Luxembourg's membership in the European Union affords it access to information technology financing through programs established by the Union, some of which seek to provide research as well as start-up funding.

11.1    Examples of Past, Current, and Future Capital Sources

        Jessi (Joint European Submicron Semiconductor Initiative)

The precursor to the Medea program, this program is credited to help close the technology gap between EU countries and other primary technology regions such as the U.S., Japan, Taiwan, and Korea.

        Medea (Microelectronics Developments for European Applications)

A European-Union government-supported collaborative microelectronics research effort which provided 50% funding support for individual projects.  Medea has aided Europe's major semiconductor companies in developing specific micron process technologies and specialized circuits for the multimedia, telecommunications, and automotive electronics industries.  Medea was budgeted with $USD500 million per year for a total of eight years and the program will end in December of 2000.

Recommendations for programs to follow Medea include:

• admission of systems companies
• support for companies in their start-up years
• funding support at the 50% level
• focus on system-on-chip (SoC), specialized embedded technologies such as RF and analog circuits, and extended ultraviolet lithography technology
• France, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium have been strong participants in Medea along with major semiconductor companies such as Alcatel, Infineon, Philips, and STMicroelectronics.

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