Minalogic has certified 11 of the 63 projects selected for funding under the 13th round of the French government's FUI (Fonds Unique Interministériel) program.

The combined R&D budget for these 11 projects is €55.7 million, including €23 million in grants from the EU (under the European Regional Development Fund), the French government, and local governments.

What makes this round of FUI funding stand out is the increasing number of application-oriented R&D projects. Unlike projects intended to develop "technology bricks" that will be used to further research in a given field, application-oriented projects lead to the market introduction of a new product within one to two years.

While a mere 20% of Minalogic projects selected for FUI funding back in 2006 were application-oriented, this year an impressive 91%-or 10 out of every 11 that applied-are focused on applications. The selected projects cover a wide variety of industries like consumer electronics, healthcare, mobility, and information and communication technology.

The 11 projects are :

• ASMART

High-speed, secure integrated circuits for contactless smart cards, using fully-asynchronous technology

• BLUESKY

Communicating industrial automation systems

• Fahrenheit2451

Robust, stable, and tamper-proof data archiving with a lifespan in the thousands of years for the storage of both color and high-definition data

• Fluoromis II

Endoscopic surgery systems bringing together fluorescence and robotics

• LOKEOS

Ultra-wideband identification and localization systems

• Migas2

Miniature gas analysis systems for measuring indoor air quality

• Plug In Nano

Materials to replace the gold in microwave-frequency connectors and automotive applications

• Rapsodie

Automatic voice recognition systems for the hearing-impaired and disabled

• ROBINSON

Systems to measure tire pressure and temperature

• SONAT

Next-generation digital speakers using MEMS technology

• TOUCHIT

Haptic feedback technology for touch screens