Objectives
The overarching objectives of the Joint European Forum for IPCEI (JEF-IPCEI) are to identify areas of strategic EU interest for potential future IPCEIs and to increase the effectiveness of the designing, assessment and implementation of IPCEI. The JEF-IPCEI will work towards these objectives by:
- Better aligning potential new IPCEIs with the policy objectives of the EU industrial strategy;
- Improving the process, speed, design and assessment of IPCEIs (based on existing State Aid rules) through facilitating exchanges on best practices, lessons learnt and streamlining procedural and operative framework conditions.
The JEF-IPCEI will cover the entire lifecycle of the IPCEI process and work on the following four workstreams: (1) Identification, (2) Design, (3) Assessment, and (4) Implementation and Evaluation.
Key principles
- A partnership between the Commission and Member States: The JEF-IPCEI is composed of Member States authorities and European Commission representatives. On an ad hoc basis, the JEF-IPCEI may also invite representatives from candidate countries, industry, academia and other stakeholders, only where relevant.
- A single forum co-led by Directorate General for Competition (DG COMP) and Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW): Exploiting the full potential of IPCEIs requires the combined expertise in their respective areas of DG GROW and DG COMP in a single, co-chaired forum. Other Commission services that are already or will potentially be involved in specific IPCEIs will also be invited when relevant.
- The forum is organised around two levels:
- High level: senior MS officials responsible for economic and industrial policy (nominated by Member States) and senior officials from the European Commission.
- Technical level: Member State authorities responsible for IPCEI matters (nominated by Member States) and officials from the European Commission.
- Frequency: depending on the tasks to be addressed, the JEF-IPCEI would meet in either the technical or the high-level formation. The two levels will meet with different frequencies: potentially two (high-level) to four (technical level) meetings per year.
In the menu below, you will find more information on the participants of the JEF, the past JEF meetings and the upcoming meetings.
Upcoming JEF-IPCEI Meetings - Draft Timeline
- Q2 20243rd Technical-level meeting
- Q2 20244th Technical-level meeting
- Q4 20245th Technical-level meeting
- Q4 20242nd High-level meeting
2nd technical JEF-IPCEI meeting on 26 January 2024
On 26 January 2024, the second technical meeting of the Joint European Forum for IPCEI took place with the active participation and contribution of the majority of Member States. During the meeting, the timeline of the JEF-IPCEI meetings for 2024 and the 2024 workplan were presented and approved at technical level. The Member States were invited to express their interest in leading and participating in working groups within the JEF-IPCEI. Moreover, the JEF-IPCEI agreed for developing a common methodology to evaluate and identify new candidate technologies or infrastructures potentially relevant for an IPCEI. Member States were invited to propose and discuss potential candidate technologies. The Netherlands presented a dedicated framework it has developed across ministries to assess the relevance of their participation in IPCEIs.
1st technical JEF-IPCEI meeting on 20 October 2023
On 20 October 2023 the first technical meeting of the Joint European Forum for IPCEI took place with participants from almost all Member States. Member States shared their strong support for the forum and emphasized the need for increased cooperation between Member States and between Member States and the Commission on IPCEIs. During the meeting, the structure and goals of the JEF were discussed. DG COMP presented various ways in which it improved the facilitation of IPCEI procedures (i.e., the Code of good practices for a transparent, inclusive, faster design and assessment of IPCEIs and the standardized IPCEI Project Portfolio Template). Two Member States (France and Austria) presented their experiences in IPCEIs and pointed to various potential areas for improvement. DG GROW chaired a discussion on how to improve the implementation of IPCEIs.
1st high-level meeting of the JEF-IPCEI on 7 March
A successful first high-level meeting of the Joint European Forum for Important Projects of Common European Interest (JEF-IPCEI) took place on the 7th of March in Brussels, co-chaired by Kerstin Jorna, Director General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and Olivier Guersent, Director General for Competition in the European Commission. The meeting was attended by representatives of all EU Member States and Norway. During the discussions, the high-level representatives agreed to the JEF-IPCEI work plan for 2024, aiming for concrete results by the end of the year. Building on the work done by the technical experts since the set-up of the JEF-IPCEI in October 2023, the high-level formation approved the methodology for identification of potential new candidate technologies or infrastructures for future IPCEIs. Technology areas for pilot assessment have been identified, among which, clean, digital and nuclear technologies, as well as biotechnologies and advanced materials. The member State authorities and the Commission services will now continue the collaborative work on implementing the work plan to increase the effectiveness of the IPCEI process and identify potential new IPCEIs.