Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) enable Member States to pool resources and cooperate to support breakthrough innovations or large-scale infrastructure projects in key sectors and technologies, with positive spill-over effects on the internal market and society as a whole.

To date six integrated IPCEIs (2 in battery, 2 in semiconductor and 2 in hydrogen ecosystems) have been launched and approved. This amounts to 225 projects across 21 Member States with a value of €26.7 billion of public support, unlocking €50 billion of private investments.

The Commission is setting up the Joint European Forum for Important Project of Common European Interest (JEF-IPCEI), following a request formulated by Member States to set up a new forum allowing them to exchange on a regular and systematic basis. The forum will be co-led by the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) and the Directorate General for Competition (DG COMP).

The objectives of the JEF-IPCEI will be to identify areas of strategic EU interest for potential future IPCEIs and to increase the effectiveness of the IPCEI process. The JEF-IPCEI will work towards these objectives by better aligning potential new IPCEIs with the policy objectives of the EU industrial strategy and improving the process, speed, and design of IPCEIs.

The JEF-IPCEI will bring together experts from Member States and the Commission services, as well as representatives from the industry, academia, and other stakeholders where relevant. The forum will work towards its objectives through joint analytical work and discussions, exchanges on best practices, lessons learnt and streamlining of procedural and operative framework conditions. It will cover the entire lifecycle of IPCEIs: identification, design, assessment, and implementation.