Being part of Horiwon 2020, LEIT is focused on new opportunities for industrial leadership in Key Enabling Technologies (KETs), ICT and space. The FOF PPP implemented under LEIT is supported by two directorates of the European Commissions:. DG R&I (Directorate General for Research & Innovation and Directorate General DG CONNECT (Communication Networks, Content and Technology), which both contribute to the key industrial competences determining Europe´s global competitiveness.

It concentrates on increasing the technological base of EU manufacturing through the development and integration of the key enabling technologies of the future, such as innovative technologies for adaptable machines, ICT for manufacturing, and the novel industrial handling of advanced materials.

The ICT Role - ICT plays an essential role in innovating production systems in all sectors. It allows notably for a more personalized, diversified and mass-produced product portfolio and for rapid and flexible reaction to market changes.

The ICT contribution (DG CONNECT) to the Factories of the Future contractual PPP, with the estimated funding of 450 MEUR in H2020, builds on European world leading position in a number of sectors (e.g. industrial robotics and factory automation, embedded digital systems, enterprise and design software, and 3D- and laser-based manufacturing) and on new developments such as Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Cyber-Physical Systems, modelling and simulation to deliver more efficient, flexible, smarter and sustainable production capabilities.

See also https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/smart-manufacturing

Innovation & SMEs: Crossing the "Valley of Death" by turning the results of research to the innovative and competitive products presents an important area addressed by FoF ICT.

Already under FP7, the Commission has launched a new 77 million € innovation initiative called I4MS (innovation for manufacturing SMEs) for the manufacturing sector, and in particular its high-tech small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) ? both on the supply and on the demand side to profit from newest advances in ICT. See http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/computing/home-i4ms_en.html and also www.i4ms.eu