Increasing the competitiveness of the industry, creating employment, protecting the continental markets from global competition, boosting research. This is the purpose of the rise in EU investments in the area of robotics, which was announced during the "Automatica" fair of Munich, Germany. The EU Commission has planned to double up EU investments for the period 2007-2010, bringing its funds for research to 400 million euros. "The goal of this programme is to strengthen the link between the academic world and the business world, by funding far-ranging experimentation"; the EU Executive "asks the industry to work harder to produce basic components, such as gears, in Europe, so as to cope with Asian competition and prevent dependency on other parts of the world". Commissioner Viviane Reding is following the file on European automatic companies, which manufacture one third of the world’s industrial robots. The EU is betting on one of the key manufacturing industries, which is therefore a key industry for the economy of the 27 member states. "Only automation explains Reding will enable such high-wages regions as Europe to preserve their industry".
