The EPP Group says it has “fought tooth and nail” for €20 billion in public-private partnerships to tackle global challenges.
“We all know the kind of challenges that planet earth, and indeed humanity, are facing today. Innovation holds the promise to overcome them”, declared Maria da Graça Carvalho MEP, the European Parliament Rapporteur on nine industrial partnerships.
On Tuesday, the Members of the European Parliament will debate and vote on these nine public-private partnerships, covering key sectors of our economy, including mobility, health, energy, circular economy and digital technologies.
“One notable success story of these partnerships is the malaria vaccine developed for children, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa with moderate to high malaria transmission. This vaccine was strongly supported by one of these nine partnerships, namely Global Health. Indeed, the World Health Organisation has just approved the use of this malaria vaccine and Global Health remains committed to the further development of vaccines for malaria and AIDS.”
Maria da Graça Carvalho
Global Health is a very wide alliance which includes the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and EU and African countries and industry. It supported the development of the malaria vaccine both directly and indirectly through funding clinical research and capacity strengthening in Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Gabon, Ghana and Burkina Faso.
One other partnership is called Clean Aviation. “Without clean aeroplanes, we would not be able to reduce CO2 emissions. Therefore, we need to dedicate time and money to new technologies which would help us reach our climate targets but also generate new jobs”, said Carvalho.
In discussions with the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, Carvalho pushed for a drastic reduction of bureaucracy and increased openness in order to make these partnerships open to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. They will be represented in all the different value chains and activities.
These partnerships are funded by the EU budget and are matched by industry contributions. Primarily, they are roadmaps for innovation in each sector and fund projects that have an impact on the future direction of certain technologies.
The nine public-private partnerships are:
• Circular Bio-based Europe
• Clean Aviation
• Clean Hydrogen
• Europe’s Rail
• Global Health EDCTP3
• Innovative Health Initiative
• Key Digital Technologies
• Single European Sky ATM Research 3
• Smart Networks and Services
