Zesde Kaderprogramma: EU pompt 5 miljard euro in onderzoeksprojecten wereldwijd (en)

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:

<A onclick="popup(this.onclick="popup(this.href+'&noframes=1',0,0);return false" href+'&noframes=1',0,0);return false" HREF="http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/calls_en.cfm">http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/calls_en.cfm

and

http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/calls.cfm

<A onclick="popup(this.onclick="popup(this.href+'&noframes=1',0,0);return false" href+'&noframes=1',0,0);return false" HREF="http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/firstcallresult_en.html">http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/firstcallresult_en.html

For general information on FP6:

<A onclick="popup(this.onclick="popup(this.href+'&noframes=1',0,0);return false" href+'&noframes=1',0,0);return false" HREF="http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6">http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6

For general information on research:

<A onclick="popup(this.onclick="popup(this.href+'&noframes=1',0,0);return false" href+'&noframes=1',0,0);return false" HREF="http://europa.eu.int/comm/research">http://europa.eu.int/comm/research

ANNEX

Proposals and participants by area

^{(1)Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey}

^{(2)Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland}