The European Union’s (EU) Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for Research and Technological Development is the EU’s primary funding mechanism for supporting and encouraging collaborative, trans-national RTD in the European Community. The Programme will run from 2007 to 2013 with an EC budget of €53billion
FP7 has three overall aims:
- strengthening the EU's S&T base
- improving the EU's competitiveness
- supporting policy development in the EU
FP7 is open to EU public and private entities of all sizes and incorporates provision for the participation of non-EU countries. There are no national quotas as the Programme operates on a competitive basis with proposals being evaluated by panels of independent experts against set criteria.
FP7 is largely delivered through four specific programmes:
1 Cooperation
The largest component of FP7, this will fund research activities involving trans-national cooperation in ten thematic areas:
- Health
- Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Biotechnology
- Information and Communication Technologies
- Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies
- Energy
- Environment (including climate change)
- Transport (including aeronautics)
- Socio-Economic sciences and the humanities
- Space
- Security
European Technology Platforms (ETPs) have been set up in areas where Europe's competitiveness, economic growth and welfare depend on important research and technological progress in the medium to long term. They bring together stakeholders, under industrial leadership, to define and implement a Strategic Research Agenda. The ETPs have contributed to the definition of the themes of the Cooperation programme, in particular in research areas of special industrial relevance.
Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs), long-term public-private partnerships, have also been created on the basis of the Strategic Research Agendas developed by the ETPs. JTIs combine private sector investment with national and European public funding, including grant funding from FP7 and loan finance from the European Investment Bank
There are currently JTIs on:
- innovative medicines;
- nanoelectronics;
- embedded systems;
- aeronautics and air transport; and
- hydrogen and fuel cells
Article 169 initiatives are mechanisms established by Member States to carry out transnational collaborative R&D that the European Community participates in and contributes financially to. The feature that distinguishes A169s from mechanisms such as JTIs is that the proposal for an initiative comes from the Member States and seeks to integrate national programmes. The underlying idea is to provide open, flexible support for proposals making an effective contribution to closer coordination of the research activities conducted within different frameworks in Europe.
There are currently two Article 169 initiatives:
2 Ideas
This is a new element introduced in FP7 where funding will be given to investigator driven research projects across all fields, carried out by individual teams in European competition and managed by a European Research Council (ERC). Projects will be evaluated solely on the basis of excellence, as judged by peer review.
The ERC will be run separately from the Commission, consisting of a Scientific Council (to plan scientific strategy, establish the work programme, quality control and information activities) and an implementation agency (dealing with administration, support for applicants, proposal eligibility, grant management and practical organisation). The Scientific Council consists of representatives of the European science community at the highest level, who act in their personal capacity, independent of political or other interests.
3 People
So called "Marie Curie" actions aimed at the mobility of researchers. The budget is greater than previous Framework Programmes and more emphasis is given to industry academic transfers.
4 Capacities
Key aspects of European research and innovation capacities in the following areas:
- Infrastructures - continuation of successful past activities with support for new infrastructure based on the work of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) over the past three years.
- Science and Society - continuation of the existing programme.
- Regions of Knowledge and Research Potential - are still about excellence but will help to involve regional authorities in FP7 and enable excellent researchers from convergence regions to achieve higher visibility (helping participation in collaborative projects).
- International cooperation - building the capacity of selected third countries and providing opportunities to take part in research not covered under the Cooperation specific programme.
- Co-ordination of national programmes and international cooperation - are now fully integrated into the main thematic priorities rather than being separate activities with separate budget lines.
FP7 (via a budget drawn from the Cooperation Programme) also supports COST, which is an inter-governmental framework supporting the coordination and networking of existing research activities.
The Technology Strategy Board funds a support service for UK-based organisations interested in exploiting the opportunities provided by FP7 including a website, helpline and a network of national Contact Points (NCPs). Full details can be found at http://www.fp7uk.co.uk
