THE Defence Evaluation and Research Agency has got together with top names in the electronics industry to win a £2.82 million grant from Europe.
The Malvern-based Microsystems Department has joined forces with Philips, Olivetti and other partners to secure the deal.
It means the Malvern lab is the only officially-certified Semiconductor Equipment Assessment (SEA) facility in Britain.
Apart from the Euro-grant, contributions from DERA's industrial partners will boost the project's total budget to around £4.7 million.
The aim of the programme - called MICROSPECT, for Microsystems Production Evaluated Cluster Tool - is to test the efficiency of a device called ASPECT.
ASPECT will be used to make micro- electro-mechanical systems, designed by DERA and its partners for use in Internet and other applications.
The project starts this month and is scheduled to go on for 18 months. Team leader is Dr Chris Pickering, who will be holding an open workshop at the end of the project to discuss its results.
DERA's other partners in the project are Surface Technology Systems, who are the designers of the ASPECT device, BCO Technologies and VTT, the national research laboratory of Finland.
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