Final report on Key Enabling Technologies - European Commission ...

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1.2 KETS UndERpIn EURopEAn EConoMY CoMpETITIVEnESS And EURopE’S
CApAbIlITY To RESpond To gRAnd ChAllEngES
KETs underpin innovation in many strategic sectors and play a key role in making new products and services
affordable for the population at large. They contribute to the development of disruptive technologies across sectors
such as energy (e.g. renewable energies, bio-fuel, solar energy etc.), transport (e.g. lighter, safer and energy efficient
transport vehicles), manufacturing (e.g. reduced material and process rates, energy saving), chemistry (e.g. green
processing) and environment (e.g. sensors for environmental monitoring), information and communication (e.g.
chips for nomadic, multimedia convergence and cloud computing), medicine (e.g. gene therapy and genetic testing)
and consumer goods (e.g. mobile phones, lighting). They also contribute to the build-out of a more productive,
competitive, energy and resource-efficient economy. Products with enhanced features have the potential to bear
high economic value as well as ensure a more comfortable, healthy and safe life for European consumers and workers
in a clean environment.
The mastering and deployment of KETs in Europe are expected to provide significant economic benefits, offering
a widening variety of uses in an increasing number of application areas and industries, as well as contributing to
energy and resource efficiency, through innovative materials, processes, technologies and applications.
Economic impact
The macroeconomic importance of KETs is that they can open up entirely new markets or underpin and enhance
existing markets through accelerating technological progress with trickle-down effects on productivity and
concurrent leaps in efficiency levels. In addition to feeding numerous full value chains, products based on KETs
often serve as inputs of great value added that are integrated into more complex products. It is these subsequent
applications that drive major economic growth and competitiveness.
The market potential for specific KETs is shown below 16 .
Nanotechnology
Micro and
nanoelectronics
Industrial biotechnology
Photonics
Advanced Materials
Advanced Manufacturing
systems
TOTAL
Table 1: Estimated global market potentials of Key Enabling Technologies
The market size estimation data represent an average across entire market sectors. Within specific KETs, the annual
growth rate of the industries that they support varies dramatically with very significant niche opportunities. For
example, the average annual growth rate of the global photovoltaic industry exceeds 25%. Likewise, products
16. Source: Background study; Confindustria (2009).
Current market size
(~2006/08)
USD
12 bn
250 bn
90 bn
230 bn
100 bn
150 bn
832 bn
Expected size in 2015
(~2012/15)
USD
27 bn
300 bn
125 bn
480 bn
150 bn
200 bn
1282 bn
Expected
compound annual
growth rate
16%
13%
6%
8%
6%
5%