COMMON POSITION (EC) No 27/2006

adopted by the Council on 25 September 2006

with a view to the adoption of Decision No …/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of … concerning the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007-2013)

(2006/C 301 E/01)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 166(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (3),

Whereas:

The Community has the objective, set out in the Treaty, of strengthening the scientific and technological bases of Community industry, thereby ensuring a high level of competitiveness at international level. To this end, the Community is to promote all the research activities deemed necessary, in particular by encouraging undertakings, including small and medium sized enterprises (‘SMEs’), research centres and universities in their research and technological development activities. In this context, priority should be given to those areas and projects where European funding and cooperation is of particular importance and provides added value. Through its support for research at the frontiers of knowledge, applied research and innovation, the Community seeks to promote synergies in European research and thus provide a more stable foundation for the European Research Area. This will make a positive contribution to the social, cultural and economic progress of all Member States.

The central role of research was recognised by the Lisbon European Council of 23-24 March 2000 which set the European Union a new strategic goal for the next decade: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. The triangle of knowledge — education, research and innovation — is essential for achieving this goal, to which effect the Community aims to mobilise and strengthen the necessary research and innovation capacities. The Seventh Framework Programme is a central Community instrument in this respect, complementing the efforts of Member States and European industry.

In line with the Lisbon strategy, the Barcelona European Council of 15-16 March 2002 agreed that overall spending on research and development (‘RTD’) and innovation in the Union should be increased with the aim of approaching 3 % of GDP by 2010, two-thirds of which should come from the private sector.

The overriding aim of the Seventh Framework Programme is to contribute to the Union becoming the world's leading research area. This requires the Framework Programme to be strongly focused on promoting and investing in world-class state-of-the-art research, based primarily upon the principle of excellence in research.

The European Parliament has repeatedly stressed the importance of research, technological development and the increased role of knowledge for economic growth and social and environmental well-being, in particular in its resolution of 10 March 2005 on science and technology — Guidelines for future European Union policy to support research (4) .

Taking into account the research needs of all Community policies and building upon widespread support from European industry, the scientific community, universities, and other interested circles, the Community should establish the scientific and technological objectives to be achieved under its Seventh Framework Programme in the period from 2007 to 2013.

European Technology Platforms (ETPs) and the envisaged Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs) are particularly relevant for industrial research. ETPs help the stakeholders establish long-term strategic research agendas and can further evolve to represent an important mechanism for fostering European competitiveness.

human potential in research and technology in Europe should be strengthened, both quantitatively and qualitatively; better education and research training, easier access to research opportunities as well as the recognition of the ‘profession’ of researcher are principal tools for achieving this goal, not least through a significant increase in the presence of women in research, encouraging researchers' mobility and career development. The general principles reflected in the European Charter for Researchers and in the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers could help to establish a genuine European labour market for researchers, while respecting their voluntary nature. In addition, the excellence of European research institutions and universities should be developed and enhanced.

the dynamism, creativity and excellence of European research at the frontier of knowledge should be enhanced, recognising the responsibility and independence of scientists in the definition of broad lines of research in this area. With this in mind, investigator-driven basic research based on excellence should play an essential role within the seventh Framework Programme,

The objectives of the Seventh Framework Programme should be chosen with a view to building upon the achievements of the Sixth Framework Programme towards the creation of the European Research Area and carry them further towards the development of a knowledge-based economy and society in Europe which will meet the goals of the Lisbon strategy in Community policies. Among the objectives of the Seventh Framework Programme the following are particularly important:

In addition, the dialogue between science and society in Europe should be intensified in order to develop a science and research agenda that meets citizens' concerns, including by fostering critical reflection, and aimed at reinforcing public confidence in science.

Special attention should be paid to facilitating the scientific career of researchers in the most productive period of life. Early-stage researchers can be a driving force of science in Europe.

The research and innovation capacities throughout Europe should be strengthened, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

A wide use and dissemination of the knowledge generated by publicly funded research activity should be supported.

In order to realise these objectives it is necessary to promote four types of activities: trans-national cooperation on policy-defined themes (the ‘Cooperation’ programme), investigator-driven research based on the initiative of the research community (the ‘Ideas’ programme), support of individual researchers (the ‘People’ programme), and support of research capacities (the ‘Capacities’ programme).

Under the ‘Cooperation’ programme, support should be provided to trans-national cooperation at appropriate scale across the Union and beyond, in a number of thematic areas corresponding to major fields of the progress of knowledge and technology, where research should be supported and strengthened to address European social, economic, environmental, public health and industrial challenges, serve the public good and support developing countries. Where possible, this programme will allow flexibility for mission-orientated schemes which cut across the thematic priorities.

Under the ‘Ideas’ programme, activities should be implemented by a European Research Council (‘ERC’), which should enjoy a high degree of autonomy to develop very high-level frontier research at European level, building on excellence in Europe and raising its profile at international level. The ERC should maintain regular contact with the scientific community and European Institutions.

Under the ‘People’ programme, individuals should be stimulated to enter into the profession of researcher, European researchers should be encouraged to stay in Europe, researchers from the entire world should be attracted to Europe and Europe should be made more attractive to the best researchers. Building on the positive experiences with the ‘Marie Curie Actions’ under previous Framework Programmes, the ‘People’ programme should encourage individuals to enter the profession of researcher; structure the research training offer and options; encourage European researchers to stay in, or return to, Europe; encourage intersectoral mobility, and attract researchers from all over the world to Europe. The mobility of researchers is key not only to the career development of researchers but also to the sharing and transfer of knowledge between countries and sectors and to ensuring that innovative frontier research in various disciplines benefits from dedicated and competent researchers, as well as increased financial resources.

Under the ‘Capacities’ programme, the use and development of research infrastructures should be optimised; innovative capacities of SMEs and their ability to benefit from research should be strengthened; the development of regional research-driven clusters should be supported; the research potential in the EU's convergence and outermost regions should be unlocked; science and society should be brought closer together in European society; support should be given to the coherent development of research policies at national and Community level and horizontal actions and measures in support of international cooperation should be undertaken.

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) should contribute to providing customer-driven scientific and technological support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of Community policies. In this regard, it is useful that the JRC continues to function as an independent reference centre for science and technology in the EU in the areas of its specific competence.

The regions have an important part to play in implementing the European Research Area. Unlocking the development potential of regions and wide dissemination of the results of research and technological development help to bridge the technological divide and contribute to European competitiveness.

The Seventh Framework Programme complements the activities carried out in the Member States as well as other Community actions that are necessary for the overall strategic effort to achieve the Lisbon goals, alongside in particular those under the structural funds and those relating to agriculture, education, training, competitiveness and innovation, industry, employment and environment.

Mutual synergies and complementarity should be assured with Community policies and programmes, while also addressing the need for a strengthened and simplified approach to research funding, which is particularly important for SMEs.

The Seventh Framework Programme should aim, in particular, to secure the appropriate involvement of SMEs. Innovation and SME-related activities supported under this Framework Programme should be complementary to those undertaken under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme.

Participation in the activities of this Framework Programme should be facilitated through the publication of all relevant information, to be made available in a timely and user-friendly manner to all potential participants.

Taking into account the mid-term review of the use of new instruments under the Sixth Framework Programme and the Five Year Assessment of the Framework Programme, a new approach has been defined which should allow the political objectives of Community research policy to be reached more easily, more efficiently and in a more flexible way. To this end, a smaller set of simpler ‘funding schemes’ should be used, alone or in combination, with more flexibility and freedom, to support the different actions, and stronger management autonomy should be granted to participants.

Given the broad interest in the Framework Programme actions, the leverage effect of funding in national and private investments, the need to enable the Community to meet new scientific and technological challenges and to make full use of its researchers' potential without discrimination, the vital role the Community intervention plays in making the European research system more efficient and effective, as well as the possible contribution of the Framework Programme to the efforts of, inter alia, finding solutions to climate change and sustainability, the health of Europe's population and the reinvigoration of the Lisbon strategy, there is a need for Community research activities.

Implementation of the Seventh Framework Programme may give rise to supplementary programmes involving the participation of certain Member States only, the participation of the Community in programmes undertaken by several Member States, or the setting up of joint undertakings or other arrangements within the meaning of Articles 168, 169 and 171 of the Treaty.

The Community has concluded a number of international agreements in the field of research and efforts should be made to strengthen international research cooperation with a view to reaping the full benefits of internationalisation of RTD, to contributing to the production of global public goods and to further integrating the Community into the world-wide research community.

There is already a significant body of scientific knowledge capable of drastically improving the lives of those who live in developing countries; where possible, the Framework Programme will — in the framework of the activities described above — contribute to meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2010.

Research activities supported by the seventh Framework Programme should respect fundamental ethical principles, including those reflected in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The opinions of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies are and will be taken into account. Research activities should also take into account the Protocol on the Protection and Welfare of Animals and reduce the use of animals in research and testing, with a view ultimately to replacing animal use.

Under the Seventh Framework Programme the role of women in science and research will be actively promoted by appropriate measures with a view to encouraging greater numbers to become involved in this domain and further enhancing their active role in research.

This Decision lays down, for the entire duration of the programme, a financial envelope constituting the prime reference, within the meaning of point 37 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management (5) , for the budgetary authority during the annual budgetary procedure.

Appropriate measures — proportionate to the European Communities' financial interests — should also be taken to monitor both the effectiveness of the financial support granted and the effectiveness of the utilisation of these funds in order to prevent irregularities and fraud, and the necessary steps should be taken to recover funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used in accordance with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests (6) , Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities' financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (7) and Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) (8) .

It is important to ensure sound financial management of the Seventh Framework Programme and its implementation in the most effective and user-friendly manner possible, while also ensuring legal certainty and the accessibility of the programme to all participants. It is necessary to ensure compliance with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (9) , and with the requirements of simplification and better regulation.

Since the objective of the actions to be taken in accordance with Article 163 of the Treaty, namely contributing towards the creation of a knowledge-based society and economy in Europe, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, the Seventh Framework Programme does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve this objective,

HAVE DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Adoption of the Seventh Framework Programme

The Framework Programme for Community activities in the area of research and technological development (‘RTD’), including demonstration activities (‘the Seventh Framework Programme’) is hereby adopted for the period from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013.

Article 2

Objectives and activities

1. The Seventh Framework Programme shall support the activities set out in points (i) to (iv). The objectives and the broad lines of those activities are set out in Annex I.

Cooperation: supporting the whole range of research actions carried out in trans-national cooperation in the following thematic areas:

Ideas: supporting ‘investigator-driven’ research carried out across all fields by individual national or transnational teams in competition at the European level.

People: strengthening, quantitatively and qualitatively, the human potential in research and technological development in Europe, as well as encouraging mobility.

Capacities: supporting key aspects of European research and innovation capacities such as research infrastructures; regional research driven clusters; the development of a full research potential in the Community's convergence and outermost regions; research for the benefit of small and medium sized enterprises (‘SMEs’) (10) ; ‘Science in Society’ issues; support to coherent development of policies; horizontal activities of international cooperation.

2. The Seventh Framework Programme shall also support the non-nuclear direct scientific and technical actions carried out by the Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’) as defined in Annex I.

Article 3

Specific programmes

The Seventh Framework Programme shall be implemented through specific programmes. These programmes shall specify precise objectives and the detailed rules for implementation.

Article 4

Maximum overall amount and shares assigned to each programme

1. The maximum overall amount for Community financial participation in this Seventh Framework Programme shall be EUR 50 521 million (11). That amount shall be distributed among the activities and actions referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 2 as follows (in EUR million):

2. The indicative breakdown among the thematic areas of each activity referred to in paragraph 1 is set out in Annex II.

3. The detailed rules for Community financial participation in this Framework Programme are set out in Annex III.

Article 5

Protection of the Communities' financial interests

For the Community actions financed under this Decision, Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 and Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 shall apply to any infringement of a provision of Community law, including infringements of a contractual obligation stipulated on the basis of the programme, resulting from an act or omission by an economic operator, which has, or would have, the effect of prejudicing the general budget of the European Union or budgets managed by it, by an unjustified item of expenditure.

Article 6

Ethical principles

1. All the research activities carried out under the Seventh Framework Programme shall be carried out in compliance with fundamental ethical principles.

2. The following fields of research shall not be financed under this Framework Programme:

research activity intended to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable (12) ,

research activities intended to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer.

3. Research on human stem cells, both adult and embryonic, may be financed, depending both on the contents of the scientific proposal and the legal framework of the Member State(s) involved.

Any application for financing for research on human embryonic stem cells shall include, as appropriate, details of licensing and control measures that will be taken by the competent authorities of the Member States as well as details of the ethical approval(s) that will be provided.

As regards the derivation of human embryonic stem cells, institutions, organisations and researchers shall be subject to strict licensing and control in accordance with the legal framework of the Member State(s) involved.

4. The fields of research set out in paragraph 2 shall be reviewed for the second phase of this programme (2010-2013) in the light of scientific advances.

Article 7

Monitoring, evaluation and review

1. The Commission shall continually and systematically monitor the implementation of the Seventh Framework Programme and its specific programmes and regularly report and disseminate the results of this monitoring.

2. No later than 2010, the Commission shall carry out, with the assistance of external experts, an evidence-based interim evaluation of this Framework Programme and its specific programmes building upon the ex-post evaluation of the Sixth Framework Programme. This evaluation shall cover the quality of the research activities under way, as well as the quality of implementation and management, and progress towards the objectives set.

The Commission shall communicate the conclusions thereof, accompanied by its observations and, where appropriate, proposals for the adaptation of this Framework Programme, to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.

The interim evaluation shall be preceded by a progress report as soon as enough data becomes available, giving initial findings on the effectiveness of the new actions initiated under the Seventh Framework Programme and of the efforts made with regard to simplification.

3. Two years following the completion of this Framework Programme, the Commission shall carry out an external evaluation by independent experts of its rationale, implementation and achievements.

The Commission shall communicate the conclusions thereof, accompanied by its observations, to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.

(1) OJ C 65, 17.3.2006, p. 9.

(2) OJ C 115, 16.5.2006, p. 20.

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 15 June 2006 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 25 September 2006 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Position of the European Parliament of … (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ C 320 E, 15.12.2005, p. 259.

(5) OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.

(6) OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1.

(7) OJ L 292, 15.11.1996, p. 2.

(8) OJ L 136, 31.5.1999, p. 1.

(9) OL L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

(10) Throughout the Seventh Framework Programme, ‘SMEs’ are understood to include microenterprises.

(11) Note: all figures are in current prices reflecting the Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) on the Financial Framework (2007-2013). Accordingly, IIA figure for FP7 for 2007-2013 of EUR 48 081 million in 2004 prices corresponds to EUR 54 582 million for 2007-2013 in current prices, of which EUR 50 521 million for FP7 (EC) for 2007-2013, EUR 2 751 million for FP7 (Euratom) for 2007-2011 and indicatively EUR 1 310 million for Euratom programme for 2012-2013.

(12) Research relating to cancer treatment of the gonads can be financed.

ANNEX I

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL OBJECTIVES, BROAD LINES OF THE THEMES AND ACTIVITIES

The Seventh Framework Programme will be carried out to pursue the general objectives described in Article 163 of the Treaty, to strengthen industrial competitiveness and to meet the research needs of other Community policies, thereby contributing to the creation of a knowledge-based society, building on a European Research Area and complementing activities at a national and regional level. It will promote excellence in scientific and technological research, development and demonstration through the following four programmes: cooperation, ideas, people and capacities.

I. Cooperation

In this part of the Seventh Framework Programme, support will be provided to transnational cooperation in different forms across the Union and beyond, in a number of thematic areas corresponding to major fields of knowledge and technology, where the highest quality research must be supported and strengthened to address European social, economic, environmental and industrial challenges. The bulk of this effort will be directed towards improving industrial competitiveness, with a research agenda that reflects the needs of users throughout Europe.

The overarching aim is to contribute to sustainable development.

The ten themes determined for Community action are the following:

1) Health;

2) Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology;

3) Information and Communication Technologies;

4) Nano-sciences, Nano-technologies, Materials and new Production Technologies;

5) Energy;

6) Environment (including Climate Change);

7) Transport (including Aeronautics);

8) Socio-economic Sciences and the Humanities;

9) Space;

10) Security.

These themes are broadly defined at relatively high level, such that they can adapt to evolving needs and opportunities that may arise during the lifetime of the Seventh Framework Programme. For each of them, a series of activities has been identified which indicates the broad lines envisaged for Community support. These activities have been identified on the basis of their contribution to Community objectives, including the transition to a knowledge-based society, the relevant European research potential and the added value of Community level intervention for these subjects.

Special attention will be paid to ensuring there is effective coordination between the thematic areas and to priority scientific areas which cut across themes, such as forestry research, cultural heritage, marine sciences and technologies.

Multidisciplinarity will be encouraged by joint cross-thematic approaches to research and technology subjects relevant to more than one theme, with joint calls being an important inter-thematic form of cooperation.

In the case of subjects of industrial relevance in particular, the topics have been identified relying, among other sources, on the work of different ‘European Technology Platforms’ set up in fields where Europe's competitiveness, economic growth and welfare depend on important research and technological progress in the medium to long term. European Technology Platforms bring together stakeholders, under industrial leadership, to define and implement a Strategic Research Agenda. This Framework Programme will contribute to the realisation of these Strategic Research Agendas where these present true European added value. European Technology Platforms can play a role in facilitating and organising the participation of industry, including SMEs, in research projects relating to their specific field, including projects eligible for funding under the Framework Programme.

The ten themes also include research needed to underpin the formulation, implementation and assessment of Community policies, in areas such as health, safety, consumer protection, energy, the environment, development aid, fisheries, maritime affairs, agriculture, animal welfare, transport, education and training, employment, social affairs, cohesion, and the creation of an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, along with pre-normative and co-normative research relevant to improving interoperability and the quality of standards and their implementation.

Under each theme, beside these activities, two types of opportunities will be addressed in an open and flexible way:

— Future and Emerging Technologies: to support research aiming at identifying or further exploring new scientific and technological opportunities in a given field and/or in their combination with other relevant areas and disciplines through specific support for spontaneous research proposals, including by joint calls; to nurture novel ideas and radically new uses and to explore new options in research roadmaps, in particular those with a potential for significant breakthroughs; adequate coordination with the activities carried out under the Ideas programme will be guaranteed in order to avoid overlap and ensure an optimum use of funding.

— Unforeseen policy needs: to respond in a flexible way to new policy needs that arise during the course of the Framework Programme, such as unforeseen developments or events requiring a quick reaction, for example, the new epidemics, emerging concerns in food safety or natural disaster response.

The dissemination and transfer of knowledge is a key added value of European research actions, and measures will be taken to increase the use of results by industry, policy makers and society. Dissemination will be considered an integral task under all thematic areas, with appropriate restrictions for the security theme due to the confidentiality aspects of the activities, including through the funding of networking initiatives, seminars and events, assistance by external experts and information and electronic services in particular CORDIS.

Complementarity and synergy between this programme and other Community programmes will be ensured. Actions to support innovation will be taken under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme.

Particular attention should be paid to ensuring the adequate participation of SMEs (1), in particular knowledge-intensive SME in transnational cooperation. Concrete measures, including support actions to facilitate SME participation, will be taken throughout the ‘Cooperation’ part of the programme in the framework of a strategy to be developed under each theme. These strategies will be accompanied by quantitative and qualitative monitoring against the objectives set. The aim will be to enable at least 15 % of the funding available under the ‘Cooperation’ part of the programme to go to SMEs.

Support will also be provided to initiatives aimed at engaging the broadest possible public beyond the research community in the debate on scientific issues and research results, and to initiatives in the field of scientific communication and education, including the involvement, where appropriate, of civil society organisations or networks of such organisations. The integration of the gender dimension and gender equality will be addressed in all areas of research.

Raising the competitiveness of European research requires that the potential across the whole European Research Area is fully unlocked. Projects, aiming at providing scientific excellence, should be managed optimally with particular regard to the use of resources.

Across all these themes, support for trans-national cooperation will be implemented through:

— Collaborative research,

— Joint Technology Initiatives,

— Coordination of non-Community research programmes,

— International cooperation.

Collaborative Research

Collaborative research will constitute the bulk and the core of Community research funding. The objective is to establish, in the major fields of advancement of knowledge, excellent research projects and networks able to attract researchers and investments from Europe and the entire world.

This will be achieved by supporting collaborative research through a range of funding schemes: collaborative projects, networks of excellence, coordination/support actions (see Annex III).

Joint Technology Initiatives

In a very limited number of cases, the scope of an RTD objective and the scale of the resources involved could justify setting up long term public private partnerships in the form of Joint Technology Initiatives. These initiatives, mainly resulting from the work of European Technology Platforms and covering one or a small number of selected aspects of research in their field, will combine private sector investment and national and European public funding, including grant funding from the Seventh Framework Programme and loan and guarantee finance from the European Investment Bank. Each Joint Technology Initiative will be decided upon individually, either on the basis of Article 171 of the Treaty (this may include the creation of a joint undertaking) or on the basis of Specific Programme Decisions in accordance with Article 166(3) of the Treaty.

Potential Joint Technology Initiatives will be identified in an open and transparent way on the basis of an evaluation using a series of criteria:

— inability of existing instruments to achieve the objective,

— scale of the impact on industrial competitiveness and growth,

— added value of European-level intervention,

— the degree and clarity of definition of the objective and deliverables to be pursued,

— strength of the financial and resource commitment from industry,

— importance of the contribution to broader policy objectives including benefit to society,

— capacity to attract additional national support and leverage current and future industry funding.

The nature of the Joint Technology Initiatives must be clearly defined, in particular with regard to matters concerning:

— financial commitments,

— duration of the commitment of the participants,

— rules for entering and exiting the contract,

— intellectual property rights.

Considering the particular scope and complexity of the Joint Technology Initiatives, strong efforts will be made to ensure their transparent operation and to ensure that any allocation of Community funding by the Joint Technology Initiatives takes place on the basis of the Framework Programme principles of excellence and competition.

Particular attention will be paid to the overall coherence and coordination between Joint Technology Initiatives and programmes and projects in the same fields (2), while respecting their existing implementation procedures, as well as to ensuring that participation in their projects is open to a wide range of participants throughout Europe, in particular SMEs.

Coordination of Non-Community Research Programmes

The action undertaken in this field will make use of two main tools: the ERA-NET scheme and the participation of the Community in jointly implemented national research programmes (under Article 169 of the Treaty). The action may cover subjects not directly linked to the ten themes in so far as they have sufficient European added value. The action will also be used to enhance the complementarity and synergy between the Seventh Framework Programme and activities carried out in the framework of intergovernmental structures such as EUREKA and COST (3).

The ERA-NET scheme will develop and strengthen the coordination of national and regional research activities by:

— providing a framework for actors implementing public research programmes to step up the coordination of their activities. This will include support for new ERA-NETs as well as for the broadening and deepening of the scope of existing ERA-NETs, e.g. by extending their partnership, as well as mutually opening their programmes. Where appropriate, ERA-NETs could be used for programme coordination between European regions and Member States to enable their cooperation with large-scale initiatives,

— in a limited number of cases, providing additional Community financial support to those participants that pool resources for the purpose of joint calls for proposals between their respective national and regional programmes (‘ERA-NET PLUS’).

The participation of the Community in research programmes jointly implemented on the basis of Article 169 of the Treaty is especially relevant to European cooperation on a large scale in ‘variable geometry’ between Member States sharing common needs and/or interests. In well-identified cases such Article 169 initiatives could be launched in areas to be identified in close association with the Member States, including the possible cooperation with intergovernmental programmes, on the basis of a series of criteria:

— relevance to Community objectives,

— the clear definition of the objective to be pursued and its relevance to the objectives of this Framework Programme,

— presence of a pre-existing basis (existing or envisaged research programmes),

— European added value,

— critical mass, with regard to the size and the number of programmes involved and the similarity of activities they cover,

— efficiency of Article 169 as the most appropriate means for achieving the objectives.

International Cooperation

International cooperation actions, showing European added value and being of mutual interest, under this part of the Seventh Framework Programme will be:

— actions designed to enhance participation of researchers and research institutions from third countries in the thematic areas, with appropriate restrictions for the security theme due to the confidentiality aspects, accompanied by strong efforts to encourage them to seize this opportunity.

— Specific cooperation actions in each thematic area dedicated to third countries where there is mutual interest in co-operating on particular topics selected on the basis of the scientific and technological level and needs of the countries concerned. Closely associated with the bilateral cooperation agreements or multilateral dialogues between the EU and these countries or groups of countries, these actions will serve as privileged tools for implementing the cooperation between the EU and these countries. Such actions are, in particular, actions aiming at reinforcing the research capacities of candidate countries as well as neighbourhood countries and cooperative activities targeted at developing and emerging countries, focusing on their particular needs in fields such as health, agriculture, fisheries and environment, and implemented in financial conditions adapted to their capacities.

This part of the Framework Programme covers the international cooperation actions in each thematic area and across themes. Such actions will be implemented in coordination with those under the ‘People’ and the ‘Capacities’ programmes. An overall strategy for international cooperation within the Seventh Framework Programme will underpin this activity.

THEMES

1. Health

Objective

Improving the health of European citizens and increasing the competitiveness and boosting the innovative capacity of European health-related industries and businesses, while addressing global health issues including emerging epidemics. Emphasis will be put on translational research (translation of basic discoveries into clinical applications including scientific validation of experimental results), the development and validation of new therapies, methods for health promotion and prevention, including promotion of healthy ageing, diagnostic tools and medical technologies, as well as sustainable and efficient healthcare systems.

Rationale

The sequencing of the human genome and the recent advances in post-genomics have revolutionised research into human health and diseases. Integrating the vast amounts of data, understanding underlying biological processes and developing key technologies for health-related bio-industries requires the bringing together of critical masses of various expertise and resources that are not available at a national level, with a view to developing knowledge and capacity for intervention.

Significant advances in translational health research, which is essential to ensure that biomedical research provides practical benefits and improves life quality, also require multidisciplinary and pan-European approaches involving different stakeholders. Such approaches allow Europe to contribute more effectively to international efforts to combat diseases of global importance.

Clinical research on many diseases (e.g. cancer, cardiovascular and infectious diseases, mental and neurological diseases, in particular those linked with ageing, such as Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases) relies on international multi-centre trials to achieve the required number of patients in a short time-frame.

Epidemiological research requires a large diversity of populations and international networks to reach significant conclusions. Developing new diagnostics and treatments for rare disorders, as well as performing epidemiological research on those disorders, also requires multi-country approaches to increase the number of patients for each study. In addition, performing health policy-driven research at the European level enables comparisons to be made of the models, systems, data, and patient material held in national databases and biobanks.

Strong EU-based biomedical research will help strengthen the competitiveness of the European healthcare biotechnology, medical technology and pharmaceutical industries. EU collaboration with developing countries will allow those countries to develop research capacities. The EU must also play an active role in creating an environment conducive to innovation in public and pharmaceutical sectors which address public health needs, in particular to maximise the success of clinical research. Research-based SMEs are the main economic drivers of the healthcare biotechnology and medical technology industries. Although Europe now has more biotechnology companies than the US, most of them are small and less mature than their competitors. Public-private research efforts at the EU level will facilitate their development. EU research will also contribute to the development of new norms and standards to set up an appropriate legislative framework for new medical technologies (e.g. regenerative medicine). The global leadership of European research and innovation in the field of alternative testing strategies, in particular non-animal methods, should be ensured.

The activities that will be addressed, which include research essential to policy requirements, are set out below. The strategic issues of child health and health of the ageing population will receive specific attention across the activities. Long-term research agendas such as those established by European Technology Platforms, such as the one on innovative medicines, will be supported where relevant. To respond to new policy needs, additional actions may be supported in, for example, the areas of health policy issues and occupational health and safety.

Ethical, legal and socio-economic issues will be taken into account within each of the following activities.

Activities

— Biotechnology, generic tools and medical technologies for human health — High-throughput research: to catalyse progress in fundamental genomics (genome and post-genome) and biomedical research by enhancing data generation, standardisation, acquisition and analysis. — Detection, diagnosis and monitoring: with emphasis on non-invasive or minimally invasive approaches and technologies such as new preventive tools for regenerative medicine (e.g. through molecular imaging and diagnostics). — Predicting suitability, safety and efficacy of therapies: to develop and validate biological markers, in vivo and in vitro methods and models, including simulation, pharmacogenomics, targeting and delivery approaches and alternatives to animal testing. — Innovative therapeutic approaches and intervention: to research, consolidate and ensure further developments in advanced therapies and technologies with potential application in many diseases and disorders such as new therapeutic tools for regenerative medicine.

— Translating research for human health — Integrating biological data and processes — large-scale data gathering, systems biology (including modelling of complex systems): to generate and analyse the vast amount of data needed to understand better the complex regulatory networks of thousands of genes and gene-products controlling important biological processes in all relevant organisms and at all levels of organisation. — Research on the brain and related diseases, human development and ageing: to explore the process of healthy ageing and the way genes and environment interact with brain activity both under normal conditions and in brain diseases and relevant age-related illness (e.g. dementia). — Translational research in infectious diseases: to address drug resistance, the global threats of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, as well as Hepatitis C and potentially new and re-emerging epidemics (e.g. SARS and highly pathogenic influenza). — Translational research in major diseases — cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes/obesity; rare diseases; other chronic diseases including rheumatoid diseases, arthritis and musco-skeletal diseases: to develop patient-oriented strategies from prevention to diagnosis with particular emphasis on treatment, including clinical research. Aspects of palliative medicine will be taken into account.

— Optimising the delivery of health care to European citizens — Translating clinical outcome into clinical practice: to create the knowledge bases for clinical decision-making and to address the translation of outcomes of clinical research into clinical practice, especially addressing patient safety and the better use of medicines (including some aspects of pharmacovigilance and scientifically tested complementary and alternative medicines) as well as the specificities of children, women and the elderly population. — Quality, efficiency and solidarity of health care systems including transitional health care systems and home-care strategies: to translate effective interventions into management decisions, to assess the cost, efficiency and benefits of different interventions including with regard to patient safety, to define the needs and conditions for an adequate supply of human resources, to analyse factors influencing equity of access to high-quality health care (also by disadvantaged groups), including analyses of changes in population (e.g. ageing, mobility and migration, and the changing workplace). — Enhanced disease prevention and better use of medicines: to develop efficient public health interventions addressing wider determinants of health (such as stress, diet, lifestyle or environmental factors and their interaction with medication); to identify successful interventions in different health care settings to improve the prescription of medicines and their use by patients (including pharmacovigilance aspects and interactions of medicines). — Appropriate use of new health therapies and technologies: long-term safety and effectiveness assessment and monitoring of large-scale use of new medical technologies (including devices) and advanced therapies to ensure a high level of protection and benefit for public health.

2. Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology

Objective

Building a European knowledge-based bio-economy (4) by bringing together science, industry and other stakeholders, to exploit new and emerging research opportunities that address social, environmental and economic challenges: the growing demand for safer, healthier, higher quality food and for sustainable use and production of renewable bio-resources; the increasing risk of epizootic and zoonotic diseases and food related disorders; threats to the sustainability and security of agricultural, aquaculture and fisheries production; and the increasing demand for high quality food, taking into account animal welfare and rural and coastal contexts and response to specific dietary needs of consumers.

Rationale

Innovations and advancement of knowledge in the sustainable management, production and use of biological resources (micro-organisms, plants, animals), will provide the basis for new, sustainable, safe, eco-efficient and competitive products for agriculture, fisheries, feed, food, health, forest-based and related industries. In line with the European strategy on life sciences and biotechnology (5), this will help increase the competitiveness of European agriculture and biotechnology, seed and food companies, in particular high-tech SMEs, while improving social welfare and well-being.

Research into the safety of food and feed chains, diet-related diseases, food choices and the impact of food and nutrition on health will help to fight food-related disorders (e.g. obesity, allergies) and infectious diseases (e.g. transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, avian flu), while making an important contribution to the implementation of existing and the formulation of future policies and regulations in the areas of public, animal and plant health and consumer protection.

The diversity and mainly small size of the European industries in these areas, while being one of the Union's strengths and an opportunity, leads to fragmented approaches to similar problems. These are better addressed by increased collaboration and sharing of expertise, for example on new methodologies, technologies, processes and standards that result from changing Community legislation.

Several European Technology Platforms contribute to setting common research priorities, in fields such as plant genomics and biotechnology, forestry and forest based industries, global animal health, farm animal breeding, food and industrial biotechnology. The research carried out will provide the knowledge base needed to support the Common Agricultural Policy and European Forest Strategy; agriculture and trade issues; safety aspects of genetically modified organisms (‘GMOs’); food safety regulations; Community animal health, disease control and welfare standards; and the Common Fisheries Policy reform aiming to provide sustainable development of fishing and aquaculture and the safety of seafood products (6): With a view to ensuring social relevance, a flexible response to new policy needs is also foreseen, in particular with respect to new risks and social or economic trends and needs.

Activities

— Sustainable production and management of biological resources from land, forest, and aquatic environments: enabling research, including ‘omics’ technologies, such as genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, systems biology, bioinformatics and converging technologies for micro-organisms, plants and animals, including research on the exploitation and sustainable use of their biodiversity. For land-based biological resources, research will focus on: soil fertility, improved crops and production systems in all their diversity, including organic farming, quality production schemes and monitoring and assessment of the impact of GMOs on the environment and humans; plant health, sustainable, competitive and multifunctional agriculture, and forestry; rural development; animal health and welfare, breeding and production; infectious diseases in animals, including epidemiological studies, zoonoses and their pathogenic mechanisms, and diseases linked to animal feedstuffs; other threats to the sustainability and security of food production, including climate change; safe disposal of animal waste. For biological resources from aquatic environments, research will support sustainability and competitiveness of fisheries, provide the scientific and technical basis of fisheries management and support the sustainable development of aquaculture, including breeding and welfare. Development of tools (including ICT tools) needed by policy makers and other actors in areas such as agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, and rural development (landscape, land management practices etc.); socio-economic and ethical contexts of production.

— ‘Fork to farm’ — food, health and well being: Consumer, societal, cultural, industrial and health as well as traditional aspects of food and feed, including behavioural and cognitive sciences; nutrition, diet-related diseases and disorders, including childhood and adult obesity and allergies; nutrition in relation to the prevention of diseases (including increased knowledge of the health bringing compounds and properties of food); innovative food and feed processing technologies (including packaging and technologies from non-food fields); improved quality and safety, both chemical and biological, of food, beverages and feed; enhanced food safety assurance methodologies; integrity (and control) of the food chain; physical and biological environmental impacts on and of food/feed chains; impact on, and resistance of, food chains to global changes; total food chain concept (including seafood and other food raw materials and components); traceability and its further development; authenticity of food; development of new ingredients and products.

— Life sciences and biotechnology for sustainable non-food products and processes: improved crops and forest resources, feed-stocks, marine products and biomass (including marine resources) for energy, environment, and products with high added value such as materials and chemicals (including biological resources utilisable in pharmaceutical industry and medicine), including novel farming systems, bio-processes and bio-refinery concepts; bio-catalysis; new and improved micro-organisms and enzymes; forestry and forest based products and processes; environmental bio-remediation and cleaner bio-processing, the utilisation of agro-industrial wastes and by-products.

3. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Objective

Improving the competitiveness of European industry and enabling Europe to master and shape future developments in ICT so that the demands of its society and economy are met. ICT is at the very core of the knowledge-based society. Activities will strengthen Europe's scientific and technology base and ensure its global leadership in ICT, help drive and stimulate product, service and process innovation and creativity through ICT use and ensure that ICT progress is rapidly transformed into benefits for Europe's citizens, businesses, industry and governments. These activities will also help reduce the digital divide and social exclusion.

Rationale

ICT is critical to Europe's future and underpins the realisation of the Lisbon agenda. It has a catalytic impact in three key areas: productivity and innovation, modernisation of public services and advances in science and technology. Half of the productivity gains in our economies are explained by the impact of ICT on products, services and business processes. ICT is the leading factor in boosting innovation and creativity and in mastering change in value chains across industry and service sectors.

ICT is essential to meeting the rise in demand for health and social care, in particular for people with special needs, including the ageing population, to modernising services in domains of public interest such as education, cultural heritage, security, energy, transport and the environment and to promoting accessibility and transparency of governance and policy development processes. ICT plays an important role in RTD management and communication and is catalytic in the advance of other fields of science and technology as it transforms the way researchers conduct their research, cooperate and innovate.

The escalating economic and societal demands, together with the continued mainstreaming of ICT and the need to push further the limits of technology as well as to develop innovative high-value ICT-based products and services set a growing agenda for research. To bring technology closer to people and organisational needs means: hiding technology complexity and revealing functionality on demand; making technology functional, very simple to use, available and affordable; providing new ICT-based applications, solutions and services that are trusted, reliable, and adaptable to the users' context and preferences. Driven by the demand of more-for-less, ICT researchers are involved in a global race focussing on miniaturisation, mastering the convergence of computing, communications and media technologies, including further interoperability between systems and the convergence with other relevant sciences and disciplines, and building systems that are able to learn and evolve.

From these diverse efforts a new wave of technologies is emerging. ICT research activities will also draw on a broader range of scientific and technological disciplines including bio- and life sciences, psychology, pedagogy, cognitive and social sciences and the humanities.

ICT is one the most research intensive sectors. The ICT research effort, public and private, represents a third of the total research effort in all major economies. Although Europe already enjoys industrial and technological leadership in key ICT fields it lags behind its major competitors in investment in ICT research. Only through a renewed and more intensive pooling of the effort at European level will we be able to make the most of the opportunities that progress in ICT can offer. ICT research activity based on the ‘open source’ development model is proving its utility as a source of innovation and increasing collaboration. The results of ICT research can take various exploitation paths and lead to various business models.

The ICT research activities will be closely articulated with policy actions for ICT deployment and with regulatory measures within a comprehensive and holistic strategy. Priorities have been set following extensive consultations that included input from a series of European Technology Platforms and industrial initiatives in areas such as nano-electronics, microsystems, embedded systems, mobile and wireless communications, electronic media, photonics, robotics and software, services and grids, including Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS). Sustainability issues will also be taken into account, particularly in the field of electronics.

Activities

The role of research into Future and Emerging Technologies is particularly relevant under this theme in order to support research at the frontier of knowledge in core ICTs and in their combination with other relevant areas and disciplines; to nurture novel ideas and radically new uses and to explore new options in ICT research roadmaps, including the exploitation of quantum effects, system integration and smart systems.

— ICT Technology Pillars: — Nano-electronics, photonics and integrated micro/nano-systems: pushing the limits of miniaturisation, integration, variety, storage and density; increasing performance and manufacturability at lower cost; facilitating incorporation of ICT in a range of applications; interfaces; upstream research requiring exploration of new concepts. — Ubiquitous and unlimited capacity communication networks: ubiquitous access over heterogeneous networks — fixed, mobile, wireless and broadcasting networks spanning from the personal area to the regional and global area — allowing the seamless delivery of ever higher volumes of data and services anywhere and at any time. — Embedded systems, computing and control: powerful, secure and distributed, reliable and efficient computing, storage and communication systems and products that are embedded in objects and physical infrastructures and that can sense, control and adapt to their environment; interoperability of discrete and continuous systems. — Software, Grids, security and dependability: dynamic, adaptive, dependable and trusted software and services, platforms for software and services, complex systems and new processing architectures, including their provision as a utility. — Knowledge, cognitive and learning systems: semantic systems; capturing and exploiting knowledge embedded in web and multimedia content; bio-inspired artificial systems that perceive, understand, learn and evolve, and act autonomously; learning by convivial machines and humans based on a better understanding of human cognition. — Simulation, visualisation, interaction and mixed realities: tools for innovative design, and creativity in products, services and digital media, and for natural, language-enabled and context-rich interaction and communication. — New perspectives in ICT drawing on other science and technology disciplines, including insights from mathematics and physics, biotechnologies, material and life-sciences, for miniaturisation of ICT devices to sizes compatible and interacting with living organisms, to increase performance and user-friendliness of systems engineering and information processing, and for modelling and simulation of the living world.

— Integration of Technologies: — Personal environments: personal communication and computing devices, accessories, wearables, implants; their interfaces and interconnections to services and resources. — Home environments: communication, monitoring, control, assistance; seamless interoperability and use of all devices; interactive digital content and services. — Robotic systems: advanced autonomous systems; cognition, control, action skills, natural interaction and cooperation; miniaturisation, humanoid technologies. — Intelligent infrastructures: tools making infrastructures that are critical to everyday life more efficient and user-friendly, easier to adapt and maintain, and more robust to usage and resistant to failures.

— Applications Research: — ICT meeting societal challenges: new systems, novel materials, structures, technologies and services in areas of public interest, improving quality, efficiency, access and inclusiveness, including accessibility for the disabled; user friendly applications, integration of new technologies and initiatives such as ambient assisted living, — for health, improving disease prevention and health care provisions, early diagnosis, treatment and personalisation; autonomy, safety, monitoring and mobility of patients; health information space for knowledge discovery and management, — to improve inclusion and equal participation and prevent digital divides; assistive technology for the elderly and for disabled people; design-for-all, — for mobility; intelligent ICT-based transportation systems, vehicles and intelligent service solutions for tourism enabling people and goods to move safely, ecologically, comfortably and efficiently, — in support of the environment, risk management and sustainable development, to prevent or reduce vulnerability and to mitigate the consequences of natural disasters, industrial accidents and human activities related to economic development, — for governments at all levels: efficiency, openness and accountability, for a world-class public administration and links to citizens and businesses, supporting democracy, allowing access to information to all. — ICT for content, creativity and personal development: — new media paradigms and new forms of content, including entertainment; creation of and access to interactive digital content; enriched user experiences; cost-effective content delivery; digital rights management; hybrid media, — technology-enhanced learning; adaptive and contextualised learning solutions; active learning, — ICT-based systems to support accessibility and use over time of digital cultural and scientific resources and assets, in a multilingual/multicultural environment. — ICT supporting businesses and industry: — new forms of dynamic networked cooperative business processes, digital eco-systems including for empowering small and medium-sized organisations and communities; optimised work organisation and collaborative work environments such as knowledge sharing and interactive services (e.g. for tourism), — manufacturing, including traditional industries: rapid and adaptive design, production and delivery of highly customised goods; digital and virtual production; modelling, simulation, optimisation and presentation tools; miniature and integrated ICT products, — ICT for trust and confidence: identity management; authentication and authorisation; privacy enhancing technologies; rights and asset management; protection against cyber threats.

4. Nano-sciences, Nano-technologies, Materials and new Production Technologies

Objective

Improving the competitiveness of European industry and generate knowledge to ensure its transformation from a resource-intensive to a knowledge-intensive industry, by generating step changes in knowledge and implementing decisive knowledge for new applications at the crossroads between different technologies and disciplines. This will benefit both new, high-tech industries and higher-value, knowledge-based traditional industries, with a special focus on the appropriate dissemination of RTD results to SMEs. These activities are primarily concerned with enabling technologies which impact all industrial sectors and many other Seventh Framework Programme themes.

Rationale

The increasing difficulties affecting many industrial activities appear no longer to be limited to traditional sectors with a high labour intensity, but are beginning to be observed in intermediate sectors — which constitute the established strengths of European industry — and even in some high-technology sectors. A strong industrial base must be maintained by strengthening the knowledge content in the existing industry as well as building, in Europe, a strong knowledge-based, knowledge intensive industry, stressing the exploitation of basic research for industrial applications. This will include the modernisation of the existing SME base and the creation and subsequent growth of new knowledge-driven SMEs, from the dissemination of knowledge and expertise through collaborative programmes.

The competitiveness of industry in the future will largely depend on nano-technologies and their applications. RTD in nano-sciences and nano-technologies taken up in several areas can accelerate European industry's transformation. The EU has recognised leadership in fields such as nano-sciences, nano-technologies, materials and production technologies, which must be strengthened in order to secure and increase the EU position in a highly competitive global context.

Materials with new properties are key to the future competitiveness of European industry and the basis for technical progress in many areas.

Industry-relevant priorities and their integration for sectoral applications can be established through activities like the European Technology Platforms in fields such as nano-electronics, manufacturing, power generation, steel, chemistry, energy, the transport industry, construction, industrial safety, textiles, ceramics, forest-based industry and nano-medicine. This will help establish common research priorities and targets. In addition by responding flexibly to new policy needs that arise during the lifetime of the Seventh Framework Programme, the relevant policy, regulatory and standardisation, and impact issues will be addressed.

Activities

— Nano-sciences, Nano-technologies — Generating new knowledge of interface and size dependent phenomena; nano-scale control of material properties for new applications; integration of technologies at the nano-scale including monitoring and sensing; self-assembling properties; nano-motors; nano-machines and nano-systems; methods and tools for characterisation and manipulation at nano-dimensions; nano- and high-precision technologies in chemistry for the manufacture of basic materials and components; the study and production of nano-metre precise components; impact on human safety, health and the environment; metrology, monitoring and sensing, nomenclature and standards; exploration of new concepts and approaches for sectoral applications, including the integration and convergence of emerging technologies. Activities will also investigate the impact of nano-technology on society and the relevance of nano-science and technology for the solution of societal problems.

— Materials — Generating new knowledge of high-performance surfaces and materials for new products and processes as well as for their repair; knowledge-based materials with tailored properties and predictable performance; more reliable design and simulation; computational modelling; higher complexity; environmental compatibility; integration of nano-micro-macro functionality in the chemical technology and materials processing industries; new nano-materials including nano-composites, bio-materials, and hybrid materials, including design and control of their processing, properties and performance.

— New Production — Creating conditions and assets for sustainable knowledge-intensive production, including construction, development and validation of new paradigms responding to emerging industrial needs and fostering the modernisation of the European industry base; development of generic production assets for adaptive, networked and knowledge-based production; development of new engineering concepts exploiting the convergence of technologies (e.g. nano, micro, bio, geo, info, optical, cognitive technologies and their engineering requirements) for the next generation of high value-added new or renewed products and services, and adaptation to changing needs; engaging high-throughput production technologies.

— Integration of technologies for industrial applications — Integrating new knowledge, nano- and micro-technologies, materials and production in sectoral and cross sectoral applications, in areas such as health, food, construction and buildings, transport, energy, information and communication, chemistry, environment, textiles and clothing, footwear, forest-based industry, steel, mechanical engineering.

5. Energy

Objective

Adapting the current energy system into a more sustainable one, less dependent on imported fuels and based on a diverse mix of energy sources, in particular renewables, energy carriers and non-polluting sources; enhancing energy efficiency, including by rationalising use and storage of energy; addressing the pressing challenges of security of supply and climate change, whilst increasing the competitiveness of Europe's industries.

Rationale

Energy systems are confronted with major challenges. There is an urgent need to identify and develop adequate and timely solutions given the alarming trends in global energy demand, the finite nature of conventional oil and natural gas reserves, the need to curb dramatically emissions of greenhouse gases in order to mitigate the devastating consequences of climate change, the damaging volatility of oil prices (in particular for the transport sector which is heavily oil dependent) and geopolitical instability in supplier regions. Energy research is an important contribution towards ensuring affordable energy costs for our citizens and industries. Research and demonstration are necessary in order to provide the most environmentally sound and cost-effective technologies and measures enabling the EU to meet its targets under the Kyoto Protocol and beyond and to implement its energy policy commitments, as described in the 2000 Green Paper on the security of energy supply (7), the 2005 Green Paper on Energy Efficiency (8) and the 2006 Green Paper on a European strategy for sustainable competitive and secure energy (9).

Europe has developed world leadership in a number of energy generation and energy efficiency technologies. It is the pioneer in modern renewable energy technologies, such as solar energy, bio- and wind energy. The EU is also a global competitor in power generation and distribution technologies and has a strong research capability in the area of carbon capture and sequestration. These positions, however, are now facing severe competition (in particular from the US and Japan). Therefore Europe must maintain and develop its leading position which requires substantial efforts and international collaboration.

Radically transforming the energy system into a less- or non-CO2-emitting, reliable, competitive and sustainable energy system requires new technologies with risks that are too high and profits too uncertain for private firms to provide all the investment needed for research, development, demonstration and deployment. Public support should therefore play a key role in mobilising private investment and European efforts and resources should be combined in a coherent and more effective manner, to compete with economies that are investing heavily and consistently in similar technologies. European technology platforms play an important role in this regard, by mobilising the necessary research effort in a coordinated manner. The activities to meet the objective are set out below. A specific activity on knowledge for energy policy making is included which may also provide support to new policy needs that emerge relating, for example, to the role of European energy policy in the development of international climate change actions, and instabilities or disruptions in energy supply and price.

Activities

— Hydrogen and fuel cells Integrated action to provide a strong technological foundation for competitive EU fuel cell and hydrogen industries, for stationary, portable and transport applications. The Hydrogen and Fuel Cells European Technology Platform contributes to this activity by proposing an integrated research and deployment strategy.

— Renewable electricity generation Technologies to increase overall conversion efficiency, cost efficiency and reliability, driving down the cost of electricity production from indigenous renewable energy sources, including wastes, and the development and the demonstration of technologies suited to different regional conditions.

— Renewable fuel production Integrated fuel production systems and conversion technologies: to develop and drive down the unit cost of solid, liquid and gaseous (including hydrogen) fuels produced from renewable energy sources including biomass and wastes, aiming at the cost-effective production, storage, distribution and use of carbon-neutral fuels, in particular biofuels for transport and electricity generation.

— Renewables for heating and cooling Research, development and demonstration of technologies and devices including storage technologies to increase efficiencies and drive down the costs of active and passive heating and cooling from renewable energy sources, ensuring their use in different regional conditions where sufficient potential can be identified.

— CO2 capture and storage technologies for zero emission power generation Research, development and demonstration of technologies to drastically reduce the environmental impact of fossil fuel use aiming at highly efficient and cost effective power and/or heat generation plants with near zero emissions, based on CO2 capture and storage technologies, in particular underground storage.

— Clean coal technologies Research, development and demonstration of technologies to substantially improve plant efficiency, reliability and cost through development and demonstration of clean coal and other solid fuel conversion technologies producing also secondary energy carriers (including hydrogen) and liquid or gaseous fuels. Activities will be linked as appropriate to CO2 capture and storage technologies or co-utilisation of biomass.

— Smart energy networks Research, development and demonstration on how to increase the efficiency, safety, reliability and quality of the European electricity and gas systems and networks, notably within the context of a more integrated European energy market, e.g. by transforming the current electricity grids into an interactive (customers/operators) service network, developing energy storage options and removing obstacles to the large-scale deployment and effective integration of distributed and renewable energy sources.

— Energy efficiency and savings Research, development and demonstration of new concepts, optimisation of proven concepts and technologies to improve energy efficiency and to enable further final and primary energy consumption savings, over their life cycle, for buildings (including in lighting), transport, services and industry. This includes the integration of strategies and technologies for energy efficiency (including co- and polygeneration), the use of new and renewable energy technologies and energy demand management measures and devices, and the demonstration of minimum climate impact buildings.

— Knowledge for energy policy making Development of tools, methods and models to assess the main economic and social issues related to energy technologies and to provide quantifiable targets and scenarios for medium- and long-term horizons (including providing scientific support for policy development).

6. Environment (including climate change)

Objective

Sustainable management of the environment and its resources through the advancement of knowledge on the interaction between the climate, biosphere, ecosystems and human activities, and the development of new technologies, tools and services, in order to address global environmental issues in an integrated way. Emphasis will be placed on prediction of climate, ecological, earth and ocean systems changes, on tools and technologies for monitoring, prevention, mitigation and adaptation of environmental pressures and risks, including risks to health, and on tools and technologies for the sustainability of the natural and man-made environment.

Rationale

Environmental problems extend beyond national frontiers and require a coordinated approach at a pan-European and, often, global level. Earth's natural resources and the man-made environment are under intense pressure from a growing population, urbanisation, construction, continuous expansion of the agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, transport, and energy sectors, and climate variability and warming at local, regional and global scales. Europe needs to engage in a new sustainable relationship with the environment while improving competitiveness and strengthening European industry. EU-wide cooperation is needed in order to attain critical mass, given the scale, scope and high level of complexity of environmental research. This will facilitate common planning, the use of connected and inter-operable databases, and the development of coherent and large scale observation and forecasting systems. Research should address the need for data management and information services and problems related to data transfer, integration, mapping.

Research is needed at EU level for the implementation of international commitments such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and its Kyoto protocol, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the objectives of the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, including the EU Water Initiative, and contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Earth Observation initiative.

In addition, there are significant research needs arising from existing and emerging EU level policies, the implementation of the 6th Environmental Action Plan and associated thematic strategies (e.g. the EU marine strategy), the action plans, programmes and directives on Environmental Technologies and Environment and Health, the Water Framework and Natura 2000.

The EU needs to strengthen its position in world markets for environmental technologies. Such technologies contribute to sustainable consumption and production, helping to deliver sustainable growth providing eco-efficient solutions to environmental problems at different scales and protecting our cultural and natural heritage. Environmental requirements act as a stimulus for innovation and can provide business opportunities and higher competitiveness while at the same time ensuring a more sustainable future for next generations. European Technology Platforms on water supply and sanitation and on sustainable chemistry confirm the need for EU level action and their research agendas are taken into consideration in the activities below. Other platforms (e.g. on construction and on forestry) partially deal with environmental technology issues and are taken into consideration as well. Socio-economic issues have a particularly strong influence on the development of environmental technologies and their introduction to the market and subsequent application, as, for example, is the case with water resources management. Activities must consider the socio-economic aspects of policies and technological developments, whenever relevant to the topic.

A series of activities are listed below (10) many of which are directly relevant to policy needs. However, additional support may be provided to new policy needs that emerge, for example, in relation to sustainability impact assessments of EU policies; the follow up to the post-Kyoto action on climate change; and new environmental policies such as those in the European Soil Strategy and relating to maritime policy, standards and regulations.

Activities

— Climate change, pollution and risks — Pressures on the environment and climate: functioning of climate and the earth system including the polar regions; adaptation and mitigation measures; pollution in air, soil and water; changes in atmospheric composition and water cycle; global and regional interactions between climate and atmosphere, land surface, ice and the ocean; and impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, including the effects of the sea level rise on coastal zones and impacts on particularly sensitive areas. — Environment and health: interaction of environmental stressors with human health including identification of sources, biomonitoring research for environment related health, indoor air quality and links to indoor environment, urban environment, car emissions and impact and emerging risk factors; integrated risk assessment methods for hazardous substances including alternatives to animal testing; quantification and cost-benefit analysis of environmental health risks and indicators for prevention strategies. — Natural hazards: improvement of forecasting and integrated hazards — vulnerability — and risk assessments for disasters related to geological hazards (such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis) and climate (such as storms, droughts, floods, forest fires, landslides, avalanches and other extreme events) and their impact; development of early warning systems and improve prevention, mitigation and management strategies, also within a multi-risk approach.

— Sustainable Management of Resources — Conservation and sustainable management of natural and man-made resources and biodiversity: ecosystems; water resources management; waste management and prevention; protection and management of biodiversity, including control of invasive alien species, soil, seabed, lagoons and coastal areas protection, approaches against desertification and land degradation, preservation of landscape; sustainable use and management of forests; sustainable management and planning of urban environment, including post-industrialized zones; data management and information services; assessment and foresight relating to natural processes. — Management of marine environments: impact of human activities on the marine environment and its resources; pollution and eutrophication in regional seas and coastal areas; deep sea ecosystems; assessment of marine biodiversity trends, of ecosystem processes and of ocean circulation; seabed geology; development of strategies, concepts and tools for a sustainable use of the ocean and its resources.

— Environmental Technologies — Environmental technologies for observation, simulation, prevention, mitigation, adaptation, remediation and restoration of the natural and man-made environment: related to water, climate, air, marine, urban and rural environment, soil, waste treatment, recycling, clean production processes and sustainable products, chemicals safety. — Protection, conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage, including human habitat: improved damage assessment on cultural heritage; development of innovative conservation strategies; fostering of the integration of cultural heritage in the urban setting. — Technology assessment, verification and testing: methods and tools for environmental risk and lifecycle assessment of processes, technologies and products, including alternative testing strategies and in particular non-animal methods for industrial chemicals; support for sustainable chemistry, forest-based sector technology, water supply and sanitation platforms (11); scientific and technological aspects of a future European environmental technologies verification and testing programme, complementing third party assessment instruments.

— Earth observation and assessment tools — Earth and ocean observation systems and monitoring methods for the environment and sustainable development: contribute to the development and integration of observation systems for environmental and sustainability issues in the framework of GEOSS (to which GMES is complementary); interoperability between systems and optimisation of information for understanding, modelling and predicating environmental phenomena, for assessing, exploring and managing natural resources. — Forecasting methods and assessment tools for sustainable development taking into account differing scales of observation: modelling links between economy/environment/society including market based instruments, externalities, thresholds and developing the knowledge base and methodologies for sustainability impact assessment on key issues such as land use and marine issues; urban development, social and economic tensions related to climate change.

7. Transport (including aeronautics)

Objective

Based on technological and operational advances and on the European transport policy, developing integrated, safer, ‘greener’ and ‘smarter’ pan-European transport systems for the benefit of all citizens, society and climate policy, respecting the environment and natural resources; and securing and further developing the competitiveness attained by the European industries in the global market.

Rationale

Transport is one of Europe's strengths — the air transport sector contributes to 2,6 % of the EU GDP (with 3,1 million jobs) and the surface transport field generates 11 % of the EU GDP (employing some 16 million persons). However, transport is responsible for 25 % of all the EU emissions of CO2, hence the absolute need for a ‘greening’ of the system to ensure more sustainable transport patterns and compatibility with growth rates, as developed in the White Paper on ‘European Transport Policy for 2010: time to decide’ (12).

The enlargement (increasing land surface by 25 % and population by 20 %) and economic development of the EU present new challenges for transporting people and goods efficiently, cost-effectively and in a sustainable manner. Transport also has direct relevance for other major policies such as trade, competition, employment, environment, cohesion, energy, security and the internal market.

Investment in RTD in EU transport industries is a prerequisite for ensuring a technological competitive advantage in global markets (13). Activities at European level will also stimulate the restructuring of the industry, including the integration of the supply chain and, in particular, SMEs.

The research agendas developed by European Technology Platforms (14) support the need to take a new ‘transport systems’ perspective that considers the interactions of vehicles or vessels, transport networks or infrastructures and the use of transport services, which can only be developed at European level. RTD costs in all these fields are rising substantially, and collaborative activity at EU-level is essential to enable a ‘critical mass’ of diverse RTD providers to address the scale and multi-disciplinary challenges in a cost-effective way, as well as meeting the political, technological and socio-economic challenges of issues such as the ‘clean and safe vehicle’ of the future, interoperability and intermodality with particular reference to waterborne and rail transport, affordability, safety, capacity, security and environmental impacts in an enlarged Union. Also, developing technologies in support of the Galileo system and its applications will be essential in implementing European policies.

As well as the strong industry relevance of the themes and activities set out below, the needs of policy makers will be addressed in an integrated way covering economic, social and environmental aspects of transport policy. In addition, support will be provided to respond to existing as well as new policy needs, for example relating to developments in maritime policy or implementation of the European Single Sky.

Activities

— Aeronautics and air transport — The greening of air transport: reduction of emissions, including green house gases and noise disturbance, incorporating work on engines and alternative fuels, structures and new aircraft designs including rotorcraft, airport operations and traffic management. — Increasing time efficiency: improvement of the efficiency of operating schedules focusing on innovative air traffic management systems in line with the effective implementation of Single Sky policy which integrate air, ground and space components, including traffic flow and more aircraft autonomy. — Ensuring customer satisfaction and safety: improvement of passenger comfort, innovative in-flight services and more efficient passenger handling; improvement of all safety aspects of air transport; wider choice of aircraft ranging from wide body to smaller size vehicles suitable for different applications (including regional applications). — Improving cost efficiency: reduction of costs associated with product development, manufacturing and operating costs focusing on innovative and zero maintenance, repair and overhaul, aircraft, increased use of automation and simulation. — Protection of aircraft and passengers: enhancement of protection measures for the traveller, crew, aircraft and air transport system, such as improved data and identification methods, protecting the aircraft against attack, improved security design of aircraft. — Pioneering the air transport of the future: addressing the longer term challenges of aviation with more radical, environmentally efficient, accessible and innovative combinations of technologies which would lead to significant steps forward in air transport.

— Sustainable surface transport (rail, road and waterborne) — The greening of surface transport: reduction of environmental and noise pollution, including green house gases; reducing the impact of transport on climate change by reducing emissions through technological and socio-economic means as well as user training; development of clean and efficient engines and power-trains, including hybrid technology and the use of alternative fuels for transport applications such as hydrogen and fuel cells, taking account of cost-efficiency and energy-efficiency considerations; end of life strategies for vehicles and vessels. — Encouraging and increasing modal shift and decongesting transport corridors: development of sustainable innovative, intermodal and interoperable regional and national transport and logistics networks, infrastructures and systems in Europe; cost internalisation; information exchange between vehicle/vessel and transport infrastructure; optimisation of infrastructure capacity; modal shift strategies to encourage energy efficient means of transport. — Ensuring sustainable urban mobility for all citizens including the disadvantaged: innovative organisation schemes, including clean and safe vehicles and means of transport with lower levels of pollution, new high quality public transportation modes and rationalisation of private transport, communication infrastructure, integrated town planning and transport taking into account their relationship with growth and employment. — Improving safety and securityas inherent to the transport system: in transport operations for drivers, passengers, crew, cyclists and pedestrians, as well as for freight, in the design and operation of vehicles, vessels, infrastructures, and within the total transport system. — Strengthening competitiveness: improvement of design processes; development of advanced power-train and vehicle and vessel technologies; innovative and cost-effective production systems and infrastructure construction and maintenance; integrative architectures.

— Support for the European global satellite navigation system (Galileo and EGNOS): precise navigation and timing services for use in a range of sectors; efficient use of satellite navigation and support for the definition of second generation technologies and applications.

8. Socio-Economic Sciences and the Humanities

Objective

Generating an in-depth, shared understanding of the complex and interrelated socio-economic challenges Europe is confronted with, such as growth, employment and competitiveness, social cohesion, social, cultural and educational challenges in an enlarged EU and sustainability, demographic change, migration and integration, quality of life and global interdependence, in particular with the view to providing an improved knowledge base for policies in the fields concerned.

Rationale

Europe has a strong and high quality research base in socio-economic and socio-cultural sciences and the humanities fields. The diversity of approaches within the EU in the economic, social, political and cultural domains provides a highly fertile ground for research in these fields at EU level. There is much European added value in collaborative research addressing European socio-economic and socio-cultural issues in the areas mentioned. First, the issues and challenges concerned are of high priority at the European level and are addressed by Community policies. Second, comparative research across the EU or other countries offers a particularly effective tool as well as important learning opportunities across countries and regions.

Third, EU-level research has particular advantages in being able to develop Europe-wide data collection and to employ the multiple perspectives needed to understand complex issues. Finally, the development of a genuinely European socio-economic knowledge base on these key challenges will make an essential contribution to promoting their shared understanding across the European Union and, most significantly, by European citizens.

The activities to be supported are listed below and are expected to contribute significantly to improving the formulation, implementation, impacts and assessments of policy and the definition of regulatory measures in a wide range of areas such as the economic, social, cultural, education and training, gender equality, enterprise, international trade, consumer, external relations, and scientific and technological spheres, official statistics policies and the creation of the area of freedom, security and justice. In addition, opportunities will be provided to address emerging socio-economic challenges as well as to undertake research on new or unforeseen policy needs. Use may also be made of social platforms to discuss future research agendas.

Activities

— Growth, employment and competitiveness in a knowledge society: developing and integrating research on the issues affecting growth, socio-economic stability, employment and competitiveness, covering topics such as innovation, education including life-long learning and the role of scientific and other knowledge and intangible goods on a global scale, youth and youth policy, adaptation of labour market policies, and national institutional contexts.

— Combining economic, social and environmental objectives in a European perspective: by addressing the two key and highly interrelated issues of continuing evolution of European socio-economic models and economic and social and regional cohesion in an enlarged EU, taking into account sustainability and the protection of the environment, sustainable urban planning, the interaction between environment, energy and society, the role of cities and metropolitan regions, and the socio-economic impact of European policies and legislation.

— Major trends in society and their implications: such as demographic change including ageing and its effects on pension systems, migration and integration, analysing the implications of the demographic change for urban development; lifestyles, work, families, reconciling professional and family life, gender issues, disabilities issues, health and quality of life; economic consumer protection; inequalities; criminality; the role of business in society and population diversity, ethnicity, religious pluralism, cultural interactions multicultural issues and issues related to protection of fundamental rights and the fight against discrimination of any kind.

— Europe in the world: understanding changing interactions, cross cultural relations and interdependencies between world regions, including developing regions, and their implications; addressing emerging threats and risks without undermining human rights, freedom and well-being, and fostering peace.

— The citizen in the European Union: in the context of the future development of the enlarged EU, addressing the issues of achieving a sense of democratic ‘ownership’ and active participation by the peoples of Europe; effective and democratic governance at all levels including economic and legal governance and the role of civil society; research for building a shared understanding and respect for Europe's diversities and commonalities in terms of culture, religions, cultural heritage, institutions and legal systems, history, languages and values as building elements of our European multi-cultural identity and heritage.

— Socio-economic and scientific indicators: their use in policy and its implementation and monitoring, the improvement of existing indicators, techniques to analyse them and the development of new ones for this purpose and for the evaluation of research programmes, including indicators based on official statistics.

— Foresight activities relating to major science, technology and related socio-economic issues such as future demographic trends and the globalization of knowledge, the dissemination of knowledge, and evolution of research systems and of the future developments in and across major research domains and scientific disciplines.

9. Space

Objective

Supporting a European Space Programme focusing on applications such as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) with benefits for citizens and for the competitiveness of the European space industry. This will contribute to the development of a European space policy, complementing efforts by Member States and by other key players, including the European Space Agency (ESA).

Rationale

The Community can contribute in this field to the better definition of common objectives based on user requirements and policy objectives; to the coordination of activities in order to avoid duplications and maximise interoperability; to improving cost-effectiveness and to the definition