Robotics ban to hamper innovation!

"The future of robotics will be shaped by innovation, cooperation and common safety standards, not by trade barriers."

The VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau - German Engineering Federation) is warning of the consequences of the United States Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) latest measure: new models of mobile robots, humanoid robot systems and inverters will no longer receive FCC certification unless they are manufactured in the US with at least 65 per cent American value added.

Thilo Brodtmann

“Strengthening technological sovereignty and protecting critical infrastructure are important and legitimate objectives. However, the measure that has now been adopted relies on isolation rather than cooperation and will therefore hamper innovation and competitiveness. Important products on which American industry itself relies will therefore no longer be able to be exported to the US,” said VDMA Executive Director Thilo Brodtmann.

From the perspective of the mechanical and plant engineering sector, the aim of building a strong domestic robotics industry in the US is understandable. At the same time, in the face of a skills shortage and international competitive pressure, American industry needs to boldly accelerate automation. Cooperation with European robotics and automation suppliers is of particular importance in this regard. The new market access restrictions will make this cooperation considerably more difficult.

The VDMA doubts that new national value chains can be established quickly enough in this way to support the US’s ambitious re-industrialisation targets. “The use of transatlantic synergies in AI-based robotics promises significantly greater benefits. Common standards, trustworthy partnerships and close cooperation between European and American technology providers increase resilience to cyber-attacks more effectively than local manufacturing quotas,” he emphasised.

The association also takes a critical view of the measure’s introduction at short notice and without prior warning. Whilst FCC-certified robot models may still be imported, this falls short of what is required. Innovation cycles for Ai-based, mobile and humanoid robot systems are exceptionally rapid, meaning that new model generations come onto the market at short intervals.

The import ban also applies to inverters, which will put European manufacturers under even greater pressure, as the corresponding export volumes are now expected to flood the European market. It is therefore all the more important that national and European policymakers consistently rule out potential cyber security risks to critical infrastructure posed by manufacturers from untrustworthy states.

The VDMA is calling on national and European policymakers to resolutely oppose this latest example of US protectionism and to champion open markets, fair competitive conditions and the strengthening of transatlantic innovation partnerships. “The future of robotics will be shaped by innovation, cooperation and common safety standards, not by new trade barriers. Europe and the US should pool their technological strengths rather than holding each other back,” says Brodtmann.

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@VDMAonline @FCC #Robotics #Pauto #Ai #USA #Europe

Plea to US and EU co-operation on tariffs.

Joining a roundtable with the US government’s Department of Commerce to discuss US/European Union trade arrangements during the Hannover Fair, Analog Devices urged both sides to step up efforts to break down non-tariff barriers to trade in technology components and systems.

Patrick Wilson US Dept of Commerce
with Josef Lechner, Analog Devices

Analog Devices told Patrick Wilson, Office of Business Liaison Director at the Department of Commerce, that regulatory burdens imposed by both the EU and the US impeded the transatlantic exchange of components and systems in important markets for high technology such as industrial and building automation, communications, automotive, and aerospace and defense equipment.

The Department of Commerce had invited Analog Devices to participate in the roundtable discussion. It was part of a four-month long consultation organized by the Office of Business Liaison, the goal of which is to help US trade negotiators better understand the issues that US exporters and multinationals, such as Analog Devices, face when doing business in the EU.

This consultation follows a pledge made by President Donald Trump in October 2018 to negotiate a trade agreement with the EU. Trade between the EU and the US is worth some $1.1tn a year.

As part of his consultation with large US-based multinationals, Patrick Wilson visited the company Stand at Hannover Messe, which had earlier been on the route of a tour of the exhibition made by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel. Mr Wilson saw how the company’s sophisticated solutions consisting of semiconductor hardware and software, including embedded artificial intelligence, are integrated into robotics, wind turbines and smart asset management tools. End products such as these depend on a fast-moving and intricate transatlantic supply chain for high-technology components and systems.

Analog Devices’ representative at the roundtable, EMEA Senior Sales Director Josef Lechner, said to Mr. Wilson that while electronics components such as semiconductors were not subject to damaging tariffs, compliance with onerous regulations such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the US’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) inhibited the export trade in technology components and systems.

Mr Lechner told Mr Wilson that Analog Devices would like to see ITAR compliance streamlined for certified companies operating in member nations of the NATO alliance.

Analog Devices also called for EU funding for technology and innovation initiatives to be available as readily to the European subsidiaries of US companies as it is to large indigenous European companies.

@ADI_News @CommerceGov #Technology #Trade @EU_Commission