The EU announced its 7^th Framework research programme which will pump 8.1bn euro into research across the continent including 1.5bn euro to support ICT developments.

Funding will include support for the European Cloud Partnership (ECP) being launched later this year. The ECP will tackle challenges caused by fragmented markets and legislation for cloud computing, “so that providers can start building trustworthy clouds, fit for Europe.”

“The cloud partnership, and indeed our overall cloud computing strategy, is not about building a European super-cloud, neither outright nor by forcing the integration of existing public cloud infrastructures. Cloud business models, and the set-up of cloud suppliers' and publicly-run data centres, should be determined by efficiency considerations on the market,” said Neelie Kroes, VP for the digital agenda  at the European Eommission speaking earlier this year at the start of the ECP consultation process.

The EU said that by early 2013, two Future Emerging Technologies (FET) flagship initiatives will have been selected and will be eligible for up to €100 million in FP7- funding during their first year. in ICT. (see list below)
 

Around €365 million will be invested to support innovation in energy, transport and information and communication technologies (ICT) to transform urban areas into smart, sustainable, low-carbon environments that are resilient to the impacts of climate change. Every year 2.5 % of the Union's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on energy imports, and this will likely increase.

The Future Emerging Technologies List from which two projects will be announced as receiving funding:

FuturICT Knowledge Accelerator and Crisis-Relief System: ICT can analyse vast amounts of data and complex situations so as to better predict natural disasters, or manage and respond to man-made disasters that cross national borders or continents.

Graphene Science and technology for ICT and beyond: Graphene is a new substance developed by atomic and molecular scale manipulation that could replace silicon as the wonder material of the 21st century.

Guardian Angels for a Smarter Life: tiny devices without batteries that act like autonomous personal assistants, and which can sense, compute and communicate potentially even while travelling through your bloodstream.

The Human Brain Project: understanding the way in which the human brain works can bring the benefits of brain-related or brain-inspired developments to computing architectures, neuroscience and medicine.

IT Future of Medicine: digital technology has the power to deliver individualised medicine, based on molecular, physiological and anatomical data collected from individual patients and processed on the basis of globally integrated medical knowledge.

Robot Companions for Citizens: soft skinned and intelligent robots have highly developed perceptive, cognitive and emotional skills, and can help people, radically changing the way humans interact with machines.