Meet Me in Milan: RoboBusiness Europe 2015

I look forward to attending my first RoboBusiness Europe event next week in Milan, Italy. As investors, developers, manufacturers, end-user organizations, and consumers worldwide look to the maturing robotics industry, this will be a prime opportunity to see how Europe is striving to take leadership.

The panels at the Milan show, which runs from Wednesday, April 29, through Thursday, April 30, will cover a range of issues. How does global demand affect European industrial automation? What progress has there been in establishing common standards? How can Europe improve the process of developing robotics systems, from university research through commercialization?

In addition, there will be various workshops, an expo area, matchmaking events, and the associated M2M+IoT Forum, as well as the Pitchfire event recognizing robotics and Internet of Things startups. RoboBusiness Europe 2015 is also part of Disruptive Week, which focuses on disruptive technologies.

I’ll be interested in learning how the European model of innovation may be similar to or different from how robots are developed in Eastern Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region.

How are European robot makers addressing the same use cases and markets as their international rivals and partners? What regulatory and funding challenges are unique to the continent, and how are local companies overcoming them? Which industries are taking the lead, and who are the up and coming players?

EU threatens Horizon 2020 robotics funds

Of course, it’s not all wine and roses in Milan. The EU has threatened to take some Horizon 2020 funds and give them to an economic recovery fund. Horizon 2020 began in January 2014 with plans to invest €6.2 billion ($8.5 billion) in emerging technologies, including €700 million ($758 billion) in robotics.

With matching funds from industry, the EU would have had “the largest civilian robotics research and development program in the world — something which will all together create 75,000 new qualified jobs in service robotics, and 140,000 new jobs in wider service industries, and a boost of €80 billion [$86 billion] to GDP,” claimed European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes.

About €80 million ($87 million) has already been spent on 17 projects through 2018. Horizon 2020 isn’t the only policy pursuing reindustrialization, environmental protection, and global competitiveness through public-private partnerships.

The SPARC initiative was aimed at increasing Europe’s share of the global robotics market, which is expected to reach €60 billion, or about $65 billion, per year by 2020. The initiative was expected to create more than 240,000 jobs and increase Europe’s market share to 42% (an increase of €4 billion, or $4.3 billion per year). The euRobotics program would also invest €2.1 billion ($2.27 billion).

In January 2015, however, European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker proposed shifting €2.7 billion ($2.9 billion) over five and a half years. Industry observers noted that the largest cuts would come from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology in Budapest and the European Research Council, while projects in wealthier countries would remain relatively unscathed.

There have also been complaints that it’s too difficult to get funding because of bureaucracy. The Key Enabling Technologies grants were particularly popular, at more than 50% of total applications. A third of those were from small and midsize companies.

A possible reprieve for Horizon 2020

The proposed cuts didn’t go unanswered. Universities sent letters recommending against diverting funds to the European Fund for Strategic Investments. Venture capitalists, including a large contingent from the U.K., have lobbied against the cuts.

The European Parliament’s committees on Industry, Energy, and Research; Budget; and Economic and Monetary Affairs agreed on April 22 to try to protect the Horizon 2020 budget.

Keeping Europe competitive in robotics

Demographic and political strains from an aging population and migrant workers from outside the EU are no doubt contributing to the drive toward automation, especially in agriculture, but can robotics proponents overcome perceptions of imminent job losses with human-robot collaboration? Conversely, why is the regulatory environment for autonomous vehicles and drones friendlier in Europe than in the U.S.?

European robotics partnerships are urgent because of overseas competition. The U.S. has launched its own National Robotics Initiative, and Russia’s Skolkovo Foundation and China’s Cybernaut Investment Group have agreed to a $200 million venture capital fund, business incubator, and robotics center. The governments of both Russia and China are strong supporters of the pact, and enterprises such as Airbus, Boeing, and GE already have agreements with the Skolkovo Foundation.

Does resurgent nationalism help European roboticists through increased competition and local attention, or is the EC the only organization with scale to address the problem? How much of European robotics news coverage in the U.S. is filtered through our own biases and lack of complete information? I hope to find people in Milan who will be candid, debate freely, and otherwise enlighten me!