The European Commission launched on the 22nd February 2008 in Brussels, a major Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) called ARTEMIS. With an unprecedented investment of € 2.5 billion, this initiative, that has been endorsed by the Council of Ministers and by the European Parliament at the end of 2007, addresses embedded computer systems that – while running almost unnoticed by users – improve the performance of all kinds of machines: from cars, planes and phones, to factories, washing machines and televisions. The Governing Boards of ARTEMIS – where public and private stakeholders take decisions jointly – met for the first time in Brussels on the 22nd February 2008.

98 % of computing devices are embedded in all kinds of electronic equipment and machines. Computers are now present in everyday devices like mobile phones, credit cards, cars and planes or places like homes, offices and factories. Over 4 billion embedded processors were sold last year and the global market is worth € 60 billion with annual growth rates of 14 %. Forecasts predict more than 16 billion embedded devices by 2010 and over 40 billion by 2020. This is the commercial opportunity to be addressed by the € 2.5 billion of research invested during the next 10 years. In the meantime, the share of embedded systems in the value of final products is expected to continue to rise in key industrial sectors. Taking the example of a car, by 2010 over 35 % of its value will be attributable to embedded electronics.

To promote economies of scale, cost savings and much shorter times to market for products based on embedded computer technologies, and to keep European industry at the forefront of global developments in these fields, the EU has decided, following a European Commission proposal from May 2007 to pioneer an entirely new way of funding this research in Europe. The Commission and the EU Member States who wish to participate will pool their public funding with universities and industry, including many innovative SMEs, by setting up a public-private partnership. While research funding in embedded systems so far tends to be fragmented in small projects funded by individual Member States and agencies, the new "open" consortium – with the name ARTEMIS – allows Member States and the Commission to co-operate and co-finance pan-European research initiatives focussed on a strategic agenda set by Industry itself. Private and public stakeholders are equally represented in the Governing Boards to jointly take all strategic decisions.

Participants
At the moment, the following Member States participate in ARTEMIS: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom