European Commission appoints former minister to chair High Level Group on Industrial Technologies

Following the September 2017 Communication, 'A renewed industrial strategy for Europe', that highlights the need to ensure European leadership in technologies that are strategic for our industry, the Commission has set up a 'High-Level Strategy Group on Industrial Technologies'.

The Chair of the group will be Dr Jürgen Rüttgers, who served as the Federal Minister for Education, Science, Research and Technology in Germany from 1994 to 1998, and as Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2005 to 2010. He has outstanding expertise in research and innovation policies at European, national and regional level.

The group will give strategic recommendations to the Commission on which industrial technologies to prioritise in European research and innovation to strengthen Europe's innovation capacity and leadership in industrial technologies.

The group will also advise on the best possible ways to maximise the uptake by industry of Europe's key enabling technologies. The members of the group are high-level experts from industry, academia, research and technology organisations, the finance sector and trade unions.

The group is expected to deliver its report in spring 2018. The report will feed into preparations for the successor to Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation programme.