The European Court of Auditors has criticised the European Union’s Esprit research programme for poor administration and lack of marketable results, after receiving heavy funding over the past decade. The Court has published a 123-page report Fstating Esprit has failed in its aim of developing technology that would make the European electronics industry competitive. There is still insufficient coverage of European needs by local production, the report says – for example, although Europe represents 34% of the world market for integrated circuits, it supplies only 9% itself. Moreover, the report suggests that part of the problem lies in Esprit’s choice of projects – a good many projects were conceived and carried out with little concern for marketing potential, it declared.
