Research : EU
to finance projects worth 5 billion,
Over 100 000
participants from more than 50 countries responded with nearly 12 000 projects
to the first calls for proposals of the €20 billion EU
6th Research Framework Programme (FP6 2002-2006). The first crop of FP6 calls
closed earlier this year. The response to these first calls, with a budget of
some €5 billion, was consistent across all themes and funding instruments, both
new and traditional, with partners from the acceding and candidate countries(1) present in nearly 40% of proposals. Contracts are now being negotiated
for projects in all areas from ageing to allergies, information and
communication technologies, marine sciences, nanotechnology and carbon sequestration.
"The strong
and balanced response to these first calls for proposals is encouraging: it shows
that the European scientific and business community is vibrant and willing to
pool resources at the European level," said European Research Commissioner
Philippe Busquin. "But our research funding
scheme, although important, only represents 5% of overall European research
spending. It is for EU Member States and industry to
join forces and overcome the present fragmentation of resources. The latest EU Research Framework Programme can encourage this
endeavour by helping achieve the critical mass in key scientific areas."
The biggest
research funding scheme in the world
With a budget of
€17.5 billion (€20 billion including contributions from acceding and associated
countries), FP6 is one of the biggest research programmes in the world. By
supporting projects in selected strategic areas it will foster the creation of
the European Research Area, a true internal market for knowledge and science.
For the first time there are also projects aimed at promoting the co-ordination
of national programmes and policies. The first round of calls for proposals
under FP6 were published on 17 December 2002 (see IP/02/1889) and closed in
March-April 2003.
Almost 12 000
proposals
The 11 596
proposals received have now been evaluated by independent experts and contract
negotiations are underway for those projects selected for funding.
Here are the main
results (see Attachment 1 for a table showing the number of proposals and
participants for each part of FP6, and MEMO/03/230) for some project examples
and for background information on the Sixth Framework Programme):
·
11 596 proposals were received involving 106 117
participants from over 50 countries
·
all the topics identified as priorities by FP6 have been
covered by proposals, and the quality of the proposals submitted was high;
·
Integrated Projects were the most popular of the new
funding instruments;
·
there was a relatively low level of industrial
participation in Networks of Excellence, where some proposals show that the
intended use of this instrument is not yet clear to all partners; the
Commission is taking active steps to ensure greater understanding;
·
the high level of interest in the
first call means that it will probably be possible to fund only one in six
projects overall; increasing the focus of future calls, and greater use of the
two-step submission procedure will help to improve this.
More
participants, in particular from accession and third countries
·
the number of participants per proposal increased with
respect to FP5, ranging from 14 to 53 depending on the theme and funding type,
compared with an overall average of just 7 under FP5;
·
acceding/candidate1 countries were involved in
40% of proposals; measures to improve the flow of information on FP6 to these
countries are under way with a view to increasing the number of co-ordinators
in the next round, and the evaluation of a dedicated call for these countries
will soon be completed;
·
associated states(2)
participated in 24% of proposals and other countries outside the EU in 19%;
·
in the priority thematic areas, for
the projects selected for contract negotiation, Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises (SMEs) represented 13% of the funding and
17% of the participants.
·
A second round of calls based on the results of the first
calls and the advice of FP6 Advisory Groups is now being prepared for
publication. Details of all calls are available on the Commission's Europa and CORDIS web sites:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/calls_en.cfm
and
http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/calls.cfm
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/firstcallresult_en.html
For general
information on FP6:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6
For general
information on research:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research