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The Framework Programme (FP) is the European Unions main instrument for the funding of research and development in science, engineering and technology and has a legal basis in Article 163 of the EC Treaty. Since its inception in 1984, it has grown considerably in scale and scope. Any legal entity within the Member States and certain third countries can apply and receive support.
The Seventh Framework Programme will take over from the current Sixth Framework Programme at the end of 2006. Negotiations on the content of FP7 began in April 2005 and are still underway. Without an agreed budget negotiations have been taken forward by Council at a technical nature. In November 2005 the UK Presidency and Council was successful in agreeing a Partial General Approach on the Commission's high level FP7 proposal. Under the Presidency negotiations continue in a similar way on the FP7 specific programme text.
A PGA is a non-binding political agreement which allows Ministers to agree in principle to a text that has yet to be considered by the European Parliament and excludes financial aspects.
The overall EU budget for FP6 covering the four-year period 2002-2006 is €19 billion. The budget for the Seventh Framework Programme remains to be agreed as part of the ongoing negotiations. The Commission proposal for FP7 outlines a budget of 73 billion Euros over 7 years (2007 - 2013). A final FP7 budget is expected in the Summer of 2006.
A UK public consultation on the 7th EU R&D Framework Programme was launched in Spring 2004. Copies of the Consultation Document were sent to a wide range of representative stakeholders. It was also available in electronic form and to order in hardcopy through the OSI International Website. In addition, OSI held a consultation event in London on 21 June 2004. This involved some 180 representatives from a wide range of stakeholder organisations who discussed the issues involved in designing the next EU Framework Programme in a series of plenary and workshop sessions. A summary of the event and of discussions in the workshops can be found on the OSI website. A factual analysis of the consultation responses was published over the Summer. The policy outlined in the UK position paper on our initial approach to FP7 reflects the outcome of the consultation.
In addition, OSI commissioned two evidence projects to help identify where the new Programme could have greatest impact:
Funding at a European level supports collaborative research and trans-national research activities on a scale that is far greater than any national programme. It provides a mechanism for pooling facilities and perspectives and offers a diversity of specialised knowledge that may be difficult to replicate at a national level, thus representing a useful additional mechanism through which the UK researchers can gain access to wider networks and competence.
Increasingly, public policy challenges are international, if not global in terms of impact and degree of effort needed and therefore seem to be more appropriately addressed at the European level.
International funding can also promote excellence through greater technical competition and by building networks/collaborations between the best researchers and businesses.
Historically UK performance in past Framework Programmes has been strong with the UK participating in and coordinating more FP4 and FP5 projects than any other country. The UK also ranked first in terms of participants, absolute and relative, across FP4 and FP5 in the mobility, social science and international cooperation sub-programmes
A recent survey estimated that UK participants won 16% of the overall funds in FP5 (equating to more than €2 billion) and participated in 41% of all FP5 projects. Participation from Universities is particularly strong, with funding accounting for 25% of the total for that sector.
UK participation rate across the private sector compares well with other countries (the UK accounting for nearly 13% of all enterprise sector participants and over 16% of private commercial research centre participations).
It is true that almost 80% of business participants in FP4 did not go on to participate in FP5 and that over half of the large companies surveyed said their organisation’s involvement with Framework is in decline. Large companies and SMEs are more likely than public sector researchers to be reducing their involvement.
Two main factors were cited as reducing the utility and relevance of Framework:
(i) three quarters of participants said the bureaucracy associated with applying for and managing projects was getting worse; and
(ii) around half said the relevance of the Programme and its instruments was decreasing.
We believe that these problems must be addressed in the design and implementation of FP7 and the initial UK position reflects these concerns. We are pressing for the bulk of funding for FP7 to be concentrated on industrial competitiveness where the long-term research agenda must clearly reflect the needs of industrial users. We will continue to press for the existing instruments to be simplified to reduce barriers to participation; and are not calling for the introduction of new collaborative instruments.
We believe Framework Programme 7 (FP7) should focus on the areas that really matter; basic research, industrial research and research in support of policy, making clear the different aims and objectives of these areas. We believe the bulk of funding for FP7 should be concentrated on industrial competitiveness where the long-term research agenda must clearly reflect the needs of industrial users.
We also welcome the debate on the proposal to establish a European Research Council (ERC). Improved performance in basic research will be a key contributor towards achieving the EU’s aim to increase the overall research effort as part of the Lisbon agenda.
We are continuing to push for the Framework Programmes to be simplified and to make them easier for businesses to engage with – both the current 6th Framework Programme and proposals for the FP7.
The Commission proposal for FP7 thematic priorities is consistent with those in FP6 with the addition of Space and Security. The full list and proposed themes is as follows: