(28 August 2015) – The European Commission is awarding €36 million to bring innovative ideas to market quicker. In total, 16 innovative projects, involving partners from 19 countries, will receive up to €3 million each under the first round of the Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) pilot scheme, run under the EU’s research and innovation programme Horizon 2020.
The projects include launching an airborne wind energy system, protecting people from disease-carrying mosquitoes, making sustainable, renewable and cheaper plastics from wood, and developing intelligent needle tracking for anaesthetics.
The FTI pilot scheme (2015-2016) was launched in January 2015. The scheme proved popular from the beginning, receiving 269 proposals by the first ever cut-off date for applications on 29 April. Among the consortia, 82% of all partners were from industry and almost half were SMEs.
Independent experts have selected 16 proposals for funding. Germany leads with 13 project partners, followed by France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom with nine each.