§ 49. Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the current position on the EUREKA strategic defence research project.
§ Mr. PattieEUREKA is not a strategic defence research project. The EUREKA initiative now engages the Governments of all the present and acceding members of the European Community, Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey, as well as the European Commission.
There is a broad consensus that most EUREKA projects should have as their objective the exploitation of advanced technologies through the development and marketing of products and processes with a profitable global sales potential, where this can more effectively be achieved within Europe on a co-operative basis. There is also a broad consensus among Government that a more closely integrated European market can make an important contribution to the success of EUREKA projects.
My Department has been in close consultation with United Kingdom industry to ensure that EUREKA is shaped by industry's needs. With its guidance, we have identified six market/product areas in which specific collaborative projects could emerge in due course.
EUREKA projects will serve civilian purposes.