Automation and robotics in European and German Public R and D programmes

Within the European Community (EC) and its member states like Germany a lot of public R&D activities exist. Some of these activities are implicitely of explicitely related to Automation and Robotics (A&R). To coordinate and support R&D the EC has installed so-called Framework Programmes covering different areas of interest and comprising several R&D programmes. Some of them contain a big share of A&R such as EXPRIT (information technology), BRITE/EURAM (industrial technology/advanced materials) and TIDE (rehabilitation technology). The EUREKA-initiative within the EC is not a R&D programme, but a coordination tool (without an official budget) for projects which are nearer to the market and do not belong to basic research. In Germany R&D can be found mainly within the programme "Manufacturing Technology" which focuses on new manufacturing technologies for high-tech materials and flexibly automated assembly (in cooperation with EUREKA).