Framework Programme 7 off to a good start

Framework Programme 7 (FP7) is off to a good start, with 36,000 bids and over 5,500 proposals accepted for funding, according to the progress report published last week.

The quality of the peer review process is recognised, with 91 per cent of evaluators stating that the quality of the evaluation process was similar to, or better than, national evaluations in which they participated.

And the novel features of FP7 have been well-received and are bedding down well, with the European Research Council, the Framework Programme’s first move to systematically support fundamental research, receiving 11,000 proposals for its first call. As a result over 500 basic research projects have started in research institutions across Europe.

FP7 is also expanding further into applied research, with the formation of five large-scale public-private partnerships, the Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs). These are wide-ranging programmes in: Innovative Medicines (IMI); Embedded Computing Systems (ARTEMIS); Clean Sky; Nanoelectronics (ENIAC); and the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH).

ARTEMIS and ENIAC have launched projects from their first calls and have just published their second calls. The other JTIs have launched their first calls and evaluation and selection of first projects is underway.

Demand for the new Risk Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF) has been strong since its launch in June 2007, with 30 RSFF operations approved and the value of signed loans reaching €2 billion by the beginning of 2009.

Two agencies, the Research Executive Agency and the ERC Executive Agency have been set up in a bid to ensure the €50 billion FP7 budget is efficiently managed without the need to employ more staff in the Commission.

According to the report, progress has been made in simplifying participation in FP7, with a new guarantee fund making most financial viability checks obsolete, and a Unique Registration Facility allows one-off submission of legal documents. As a result, the need for audit certificates and financial capacity checks have been reduced by a factor of ten compared to FP6.

Could do better

Despite this, the bureaucratic dead weight and the lack of trust implicit in the administration of FP7 remains a major complaint. The Commission’s report acknowledges some issues deserve further attention and reflection. In addition, the overall share of the pie given to SMEs remains low, and there is below average participation in FP7 for most new Member States.

In support of the ERA

FP7 is acting as a catalyst in moves to realise the European Research Area (ERA) through programmes including:

• The COOPERATION programme, which aims to put the EU in the lead in key S&T areas by supporting R&D collaboration and open innovation. The collaborative research instruments of the cooperation programme enable industry and academia to collaborate in an open innovation environment, contributing to the free circulation of knowledge and technologies.

• The European Research Council, which has become a highly visible and influential component of the ERA. With a budget of roughly €7.5 billion over 7 years, it supports fundamental research in Europe with a critical mass only achievable at EU level. And despite having coped with the challenges that are inherent in launching an institutional operation of such scale, the report says there is no room for complacency. During 2009, the transition of the implementing structure into the ERC Executive Agency must be completed.

• The PEOPLE programme, which aims to strengthen the human potential of European research through ‘brain circulation’. The report says the Marie-Curie fellowships offered by the PEOPLE programme remain as attractive as ever, contributing to the creation of a high-quality and mobile European R&D workforce. However, the use of industry-academia fellowships could be improved by better communicating opportunities to industries and SMEs.

• The CAPACITIES programme, which aims to enhance research and innovation capacity in Europe. All support available under the capacities programme is in heavy demand, notably those supporting research for SMEs and SME associations, notes the report.

However, there are limiting factors on building the 44 priority infrastructure projects of strategic European interest identified by the European Strategic Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). These factors include a lack of Community and national resources, and the insufficient integration with other financial instruments, such as the European Investment Bank and Structural Funds.

The adoption of a new legal framework for European Research Infrastructures should provide a further boost and financial planning security. Meanwhile, GEANT, the most advanced international network in the world, has implemented a hybrid networking technology and a range of user-focused services, enabling worldwide research collaboration. Together with GEANT, the Enabling Grids for e-Service and e-Infrastructure enable scientists to access computational resources all over the world.

Meeting the needs of industry

FP7 has seen a renewed commitment to meeting the needs of industry, in particular through cooperation with European Technology Platforms (ETPs). The 36 existing ETPs are helping to coordinate and pool R&D efforts, in particular in areas with high industry participation, such as ICT, nanotechnology, energy, transport and space.

Through cooperation with Member States and via National Technology Platforms, ETPs bring about a structuring effect that goes well beyond FP7, says the report. In some cases, they have resulted in the establishment of JTIs.

However, progress in reaching the 15 per cent target for SME participation has been below expectation. Tailor-made SME support schemes, such as the newly launched EUROSTARS initiative, are addressing research-intensive SMEs, but the report says the usefulness of targets, and of the current SME instruments, needs further analysis and reflection.