cost, energy and materials consumption, operating precision, 
waste and pollution management. This is especial ly relevant in capital intensive industries 
with complex assembly methods. They are needed  to help create marketable knowledge-based 
goods and the related services (e.g. modern  robotics). For example, the production and 
assembly of modern aircraft involves the whol e spectrum of manufactur ing technologies from 
the simulation and programming of robotic asse mbly lines to reducing energy and materials 
consumption. Other examples include intellig ent control systems, automation for modelling 
and production. They can be applied in all manu facturing industries an d form an important 
element in the supply chain of many high va lue manufacturing busines ses. They make up 
some 10.5% of EU industrial productions and pr ovide some 2.2 million jobs and account for 
19% of EU exports and over 40% of EU private sector R&D expenditure27. 
Given the rapid development in science and re search the above tech nologies may rapidly 
become global in the years to come and other technologies may emerge.  
                                                 
26 See the Integrated Produ ct Policy Communication COM (2003) 302; The Strategic Energy Technology 
Plan COM (2007) 723 has the main objective to accelerate the deve lopment of key technologies such as 
CCS and renewable technologies; The European En ergy Research Alliance (EERA) launched within 
the framework of the SET-Plan will set up joint prog rammes, including basic energy science, enabling 
and breakthrough technologies.  
27 ManuFuture Platform “Strategic Research  Agenda”, http://www.manufuture.org/. 
 
EN 8   EN Table 1: Key enabling high technologies iden tified by Member States and the Commission's 
Key Technologies expert group 
Germany: 
 United Kingdom: 
 France: 
 European Commission: 
 
Nanotechnology Nanotechnology  Nanotechnology 
Biotechnology Bioscience  Biotechnology 
Microsystems 
technology • Micro- and nanocomponents 
for Microsystems  
 
Optical technologies  
Electronics, photonics and 
electrical systems 
• Monitoring of image analysis 
processes 
• Photonic systems and 
processes 
• Intelligent sensors and signal 
processing  
Materials technologies Advanced materials • Advanced materials 
• Assembly of multi materials 
• New processes for surface 
processing Materials science and 
engineering 
Production technologies High value manufacturing: 
• Products 
• Processes 
• Service systems 
• Value systems • System engineering Manufacturing: 
• Adaptable 
manufacturing 
systems 
• ICT 
• modelling/simulation 
 ICT • Computing & software tools 
and methods for 
collaboration  ICT 
 High value services • Knowledge transfer 
framework for technology  
Sources: Synthesis report of the key technologies expert group (2005); Creative system disruption: towards a 
research strategy beyond Lisbon; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research: The High-Tech Strategy for 
Germany (2006); French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry: Technologies clés 2010 (2006); UK 
Technology Strategy Board: Connect and Catalyse, a strategy for business innovation 2008-2011 (May 2008).