Common Position (EC) No 27/2006 of 25 September 2006 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 2013)
Date: 2006-09-25
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU research policy, innovation, knowledge economy, research and development, research programme, research staff, scientific cooperation

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I

(Information)

COUNCIL

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 EURO-
PEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity, 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
Regions (2),

the Committee of

the

(2)

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

Whereas:

(1)

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 under-
including small and medium sized enterprises
takings,
in their
research centres
(‘SMEs’),
research and technological development activities. In this
context, priority should be given to those areas and
projects where European funding and cooperation is of
value.
particular
the frontiers of
Through its support

and universities

for research at

and provides

importance

added

knowledge, applied research and innovation, the Com-
munity seeks to promote synergies in European research
and thus provide a more stable foundation for the Euro-
pean Research Area. This will make a positive contribu-
tion 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
Framework
The
innovation
Programme is a central Community instrument in this
respect, complementing the efforts of Member States
and European industry.

capacities.

Seventh

(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 Posi-
tion of the European Parliament of … (not yet published in the Offi-
cial Journal).

(3)

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 inno-
vation 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.

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

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the

aim of

The overriding
Seventh Framework
Programme is to contribute to the Union becoming the
world's leading research area. This requires the Frame-
work 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 tech-
nology — Guidelines for future European Union policy
to support research (1).

(9)

the

the

least

recognition of

through a significant

and qualitatively; better education and research
training, easier access to research opportunities as
well as
‘profession’ of
researcher are principal tools for achieving this goal,
increase in the
not
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.

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

and research agenda

that meets

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

to be achieved under

scientific

the

European Technology Platforms (ETPs) and the envisaged
Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs) are particularly rele-
vant 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.

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 knowl-
edge-based economy and society in Europe which will
meet the goals of the Lisbon strategy in Community
policies. Among the objectives of the Seventh Frame-
work Programme the following are particularly impor-
tant:

— trans-national cooperation at every scale across the

EU should be supported,

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

— human potential

in research and technology in
Europe should be strengthened, both quantitatively

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

(10)

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

(11)

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

(12) A wide use and dissemination of the knowledge gener-
ated by publicly funded research activity should be
supported.

(13)

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

(the
researchers

research community

individual

themes

(the

(14) Under the ‘Cooperation’ programme, support should be
provided to trans-national cooperation at appropriate
in a number of
scale across the Union and beyond,
thematic areas corresponding to major fields of
the
progress of knowledge and technology, where research
should be supported and strengthened to address Euro-
pean 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.

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(15) Under the ‘Ideas’ programme, activities should be imple-
mented 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 interna-
tional
level. The ERC should maintain regular contact
with the scientific community and European Institutions.

(20)

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, along-
side in particular those under the structural funds and
those relating to agriculture, education, training, compe-
titiveness and innovation,
industry, employment and
environment.

(16) Under the ‘People’ programme,

Framework

Programmes,

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 posi-
tive experiences with the ‘Marie Curie Actions’ under
previous
‘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.

the

(17) Under the ‘Capacities’ programme, the use and develop-
ment 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 outer-
most 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 interna-
tional cooperation should be undertaken.

(18)

(19)

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) should contribute to
providing customer-driven scientific and technological
support for the conception, development, implementa-
tion 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 tech-
nology in the EU in the areas of its specific competence.

The regions have an important part to play in imple-
menting 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.

(21) 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 parti-
cularly important for SMEs.

(22)

(23)

(24)

The Seventh Framework Programme should aim, in par-
ticular, 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.

activities of

Framework
Participation in the
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 partici-
pants.

this

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 effi-
ciently 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.

(25) 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 interven-
tion plays in making the European research system more
efficient and effective, as well as the possible contribu-
tion of the Framework Programme to the efforts of, inter
alia, finding solutions to climate change and sustain-
ability, the health of Europe's population and the reinvi-
goration of the Lisbon strategy, there is a need for Com-
munity research activities.

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(26)

(27)

(28)

(29)

(30)

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 under-
taken 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 interna-
tional 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 inte-
grating the Community into the world-wide research
community.

There is already a significant body of scientific knowl-
edge 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.

(34)

The Seventh Framework Programme should contribute
towards promoting growth,
sustainable development
and environmental protection, including addressing the
problem of climate change.

(35)

Research activities supported by the seventh Framework
Programme should respect fundamental ethical princi-
ples, including those reflected in the Charter of Funda-
mental Rights of the European Union. The opinions of
the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Tech-
nologies 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 ulti-
mately to replacing animal use.

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
interests (2), Council Regulation
Communities financial
(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 (3) and Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of
the European Parliament
the Council of
25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by
the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) (4).

and of

It is important to ensure sound financial management of
the Seventh Framework Programme and its implementa-
tion 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
Council
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002
on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general
budget of the European Communities (5), and with the
requirements of simplification and better regulation.

compliance with

ensure

to

Since the objective of the actions to be taken in accord-
ance 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
in accordance with the principle of subsi-
measures,
diarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accord-
ance 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,

(31) Under the Seventh Framework Programme the role of
women in science
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.

and research will be

(32)

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 Interin-
stitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the
European Parliament, the Council and the Commission
on budgetary discipline and sound financial manage-
ment (1), for the budgetary authority during the annual
budgetary procedure.

HAVE DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Adoption of the Seventh Framework Programme

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

(33) Appropriate measures — proportionate to the European
Communities' financial interests — should also be taken

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

(2) OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 292, 15.11.1996, p. 2.
(4) OJ L 136, 31.5.1999, p. 1.
(5) OL L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

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Article 2

Objectives and activities

Article 3

Specific programmes

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.

(i) Cooperation:

supporting the whole range of

research
actions carried out in trans-national cooperation in the
following thematic areas:

(a) Health;

(b) Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology;

(c) Information and Communication Technologies;

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

The maximum overall amount for Community financial
1.
participation in this Seventh Framework Programme shall be
EUR 50 521 million (2). 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):

(d) Nano-sciences, Nano-technologies, Materials and new

Cooperation

Production Technologies;

(e) Energy;

(f) Environment (including Climate Change);

(g) Transport (including Aeronautics);

(h) Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities;

(i) Space;

(j) Security.

(ii) Ideas: supporting ‘investigator-driven’ research carried out
fields by individual national or transnational

across all
teams in competition at the European level.

(iii) People: strengthening, quantitatively and qualitatively, the
in research and technological develop-

human potential
ment in Europe, as well as encouraging mobility.

(iv) 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’) (1);
‘Science in Society’
issues; support to coherent development of policies; hori-
zontal activities of international cooperation.

Ideas

People

Capacities

32 365

7 460

4 728

4 217

Non-nuclear actions of
Centre

the Joint Research

1 751

The indicative breakdown among the thematic areas of

2.
each activity referred to in paragraph 1 is set out in Annex II.

The detailed rules for Community financial participation

3.
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, Regu-
lation (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 obli-
gation 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.

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.

(1) Throughout the Seventh Framework Programme, ‘SMEs’ are under-

stood to include microenterprises.

(2) Note: all figures are in current prices reflecting the Interinstitutional
Agreement (IIA) on the Financial Framework (2007-2013). Accord-
ingly, 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.

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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.

The following fields of research shall not be financed

2.
under this Framework Programme:

— research activity aiming at human cloning for reproductive

purposes,

— research activity intended to modify the genetic heritage of
human beings which could make such changes heritable (1),

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

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

research on human
financing for
Any application for
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.

Article 7

Monitoring, evaluation and review

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

implementation of

the

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 find-
ings 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 evalua-
tion 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.

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

Done at Brussels, …

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.

For the European Parliament

The President

…

For the Council

The President

…

(1) Research relating to cancer

treatment of

the gonads can be

financed.

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

ANNEX I

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 indus-
trial 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 opportu-
nities that may arise during the lifetime of the Seventh Framework Programme. For each of them, a series of activ-
ities 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 technolo-
gies.

Multidisciplinarity will be encouraged by joint cross-thematic approaches to research and technology subjects rele-
vant 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 imple-
ment 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.

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The ten themes also include research needed to underpin the formulation, implementation and assessment of Com-
munity policies, in areas such as health, safety, consumer protection, energy, the environment, development aid, fish-
eries, 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 disci-
plines 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 poten-
for significant breakthroughs; adequate coordination with the activities carried out under the Ideas
tial
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-inten-
sive 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 objec-
tives 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 com-
munity in the debate on scientific issues and research results, and to initiatives in the field of scientific communica-
tion 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 particu-
lar 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.

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

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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 Euro-
pean 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,
concerning:

in particular with regard to matters

— 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 (1), 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 particu-
lar 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 (2).

(1) In particular with the activities carried out by the intergovernmental structure EUREKA. In addition, the experience gained by

EUREKA clusters could be relevant to Joint Technology Initiatives in related areas.

(2) This will include financial support for the administration and coordination activities of COST.

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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 intergo-
vernmental 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, accompa-
nied 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 imple-
menting 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 capaci-
ties.

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 capa-
city of European health-related industries and businesses, while addressing global health issues including emer-
ging 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.

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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 devel-
oping 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 epidemiolo-
gical 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 biotech-
nology 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 develop-
ment 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
through molecular

and technologies such as new preventive tools for regenerative medicine (e.g.
imaging and diagnostics).

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— Predicting suitability, safety and efficacy of therapies: to develop and validate biological markers, in vivo
including simulation, pharmacogenomics, targeting and delivery

and in vitro methods and models,
approaches and alternatives to animal testing.

— Innovative therapeutic approaches and intervention: to research, consolidate and ensure further develop-
ments 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 model-
ling 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 biolo-
gical 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
interventions in different health care settings to
interaction with medication); to identify successful
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 thera-
pies to ensure a high level of protection and benefit for public health.

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2. Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology

Objective

Building a European knowledge-based bio-economy (1) by bringing together science, industry and other stake-
holders, 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 (2), this will help increase the competitiveness of Euro-
pean 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 imple-
mentation 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 (3): With a view to ensuring social relevance, a flex-
ible 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.

(1) The term ‘bio-economy’ includes all industries and economic sectors that produce, manage and otherwise exploit biological resources

and related services, supply or consumer industries, such as agriculture, food, fisheries, forestry, etc.

(2) ‘Life sciences and biotechnology — A strategy for Europe’ — COM(2002) 27.
(3) Complementary research relating to the sustainable management and conservation of natural resources is addressed under the ‘Envir-

onment (including climate change)’ theme.

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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 agri-
culture, 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-
improved quality and safety, both chemical and biological, of food, beverages and feed;
food fields);
enhanced food safety assurance methodologies; integrity (and control) of the food chain; physical and biolo-
gical 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); trace-
ability 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 develop-
ments 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 tech-
nology. 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 transpar-
ency 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.

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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 road-
maps, 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;
interfaces; upstream research requiring
facilitating incorporation of ICT in a range of applications;
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 under-
standing 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.

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— 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 admin-
istration 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.

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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 imple-
menting decisive knowledge for new applications at the crossroads between different technologies and disci-
plines. 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 consti-
tute 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 crea-
tion 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 trans-
formation. 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 tech-
nical 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 perfor-
mance; 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 mate-
rials, including design and control of their processing, properties and performance.

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— 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; enhan-
cing 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 (1), the
2005 Green Paper on Energy Efficiency (2) and the 2006 Green Paper on a European strategy for sustainable
competitive and secure energy (3).

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.

(1) COM(2000) 769.
(2) COM(2005) 265.
(3) COM(2006) 105.

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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 Tech-
nology 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 identi-
fied.

— 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, relia-
bility and cost through development and demonstration of clean coal and other solid fuel conversion tech-
nologies producing also secondary energy carriers (including hydrogen) and liquid or gaseous fuels. Activ-
ities 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 technolo-
gies 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 inte-
gration 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.

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— 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 tech-
nologies, 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
including risks to
monitoring, prevention, mitigation and adaptation of environmental pressures and risks,
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-Euro-
pean and, often, global level. Earth's natural resources and the man-made environment are under intense pres-
sure from a growing population, urbanisation, construction, continuous expansion of the agriculture, aquacul-
ture, 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 compe-
titiveness 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 plan-
ning, the use of connected and inter-operable databases, and the development of coherent and large scale obser-
vation 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 imple-
mentation 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-effi-
cient 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 Tech-
nology 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 considera-
tion 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 (1) 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.

(1) Complementary research relating to the production and use of biological resources is addressed under the ‘Food, Agriculture and

Biotechnology’ theme.

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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 atmo-
spheric 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 identifica-
tion 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 assess-
ments 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: ecosys-
tems; 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; assess-
ment 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,

improved
damage assessment on cultural heritage; development of innovative conservation strategies; fostering of
the integration of cultural heritage in the urban setting.

including human habitat:

— 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 par-
ticular non-animal methods for industrial chemicals; support for sustainable chemistry, forest-based
sector technology, water supply and sanitation platforms (1); scientific and technological aspects of a
future European environmental technologies verification and testing programme, complementing third
party assessment instruments.

(1) The research agendas of relevant European Technology Platforms will be taken into account in the different activities.

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— 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 environ-
mental 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 sustain-
ability 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 competitive-
ness 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’ (1).

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 advan-
tage in global markets (2). 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 (3) 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, afford-
ability, 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.

(1) COM(2001) 370.
(2) The European aeronautics industry invests 14 % of its turnover in research, the European car industry almost 5 % of its turnover; and

the EU shipbuilding industry competitive advantage relies exclusively on RTD.

(3) ACARE: Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe. Launched in 2001, it is the first operational example of a Technology
Platform; ERRAC: European Rail Research Advisory Council; ERTRAC: European Road Transport Research Advisory Council; WATER-
BORNE Technology Platform.

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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 rotor-
craft, 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 inte-
grate air, ground and space components, including traffic flow and more aircraft autonomy.

— Ensuring customer satisfaction and safety:

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).

improvement of passenger comfort,

— 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 techno-
logical 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 sustain-
able 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 infra-
structure, 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 defini-
tion of second generation technologies and applications.

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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 integra-
tion, 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 huma-
nities 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 Com-
munity 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 poli-
cies 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, disabil-
ities 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.

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— 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 common-
alities 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 disci-
plines.

9. Space

Objective

Supporting a European Space Programme focusing on applications such as GMES (Global Monitoring for Envir-
onment 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 require-
ments and policy objectives; to the coordination of activities in order to avoid duplications and maximise intero-
perability; to improving cost-effectiveness and to the definition of standards. Public authorities and decision-
makers represent important potential users and the European industry will also benefit from a well defined
European Space policy implemented through a European Space Programme, supported in part by the proposed
research and technological development actions. European level actions are also needed to support Community
policy objectives, for example in the fields of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, environment, health, telecommuni-
cations, security, transport as well as ensuring that Europe is a respected partner in regional and international
cooperation.

In the last 40 years, excellent technological competence has been built up in Europe, both nationally and
through ESA. Sustaining a competitive industry (including manufacturers, service providers and operators)
requires new research and technologies. Space applications bring important benefits to citizens by virtue of
technological spin-off effects and are indispensable in a high-tech society.

The activities set out below aim at: the efficient exploitation of space assets (in coordination with in-situ assets,
including airborne assets) for the implementation of applications, namely GMES and their contribution to law
enforcement in Community policies; space exploration, allowing international cooperation opportunities and
dramatic technological breakthroughs as well as cost-effective missions; exploitation and exploration of space
supported through enabling activities guaranteeing the strategic role of the European Union. These activities
will be complemented by other actions under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme and
in the Education and Training Programme. The public policy benefits of the below activities will also be maxi-
mised, including by the provision of additional support for new policy needs that may arise, for example: space-
based solutions in support of developing countries and use of space-observation tools and methods to support
developments in Community policies.

Activities

— Space-based applications at the service of European society

— GMES: development of satellite-based and in-situ monitoring and early-warning systems, including for
the safety of citizens, and techniques relating to the management of the environment and security
(including the management of natural disasters) and their integration with ground-based, ship-borne and
airborne components; support for the integration, harmonisation, use and delivery of GMES data (both
satellite-based and in-situ, including ground-based, shipborne and airborne) and services.

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— Innovative satellite communication services, seamlessly integrated in the global electronic communica-
tion networks, for citizens and enterprises in application sectors encompassing civil protection, e-govern-
ment, telemedicine, tele-education, search and rescue, tourism and leisure time, personal navigation, fleet
management, agriculture and forestry, meteorology and generic users.

— Development of monitoring technologies and systems for reducing the vulnerability of space-based

services and for contributing to the surveillance of space.

— Applications of space-based systems for risk prevention and risk management and all kinds of emer-

gency, enhancing convergence with non-space systems.

— Exploration of space

— Providing RTD support and maximising scientific added value through synergies with initiatives by ESA

or national space agencies in the field of space exploration; facilitating the access to scientific data.

— Support to coordinate efforts for the development of space-borne telescopes and detectors as well as for

data analysis in space sciences.

— RTD for strengthening space foundations

— Space research and development for long term needs including space transportation; research activities

to increase the competitiveness and cost-effectiveness of the European space technology sector.

— Space sciences including bio-medicine and life and physical sciences in space.

10. Security

Objective

To develop the technologies and knowledge for building capabilities needed to ensure the security of citizens
from threats such as terrorism, natural disasters, and crime, while respecting fundamental human rights
including privacy; to ensure optimal and concerted use of available technologies to the benefit of civil European
security, to stimulate the cooperation of providers and users for civil security solutions, improving the competi-
tiveness of the European security industry and delivering mission-oriented research results to reduce security
gaps.

Rationale

Security in Europe is a precondition of prosperity and freedom. The EU Security Strategy: ‘A Secure Europe in a
Better World’, adopted by the European Council, addresses the need for a comprehensive security strategy
encompassing both civil and defence-related security measures.

Security related research is an important building block for realising a high level of security within the area of
freedom, security and justice. It will also contribute to developing technologies and capabilities in support of
other Community policies in areas such as transport, civil protection, energy, environment and health. Security
research needs specific implementation rules to take into account its special nature.

Existing security related research activities in Europe suffer from the fragmentation of efforts, the lack of critical
mass of scale and scope and the lack of connections and interoperability. Europe needs to improve the coher-
ence of its efforts by developing efficient institutional arrangements and by instigating cooperation and coordi-
nation among the various national and international actors in order to avoid duplication and to explore syner-
gies wherever possible. Security research at Community level will maintain an exclusively civil orientation and
focus on activities of clear added value to the national level. As a consequence, civil security research within the
Seventh Framework Programme will reinforce the competitiveness of the European security industry. Recog-
nising that there are areas of ‘dual-use’ technology, close coordination with the activities of European Defence
Agency will be needed in order to ensure complementarity.

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Security research will emphasise European capabilities regarding surveillance, distribution of information and
knowledge of threats and incidents as well as systems for better assessments and situation control through
better use of common ICT-systems in the fields of different operations.

The non defence activities set out below will complement and integrate the technology- and systems-oriented
research relevant to civil security which is carried out in other themes. They will be mission-oriented, devel-
oping the technologies and capabilities as required by the specific security missions. They are by design flexible
so as to accommodate as yet unknown future security threats and related policy needs that may arise, stimu-
lating cross-fertilisation and the take-up of existing technologies for the civil security sector, European security
research will also encourage the development of multi-purpose technologies in order to maximise the scope for
their application.

Activities

— Security of citizens: delivering technology solutions for civil protection, including bio-security and protec-

tion against risks arising from crime and terrorist attacks.

— Security of infrastructures and utilities: analysing and securing existing and future public and private critical/
networked infrastructure (e.g. in transport, energy, ICT), systems and services (including financial and admin-
istrative services).

— Intelligent surveillance and border security: focusing on technologies and capabilities to enhance the effec-
tiveness and efficiency of all systems, equipment, tools and processes as well as methods for rapid identifica-
tion required for improving the security of Europe's land and coastal borders, including border control and
surveillance issues.

— Restoring security and safety in case of crisis: focusing on technologies providing an overview of, and
support for diverse emergency management operations (such as civil protection, humanitarian and rescue
tasks), and on issues such as inter-organisational preparation, coordination and communication, distributed
architectures and human factors.

The above four areas will be supported by the following themes of a more cross-cutting nature:

— Security systems integration, interconnectivity and interoperability: Intelligence, information gathering and
civil security, focusing on technologies to enhance the interoperability of systems, equipment, services and
processes, including law enforcement, firefighting, civil defence and medical information infrastructures, as
well as on the reliability, organisational aspects, protection of confidentiality and integrity of information
and traceability of all transactions and processing.

— Security and society: mission orientated research which will focus on socio-economic analyses, scenario
building and activities related to: cultural, social, political and economic dimensions of security, communica-
tion with society, the role of human values and policy making, psychology social environment of terrorism,
citizens' perception of security, ethics, protection of privacy, societal foresight and systemic risk analysis.
Research will also address technologies that better safeguard privacy and liberties, and will address vulner-
abilities and new threats, as well as the management and impact assessment of possible consequences.

— Security research coordination and structuring: coordination of European and international security research
efforts and development of synergies between civil, security and defence research, improvement of legal
conditions, and encouragement to the optimal use of existing infrastructures.

II. Ideas

Objective

This programme will enhance the dynamism, creativity and excellence of European research at the frontier of knowl-
edge. This will be done by supporting ‘investigator-driven’ research projects carried out across all fields by individual
teams in competition at the European level. Projects will be funded on the basis of proposals presented by
researchers both from the private and public sectors on subjects of their choice and evaluated on the sole criterion
of excellence as judged by peer review. Communication and dissemination of research results is an important aspect
of this programme.

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Rationale

Investigator-driven ‘frontier’ research, within the framework of activities commonly understood as ‘basic research’, is
a key driver of wealth and social progress, as it opens new opportunities for scientific and technological advance,
and is instrumental in producing new knowledge leading to future applications and markets.

Despite many achievements and a high level of performance in a large number of fields, Europe is not making the
most of its research potential and resources, and urgently needs a greater capacity to generate knowledge and trans-
late such knowledge into economic and social value and growth.

A Europe-wide competitive funding structure (in addition to and not replacing national funding) for frontier research
executed by individual teams, which may be of national or transnational character, is a key component of the Euro-
pean Research Area, complementing other Community and national activities. It will help reinforce the dynamism
and attractiveness of Europe for the best researchers from both European and third countries, and for industrial
investment.

Activities

This action will respond to the most promising and productive areas of research and the best opportunities for
scientific and technological progress, within and across disciplines, including engineering and social sciences and the
humanities. It will be implemented independently of the thematic orientations of the other parts of the Seventh
Framework Programme, and will pay attention to new generation researchers and new groups as well as established
teams.

The Community activities in frontier research will be implemented by a European Research Council (ERC), consisting
of an independent scientific council, supported by a lean and cost-effective dedicated implementation structure. The
including officials from
management of
EU institutions, and will cover only the real administrative needs in order to assure the stability and continuity neces-
sary for an effective administration.

the ERC will be carried out by staff recruited for that purpose,

The Scientific Council will consist of representatives of the European scientific community, ensuring a diversity of
the research fields, at the highest level, acting in their personal capacity, independently of political or other interests.
Its members will be appointed by the Commission following an independent procedure for their identification. They
will be appointed for a period of four years, renewable once, on a basis of a rotating system which will ensure the
continuity of the Scientific Council's work.

The Scientific Council will, inter alia, establish an overall scientific strategy, have full authority over decisions on the
type of research to be funded and act as guarantor of the quality of the activity from the scientific perspective. Its
tasks will cover, in particular, the development of the annual work programme, the establishment of the peer review
process, as well as the monitoring and quality control of the programme's implementation from the scientific
perspective. It will establish a code of conduct addressing, inter alia, the avoidance of conflicts of interest.

The dedicated implementation structure will be responsible for all aspects of implementation and programme execu-
tion as provided for in the annual work programme. It will, in particular, implement the peer review and selection
process according to the principles established by the Scientific Council and will ensure the financial and scientific
management of the grants.

The administrative and staffing costs for the ERC relating to the Scientific Council and dedicated implementation
structure will be consistent with lean and cost-effective management; administrative expenditure will be kept to a
minimum, consistent with ensuring the resources necessary for high quality implementation.

The Commission will act as the guarantor of the ERC's full autonomy and integrity. It will ensure that the ERC acts
in accordance with the principles of scientific excellence, autonomy, efficiency and transparency, and that it follows
precisely the strategy and implementation methodology established by the Scientific Council. The Commission will
draw up, in cooperation with the scientific council, an annual report on the ERC's operations and realisation of the
objectives and submit it to the European Parliament and the Council.

The ERC will have the faculty to conduct its own strategic studies to prepare for and support its operational activ-
ities. In particular, it may consult with European, intergovernmental and national initiatives so as to programme its
activities in the light of other research at European and national level.

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The implementation and management of the activity will be reviewed and evaluated on an on-going basis to assess
its achievements and to adjust and improve procedures on the basis of experience. In the context of the interim
evaluation referred to in Article 7(2), an independent review will also be carried out of the ERC's structures and
mechanisms, against the criteria of scientific excellence, autonomy, efficiency and transparency and with the full
involvement of the Scientific Council. The review will explicitly look at the advantages and disadvantages of a struc-
ture based on an Executive Agency, and a structure based on Article 171 of the Treaty. On the basis of this review,
these structures and mechanisms should be modified as appropriate. The Commission will ensure that all the neces-
sary preparatory work is undertaken and presented to the European Parliament and the Council, with a view to a
transition to any modified structure required, as soon as possible. The progress report referred to in Article 7(2),
preceding the interim evaluation, will give initial findings on the functioning of the ERC.

III. People

Objective

Strengthening, quantitatively and qualitatively, the human potential in research and technology in Europe, by stimu-
lating people to enter into the profession of researcher, encouraging European researchers to stay in Europe, and
attracting to Europe researchers from the entire world, making Europe more attractive to the best researchers.
Building on the experiences with the ‘Marie Curie’ actions under previous Framework Programmes, this will be done
by putting into place a coherent set of ‘Marie Curie’ actions, particularly taking into account the European added
value in terms of their impact on the European Research Area. These actions will address researchers at all stages of
their careers, from initial research training specifically intended for young people to life-long learning and career
development in the public and private sectors. Efforts will also be made to increase participation by women
researchers, by encouraging equal opportunities in all ‘Marie Curie Actions’, by designing the actions to ensure that
researchers can achieve an appropriate work/life balance and by facilitating the resumption of a research career after
a break.

Rationale

Abundant and highly trained qualified researchers are a necessary condition to advance science and to underpin
innovation, but also an important factor to attract and sustain investments in research by public and private entities.
Against the background of growing competition at world level, the development of an open European labour
market for researchers free from all forms of discrimination and the diversification of skills and career paths of
researchers are crucial to support a beneficial circulation of researchers and their knowledge, both within Europe
and in a global setting. Special measures to encourage early-stage researchers and support early stages of scientific
career, as well as measures to reduce the ‘brain drain’, such as reintegration grants, will be introduced.

Mobility, both trans-national and intersectoral, including the stimulation of industrial participation and the opening
of research careers and academic positions at European scale, is a key component of the European Research Area
and indispensable to increasing European capacities and performance in research. International competition between
researchers will remain central in order to ensure the highest quality of research under this activity. Increasing the
mobility of researchers and strengthening the resources of those institutions which attract researchers internationally
will encourage centres of excellence around the European Union. To ensure training and mobility within new
research and technology areas, appropriate coordination with other parts of the Seventh Framework Programme will
be ensured and synergies will be sought with other Community policies, e.g. on education, cohesion and employ-
ment. Actions on linking science education to careers, and research and coordination actions on new methods in
science education are foreseen under the Science in Society part of the ‘Capacities’ programme.

Activities

— Initial training of researchers to improve their career perspectives, in both public and private sectors, inter alia
through the broadening of their scientific and generic skills, including those relating to technology transfer and
entrepreneurship, and attracting more young people to scientific careers. This will be implemented through
Marie Curie Networks with the main objective being to overcome fragmentation of and to strengthen at Euro-
pean level the initial training and career development of researchers. Support is foreseen for the best early-stage
researchers to join established research teams. Members of the trans-national networks must exploit their
complementary competencies through integrated training programmes. Support will comprise recruitment of
early stage researchers, organisation of training events also open to researchers outside the network and senior
chairs and/or industry positions for knowledge transfer and supervision.

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— Life-long training and career development to support the career development of experienced researchers. With a
view to complementing or acquiring new skills and competencies or to enhance inter/multidisciplinarity and/or
inter-sectoral mobility, support is foreseen for researchers with particular needs for additional/complementary
competences and skills, for researchers to resume a research career after a break and for (re-)integrating
researchers into a longer term research position in Europe, including in their country of origin, after a trans-
national/international mobility experience. This action line will be implemented through both individual fellow-
ships awarded directly at Community level and through the co-financing of regional, national or international
programmes where this fulfils the criteria of European added value, transparency and openness.

Initially the co-financing mode will be implemented on a controlled scale allowing for the necessary experience to
be gained.

— Industry-academia pathways and partnerships: Support for longer term cooperation programmes between orga-
nisations from academia and industry, in particular SMEs and including traditional manufacturing industries, will
aim at stimulating intersectoral mobility and increasing knowledge sharing through joint research partnerships,
supported by the recruitment of experienced researchers to the partnership, by staff secondments between both
sectors, and by the organisation of events.

— The international dimension: to increase the quality of European research by attracting research talent from
outside Europe and fostering mutually beneficial research collaboration with researchers from outside Europe.
This will be addressed through international outgoing fellowships (with an in-built mandatory return phase);
international incoming fellowships; partnerships to support the exchange of researchers. Common initiatives
between European organisations and organisations from countries neighbouring the EU and countries with
which the Community has a Science and Technology agreement will also be supported. The activity will include
measures to counter the risk of ‘brain drain’ from developing countries and emerging economies and measures
to create networks of European researchers working abroad. These actions will be implemented in line with the
international activities under the ‘Cooperation’ and ‘Capacities’ programmes.

— Specific actions to support the creation of a genuine European labour market for researchers, by removing obsta-
cles to mobility and enhancing the career perspectives of researchers in Europe. Incentive measures for public
institutions that promote the mobility, quality and profile of their researchers will also be supported. Further-
more, awards to improve the public awareness of Marie Curie actions and their objectives will be provided.

IV. Capacities

This part of the Seventh Framework Programme will enhance research and innovation capacities throughout Europe
and ensure their optimal use. This aim will be achieved through:

— Optimising the use and development of research infrastructures,

— Strengthening innovative capacities of SmEs and their ability to benefit from research,

— Supporting the development of regional research-driven clusters,

— Unlocking the research potential in the EU's convergence and outermost regions,

— Bringing science and society closer together for the harmonious integration of science and technology in Euro-

pean society,

— Support for the coherent development of research policies,

— Horizontal actions and measures in support of international cooperation.

RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES

Objective

Optimising the use and development of the best research infrastructures existing in Europe, and helping to create in
all fields of science and technology new research infrastructures of pan-European interest needed by the European
scientific community to remain at the forefront of the advancement of research, and able to help industry to
strengthen its base of knowledge and its technological know-how.

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Rationale

Research infrastructures play an increasing role in the advancement of knowledge and technology and their exploita-
tion. The importance of such infrastructures is already well established in areas such as energy, space and particle
physics and is increasing in other areas. For example, radiation sources, data banks in genomics and data banks in
social science, observatories for environmental and space sciences, systems of imaging or clean rooms for the study
and development of new materials or nano-electronics, are at the core of research. They are expensive, need a broad
range of expertise to be developed, and should be used and exploited by a large community of scientist and
customer industries on a European scale.

The development of a European approach with regard to research infrastructures, including computing and commu-
nication based e-infrastructures and virtual infrastructures, and the carrying out of activities in this area at Union
level, can make a significant contribution to boosting the potential of European research and its exploitation and
contributing to the development of the European Research Area.

While the Member States' role will remain central in the development and financing of infrastructures, the Com-
munity can and should play a catalysing and leveraging role by helping to ensure wider and more efficient access to,
and use of, the infrastructures existing in the different Member States, by stimulating the development of these infra-
structures, and their networking, in a coordinated way, and by fostering the emergence of new research infrastruc-
tures of pan-European interest in the medium to long term. In this respect, the European Strategy Forum on
Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) plays a key role in identifying needs and a roadmap for European research infra-
structures.

Activities

Activities carried out under this heading will be executed across the whole field of science and technology. They will
be implemented in close cooperation with the activities taking place in the thematic areas to ensure that all the
actions undertaken at European level in the Community framework respond to the needs for research infrastructures
in the areas concerned, including international cooperation.

The activities will be the following:

— Support for existing research infrastructures

— Integrating activities to structure better, on a European scale, the way research infrastructures operate in a
given field and to promote their coherent use and development, in particular through trans-national access,
to ensure that European researchers, including researchers from industry and SMEs, may have access to high
performing research infrastructures to conduct their research, irrespective of the location of the infrastruc-
ture,

— Strenghtening research e-infrastructure by fostering the further development and evolution and global
connectivity of high-capacity and high-performance communication and grid infrastructures and reinforcing
European computing capabilities, as well as encouraging their adoption by user communities where appro-
priate, enhancing their global relevance and increasing the level of trust and confidence, building on the
achievements of GEANT and Grid infrastructures and based on open standards for interoperability.

— Support for new research infrastructures

— Construction of new infrastructures and major upgrades of existing ones focussing mainly on preparatory
phases, to promote the emergence of new research facilities, in accordance with the principle of ‘variable
geometry’, building primarily upon the work conducted by ESFRI (1).

— design studies, through a bottom-up approach of calls for proposals, to promote the creation of new research

infrastructures by funding exploratory awards and feasibility studies for new infrastructures.

Infrastructures projects proposed for funding in this respect will be identified on the basis of a series of criteria
including in particular:

— Inability of existing mechanisms to achieve the objective.

— Added value of Community financial support.

(1) ESFRI was launched in April 2002. ESFRI brings together representatives from the 25 EU Member States, appointed by Ministers in
charge of Research, and a representative of the European Commission. The countries associated with Framework Programmes for
Research were invited to join in 2004.

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— Capacity to offer a service in response to the needs of users from the scientific (academic and industrial) com-

munity throughout Europe, including added value to the European Research Area.

— Scientific excellence.

— Relevance at international level.

— Contribution to technological development capacity.

— Contribution to developing ‘research-based clusters of excellence’.

— Technological and organisational feasibility.

— Possibilities for European partnership and strong financial and other commitment of Member States and other

major stakeholders, as well as the possible use of EIB loans and Structural Funds.

— Evaluation of construction and operating costs.

As far as the construction of new infrastructures is concerned, the potential for scientific excellence of the conver-
gence regions as well as the outermost regions should be taken into account, whenever appropriate. An efficient
coordination of the Community financial instruments, in particular the Seventh Framework Programme and the
structural funds, will be ensured.

RESEARCH FOR THE BENEFIT OF SMEs

Objectives

Strengthening the innovation capacity of European SMEs and their contribution to the development of new tech-
nology based products and markets by helping them outsource research, increase their research efforts, extend their
networks, better exploit research results and acquire technological know how, bridging the gap between research
and innovation.

Rationale

SMEs are at the core of European industry. They should be a key component of the innovation system and in the
chain of transformation of knowledge into new products, processes and services. Faced with increasing competition
in the internal market and globally, European SMEs need to increase their knowledge and research intensity,
enhance the exploitation of research, expand their business activities into larger markets and internationalize their
knowledge networks. Most Member State actions relevant to SMEs do not encourage and support trans-national
research cooperation and technology transfer. Actions at EU level are necessary to complement and enhance the
impact of actions undertaken at national and regional level. In addition to the actions listed below, the participation
of SMEs will be encouraged and facilitated, and their needs taken into account, across the Seventh Framework
Programme.

Activities

Specific actions in support of SMEs are conceived to support SMEs or SME associations that need to outsource
research: mainly low to medium-tech SMEs with little or no research capability. Research intensive SMEs may parti-
cipate as providers of research services or outsource research to complement their core research capability. Actions
will be carried out in the entire field of science and technology with a bottom-up approach. Actions will include
support of demonstration and other activities to facilitate the exploitation of research results, ensuring complemen-
tarity with the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme. Financial means will be allocated through
two schemes:

— Research for SMEs: To support small groups of innovative SMEs to solve common or complementary technolo-

gical problems.

— Research for SME associations: To support SME associations and SME groupings to develop technical solutions
to problems common to large numbers of SMEs in specific industrial sectors or segments of the value chain.

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The clear focus will be on support for research projects. In addition, support will be granted to national schemes
providing financial means to SMEs or SME associations to prepare proposals for actions under ‘Research for the
benefit of SMEs’. During the implementation of the Community RTD Framework Programme, complementarity and
synergy will be ensured with the actions of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme.

The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme will encourage and facilitate the participation of SMEs
in the Seventh Framework Programme through its horizontal services in support of business and innovation.
Complementarity and synergy with other Community programmes will be ensured.

REGIONS OF KNOWLEDGE

Objectives

Strengthening the research potential of European regions, in particular by encouraging and supporting the develop-
ment, across Europe, of regional ‘research-driven clusters’ associating universities, research centres, enterprises and
regional authorities.

Rationale

Regions are increasingly recognised as important players in the EU's research and development landscape. Research
policy and activities at regional level often rely on the development of ‘clusters’ associating public and private actors.
The pilot action on ‘Regions of Knowledge’ demonstrated the dynamic of this evolution and the need to support and
encourage the development of such structures.

The actions undertaken in this area will enable European regions to strengthen their capacity for investing in RTD
and carry out research activities, while maximising their potential for a successful involvement of their operators in
European research projects and facilitating the emergence of clusters, thereby promoting regional development in
Europe. Actions will facilitate the creation of regional clusters which contribute to the development of the European
Research Area.

Activities

The new ‘Regions of Knowledge’ initiative will involve and bring together regional actors involved in research, such
as universities, research centres, industry, public authorities (regional councils or regional development agencies).
Projects will cover joint analysis of research agendas of regional clusters (in coordination with other activities on the
broader issue of regional innovation clusters) and the elaboration of a set of instruments to address them in specific
research activities, including through the ‘mentoring’ of regions with less developed research profiles by highly devel-
oped regions and support for emerging Regions of Knowledge.

This will comprise measures aiming at improving research networking and access to sources of research funding as
well as better integration and linking of research actors and institutions in regional economies. These activities will
be implemented in close relationship with Community regional policy (structural funds), the Competitiveness and
Innovation Framework Programme and the education and training programmes.

In the context of the specific activity of ‘Regions of Knowledge’ synergies will be sought with Community regional
policy as well as with relevant national and regional programmes, in particular with regard to convergence and
outermost regions.

RESEARCH POTENTIAL

Objective

Stimulating the realisation of the full research potential of the enlarged Union by unlocking and developing existing
or emerging excellence in the EU's convergence regions and outermost regions (1), and helping to strengthen the
capacities of their researchers to successfully participate in research activities at Community level.

(1) Convergence regions are those set out in Article 5 of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down
general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing
Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 (OJ L 210, 31.07.2006, p. 25 to 78). This includes ‘convergence’ objective regions, regions eligible for
funding from the Cohesion fund, and outermost regions.

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Rationale

Europe does not fully exploit its research potential, in particular in less advanced regions remote from the European
core of research and industrial development. In order to help researchers and institutions, whether in the public or
private sector, of these regions to contribute to the overall European research effort, while taking advantage of the
knowledge and experience existing in other regions of Europe, this action aims at establishing the conditions that
will allow them to exploit their potential and help to fully realise the European Research Area in the enlarged
Union. The actions will build on past and existing measures such as the European Centres of Excellence under the
Fifth Framework Programme in what were then acceding and candidate countries and Marie Curie Host Fellowships
for the Transfer of Knowledge.

Activities

The action in this domain will comprise support for:

— Trans-national two-way secondments of research staff between selected organisations in the convergence regions,
and one or more partner organisations; support for selected centres of existing or emerging excellence for the
recruitment of incoming experienced researchers from other countries.

— The acquisition and development of research equipment and the development of a material environment
enabling a full exploitation of the intellectual potential present in the selected centres of existing or emerging
excellence in the convergence regions.

— The organisation of workshops and conferences to facilitate knowledge transfer; promotion activities as well as
initiatives aiming at disseminating and transferring research results in and to other countries and international
markets.

— ‘Evaluation facilities’ through which any research centre in the convergence regions can obtain an international

independent expert evaluation of the level of their overall research quality and infrastructures.

Strong synergies will be sought with Community regional policy. Actions supported under this heading will identify
needs and opportunities for reinforcing the research capacities of emerging and existing centres of excellence in
convergence regions which may be met by structural and cohesion funds.

Synergies will also be sought with the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme in order to promote
the regional commercialisation of RTD in collaboration with industry.

SCIENCE IN SOCIETY

Objective

To stimulate, with a view to building an open, effective and democratic European knowledge-based society, the
harmonious integration of scientific and technological endeavour, and associated research policies in the European
social web, by encouraging pan-European reflection and debate on science and technology and their relationship
with the whole spectrum of society and culture.

Rationale

The influence of science and technology on our daily lives is becoming increasingly profound. Products of social
activity and shaped by social and cultural factors, science and technology nevertheless remain a remote domain far
from the daily concerns of a large part of the public and of policy decision makers, and continue to be the subject
of misunderstandings. Contentious issues relating to emerging technologies should be addressed by society on the
basis of well informed debate leading to sound choices and decisions.

Activities

The substantial and integrated initiative undertaken in this field will comprise support for:

— Strengthening and improving the European science system, and addressing the following issues: improving the
use and monitoring the impact of scientific advice and expertise for policy-making (including risk management);
the future of scientific publications; measures to make scientific publications more accessible to members of the
public wishing to consult them; safeguards for scientific domains open to misuse; and issues of fraud, trust and
‘self regulation’.

— Broadening the engagement of researchers and the public at large, including organised civil society, with science-

related questions, to anticipate and clarify political and societal issues, including ethical issues.

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— Reflection and debate on science and technology and their place in society, drawing on disciplines such as

history, sociology and philosophy of science and technology.

— Gender research, including the integration of the gender dimension in all areas of research and the promotion of

the role of women in research and in scientific decision-making bodies.

— Creation of an open environment which triggers curiosity for science in young people, by reinforcing science
education at all levels, including in schools, and promoting interest and full participation in science among
young people from all backgrounds.

— Strengthening the role of research carried out in universities and other higher education institutes and the

engagement of such universities and institutes in the challenges of globalisation.

— Improved intercommunication and mutual understanding between the scientific world and the wider audience of
policy-makers, the media and the general public, by helping scientists better communicate and present their
work and by supporting scientific information, publications and media.

These activities will take the form of, in particular, research projects, studies, networking and exchanges, public
events and initiatives, prizes, surveys and data collection. In many cases they will imply international partnerships
with organisations from third countries.

SUPPORT FOR THE COHERENT DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH POLICIES

Objectives

Enhancing the effectiveness and coherence of national and Community research policies and their articulation with
other policies, improving the impact of public research and its links with industry, and strengthening public support
and its leverage effect on investment by private actors.

Rationale

Increasing investment in research and development up to the 3 % objective and improving its effectiveness is a top
priority of the Lisbon strategy for growth and employment. Thus, the development of effective policies to leverage
public and private research investments is a major concern of public authorities in light of the need to accelerate the
transition towards a competitive knowledge-based economy. This calls for adaptability of research policies, the mobi-
lisation of a broader range of instruments, coordination of efforts across national boundaries and the mobilisation of
other policies to create better framework conditions for research.

Activities

The activities undertaken under this heading will complement the coordination activities under the ‘Cooperation’
programme and will aim at improving the coherence and impact of regional, national and Community policies and
legislation, recommendations and guidelines). The activities will be the
initiatives (e.g.
following:

funding programmes,

— Monitoring and analysis of research related public policies and industrial strategies, including their impact, and
development of indicators to provide information and evidence in support of the design, implementation, evalua-
tion and trans-national coordination of policies.

— Strengthening, on a voluntary basis, the coordination of research policies via actions to support the implementa-
tion of the open method of coordination (OMC) and bottom-up trans-national cooperation initiatives undertaken
at national or regional level on issues of common interest.

ACTIVITIES OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

To become competitive and play a leading role at world level, the European Community needs a strong and
coherent international science and technology policy. The international actions carried out under the different
programmes within the seventh Framework Programme will be implemented in the context of an overall interna-
tional cooperation strategy.

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This international policy has three interdependent objectives:

— To support European competitiveness through strategic partnerships with third countries in selected fields of

science and by engaging the best third country scientists to work in and with Europe;

— To facilitate contacts with partners in third countries with the aim of providing better access to research carried

out elsewhere in the world;

— To address specific problems that third countries face or that have a global character, on the basis of mutual

interest and mutual benefit.

Cooperation with third countries in the Seventh Framework Programme will be targeted,
following groups of countries:

in particular, at the

— Candidate countries;

— Countries neighbouring the EU, Mediterranean partner countries, Western Balkans countries (WBC) (1) and the

Eastern European and Central Asian countries (EECA) (2);

— Developing countries, focusing on the particular needs of each country or region concerned (3);

— Emerging economies.

The theme-oriented international cooperation actions will be carried out under the ‘Cooperation’ programme. The
international actions in the area of human potential will be carried under the ‘People’ programme.

Horizontal support actions and measures with a focus other than a specific thematic or interdisciplinary area
covered in ‘Cooperation’ programme will be implemented under the ‘Capacities’ programme, and could be supple-
mented, in a limited number of cases, by specific cooperation actions of mutual interest. Efforts will be undertaken
to improve the coherence of national activities by supporting the coordination of national programmes on interna-
tional scientific cooperation. Taking into account the experience gained through INTAS and building on its work in
the framework of cooperation with the Eastern European and Central Asian countries, activities providing continuity
will be undertaken through this programme and the ‘Cooperation’ and ‘People’ programmes.

The overall coordination of the international cooperation actions under the different programmes of the Seventh
Framework Programme, as well as with other Community instruments, will be ensured.

NON-NUCLEAR ACTIONS OF THE JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE (JRC)

Objective

To provide customer driven scientific and technical support to the Community policy making process, ensuring
support to the implementation and monitoring of existing policies and responding to new policy demands.

Rationale

The JRC's independence of special
interests, whether private or national, combined with its technical expertise
enable it to facilitate communication and consensus building between stakeholders (industry associations, environ-
mental action groups, Member States' competent authorities, other research centres etc.) and policy makers, espe-
cially at the Community level. Through scientific and technological support the JRC helps to make the Community
policy process more effective, transparent and based on sound science. Where and when appropriate, research
conducted by the JRC should be coordinated with the research undertaken under the ‘Themes’ of the ‘Cooperation’
Specific Programme, in order to avoid overlap and duplication.

(1) Other than associated candidate countries.
(2) Formerly called the New Independent States: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russia,

Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

(3) Noting that Latin America includes both developing countries and emerging economies.

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The usefulness and credibility of the JRC's support to Community policies is closely linked to the quality of its scien-
tific expertise and its integration in the international scientific community. The JRC will therefore continue investing
in research and networking with other centres of excellence in relevant fields. It will participate in indirect actions in
all areas with emphasis on common scientific reference systems, networking, training and mobility, research infra-
structure and participation in technology platforms and coordination instruments where it has the relevant expertise
to produce added value.

The JRC will actively pursue the promotion of the integration of new Member States and candidate countries in its
activities to the level currently enjoyed by the EU-15.

Activities

The JRC's priorities will be in fields which are strategically important for the Union and where its input provides
high added value. Scientific and technical support to Community policies will continue to be delivered in core areas
such as sustainable development, climate change, food, energy, transport, chemicals, alternative methods to animal
testing, research policy, information technologies, reference methods and materials, biotechnology, risks, hazards
and socio-economic impacts. Growth will be in areas of key concern for the Community:

— Prosperity in a knowledge-intensive society

— To carry out and develop advanced econometric modelling and analysis techniques in the context of policy
definition and monitoring, for example in the follow-up to the Lisbon Strategy, the Internal Market and Com-
munity research and education policies;

— To develop models to support a new balance between sustainability objectives and competitiveness in a

responsible way;

— To provide its scientific/technical support to the development of risk assessment and management procedures

as a tool for the European decision-making process.

— Solidarity and responsible management of resources

— To become a recognised science and technology reference centre for sustainable agriculture focusing on food
quality, traceability and safety (including GM food and feed), spatial management and cross-compliance and
to support the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy.

— To provide the Common Fisheries Policy with S&T support.

— To enhance the provision of harmonised European geo-referenced data and spatial

information systems
(support to INSPIRE) and to continue developing new approaches to global environmental and resources
monitoring (support to GMES).

— To provide expertise and play a role in the GMES research activities and in the development of new applica-

tions in this field.

— To support the implementation of the EU Action Plan on Environment and Health including providing
support to on-going activities to establish a Community integrated environment and health information
system.

— To promote and enhance the development and validation of alternative strategies, and in particular non-
animal methods, in all relevant areas of research (safety assessment, vaccine testing, health and biomedical
research etc.).

— Freedom, security and justice

— To develop activities contributing to the establishment of the area of freedom, security and justice, especially
in areas related to protection against terrorism, organised crime and fraud, border security and prevention of
major risks, in cooperation with relevant bodies.

— To support the Community response to natural and technological disasters.

— Europe as world partner

— To strengthen support to Community external policies in specific areas such as external aspects of internal

security, development cooperation and humanitarian aid.

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ANNEX II

INDICATIVE BREAKDOWN AMONG PROGRAMMES

The indicative breakdown among programmes is as follows (in EUR million):

Cooperation (1) (2)

Health

Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology

Information and Communication Technologies

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

Energy

Environment (including Climate Change)

Transport (including Aeronautics)

Socio-economic Sciences and the Humanities

Space

Security

Ideas

People

Capacities

Research Infrastructures

Research for the benefit of SMEs

Regions of Knowledge

Research Potential

Science in Society

Coherent development of research policies

Activities of International Cooperation

Non-nuclear actions of the Joint Research Centre

TOTAL

32 365

6 050

1 935

9 110

3 500

2 300

1 900

4 180

610

1 430

1 350

7 460

4 728

4 217

1 850

1 336

126

370

280

70

185

1 751

50 521

(1)

Including Joint Technology Initiatives (including financial plan, etc.) and the part of the coordination and international cooperation
activities to be funded within the themes.

(2) The aim will be to enable at least 15 % of the funding available under the ‘Cooperation’ part of the programme to go to SMEs.

Special provisions concerning the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF)

The indicative budgets for the ‘Cooperation’ and ‘Capacities’ programmes include contributions to the European Invest-
ment Bank (EIB) for the constitution of the RSFF referred to in Annex III. The Council decisions adopting the contri-
buting specific programmes will establish, inter alia, the implementing arrangements under which the Commission will
decide on the reallocation to other activities of the Framework Programme of the Community contribution to the RSFF
and the income it generates that are not used by the EIB.

The Seventh Framework Programme will contribute an amount of up to EUR 1 billion to the RSFF which is to be
matched by an equivalent amount from the EIB. It will come from the ‘Cooperation’ programme (up to EUR 800 million
by proportional contribution of all thematic priorities, except socio-economic sciences and humanities) and the ‘Capaci-
ties’ programme (up to EUR 200 million from the research infrastructure line).

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The amount will be made available progressively to the EIB taking account of the level of demand.

In order to ensure a rapid launch with a critical mass of resources, an amount in the order of EUR 500 million will be
progressively allocated in the budget for a period up to the interim evaluation of the Seventh Framework Programme,
referred to in Article 7(2) of this Decision. The results of the interim evaluation will be taken into account when allo-
cating the amount for the remainder of the period.

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ANNEX III

FUNDING SCHEMES

Indirect Actions

The activities supported by the Seventh Framework Programme will be funded through a range of ‘Funding schemes’.
These schemes will be used, either alone or in combination, to fund actions implemented throughout the Framework
Programme.

The decisions for specific programmes, work programmes and calls for proposals will specify, as and when appropriate:

— The type(s) of scheme(s) used to fund different actions;

— The categories of participants (such as research organisations, universities, industry, SMEs, public authorities) which

can benefit from it;

— The types of activities (such as research and technological development, demonstration, management, training, disse-

mination, and other related activities) which can be funded through each of them.

Where different funding schemes can be used, the work programmes may specify the funding scheme to be used for the
topic on which proposals are invited.

The funding schemes are the following:

(a) To support actions which are primarily implemented on the basis of calls for proposals:

1. Collaborative projects

Support for research projects carried out by consortia with participants from different countries, aiming at devel-
oping new knowledge, new technology, products, demonstration activities or common resources for research.
The size, scope and internal organisation of projects can vary from field to field and from topic to topic. Projects
can range from small or medium-scale focused research actions to large-scale integrating projects for achieving a
defined objective. Projects may also be targeted to special groups such as SMEs.

2. Networks of Excellence

Support for a Joint Programme of Activities implemented by a number of research organisations integrating their
activities in a given field, carried out by research teams in the framework of longer term cooperation. The imple-
mentation of this Joint Programme of Activities will require a formal commitment from the organisations inte-
grating part of their resources and their activities.

3. Coordination and support actions

Support for activities aimed at coordinating or supporting research activities and policies (networking, exchanges,
trans-national access to research infrastructures, studies, conferences, etc.). These actions may also be imple-
mented by means other than calls for proposals.

4. Support for ‘frontier’ research

Support for projects carried out by individual national or transnational research teams. This scheme will be used
to support investigator-driven ‘frontier’ research projects funded in the framework of the European Research
Council.

5. Support for training and career development of researchers

Support for training and career development of researchers, mainly to be used for the implementation of the
Marie Curie actions.

6. Research for the benefit of specific groups (in particular SMEs)

Support for research projects where the bulk of the research and technological development is carried out by
universities, research centres or other legal entities, for the benefit of specific groups, in particular SMEs or asso-
ciations of SMEs. Efforts will be undertaken to mobilise additional financing from the EIB and other financial
organisations.

(b) To support actions implemented on the basis of decisions by the Council and the European Parliament (or by the
Council in consultation with the European Parliament) based on a proposal from the Commission, the Community
will provide financial support to multi-financed large-scale initiatives.

— A financial contribution from the Community to the joint implementation of well identified national research
programmes, on the basis of Article 169 of the Treaty. This joint implementation will require the establishment
or existence of a dedicated implementation structure. Community financial support will be provided subject to
the definition of a financing plan based on formal commitments from competent national authorities.

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— A financial contribution from the Community to the implementation of Joint Technology Initiatives to realise
objectives that cannot be achieved through the funding schemes identified in part (a) above. Joint Technology
Initiatives will mobilise a combination of funding of different kinds and from different sources; private and
public, European and national. This funding may take different forms and may be allocated or mobilised though
a range of mechanisms: support from the Framework Programme, loans from the European Investment Bank
(EIB), risk capital support.
Joint Technology Initiatives may be decided and implemented on the basis of
Article 171 of the Treaty (this may include the creation of joint undertakings) or through the Decisions estab-
lishing the specific programmes. Community support will be provided subject to the definition of an overall
blueprint of financial engineering, based on formal commitments from all parties concerned.

— A financial contribution from the Community to the development of new infrastructures of European interest.
This contribution may be decided on the basis of Article 171 of the Treaty or through the Specific Programme
Decisions. The development of new infrastructures will mobilise a combination of funding of different nature
and origin: national funding, Framework Programme, Structural funds, loans from the EIB and others. Com-
munity support will be provided subject to the definition of an overall financial plan based on a commitment
from all parties concerned.

The Community will implement the funding schemes identified in part (a) above in compliance with the provisions of
the regulation to be adopted pursuant to Article 167 of the Treaty, the relevant State aid instruments, in particular the
Community framework for State aid to research and development, as well as international rules in this area. In compli-
ance with this international framework, it will be necessary to be able to adjust the scale and form of financial participa-
tion on a case-by-case basis, in particular if funding from other public sector sources is available, including other sources
of Community financing such as the EIB.

In addition to providing direct financial support to participants in RTD actions, the Community will improve their
access to debt finance through the ‘Risk-Sharing Finance Facility’ by providing a contribution to the EIB. The Community
contribution must be used by the EIB, which will be a risk sharing partner, to contribute to the provisioning and capital
allocation for loan and guarantee financing from its own resources. There will be no further liability for the Community
budget. Subject to and in accordance with arrangements to be established by the regulation adopted pursuant Article 167
of the Treaty and the Council decisions adopting the specific programmes, this mechanism will enable the EIB to
increase the amount of financing of European RTD actions (such as joint technology initiatives, large projects-including
EUREKA projects, and new research infrastructures and projects run by SMEs) to help overcome market deficiencies.

In the case of participants in an indirect action established in a region lagging in development (convergence regions and
outermost regions (1)), complementary funding from the structural funds will be mobilised wherever possible and appro-
priate. In the case of participation of entities from the candidate countries, an additional contribution from the pre-acces-
sion financial instruments may be granted under similar conditions. As regards actions in the ‘research infrastructures’
part of the ‘capacities’ programme of the Seventh Framework Programme, the detailed funding arrangements for these
will be defined with a view to ensuring that there is effective complementarity between community research funding
and other Community and national instruments, notably the structural funds.

Direct actions

The Community will undertake activities implemented by the Joint Research Centre, which are referred to as direct
actions.

(1) Convergence regions are those set out in Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006. This includes ‘convergence’ objective

regions, regions eligible for funding from the Cohesion fund, and outermost regions.

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STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

1. On 15 April 2005, the Commission submitted to the European Parliament and the Council its
proposals for a Decision of the European Parliament and the Council concerning the Seventh
Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and
demonstration activities (2007-2013), and for a Council Decision concerning the 7th Framework
programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom)
for nuclear research and
training activities (2007-2011) (1).

2. This proposal is based on Article 166(1) of the EC Treaty.

3. The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 15 December 2005 (2). The

Committee of the Regions delivered its opinion on 17 November 2005 (3).

4. The European Parliament delivered its opinion on the proposal on 15 June 2006 (4).

5. The Council adopted its common position on the Seventh Framework Programme of the European
Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007-2013) on
25 September 2006, in accordance with Article 251 of the Treaty. (5)

II. BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE PROPOSAL

a) Pursuant to Title XVIII of the EC Treaty (Articles 163 — 173), the Community will carry out activ-

ities on research and technological development. In particular:

— pursuant to Article 163(1) TEC, the Community shall have the objective of strengthening the
scientific and technological bases of Community industry and encouraging it to become more
competitive at international level, while promoting all the research activities deemed necessary
by virtue of other Chapters of this Treaty;

— pursuant to Article 165(1) TEC, the Community and the Member States shall coordinate their
research and technological development activities so as to ensure that national policies and
Community policy are mutually consistent;

— pursuant to Article 166(1) TEC, all research and technological development activities of the
Community shall be set out in a multiannual Framework Programme (the current Sixth Frame-
work Programme expires at the end of 2006).

b) The European Councils in Lisbon in March 2000, Santa Maria de Feira in June 2000 and Stockholm
in March 2001 adopted conclusions aimed at the rapid establishment of a European research and
innovation area (ERA) with a view to the EU becoming by 2010 the world's most competitive and
dynamic knowledge-based economy capable of sustainable economic growth, with more and better
jobs and greater social cohesion. The re-launch of the Lisbon Strategy undertaken in 2005, and the
report of the high-level group of independent expert chaired by Esko Aho, which was mandated by
the European Heads of State and Government meeting at Hampton Courts, confirmed the validity
of the strategy with regard to scientific research, technological development and innovation.

(1) Doc. 8087/05 RECH 80 ATO 45 COMPET 68 CODEC 266 — COM(2005) 119 final.
(2) OJ C 65, 17.03.2006, p. 9.
(3) OJ C 115, 16.05.2006, p. 20.
(4) Doc. P6_TA-PROV(2006)0265.
(5) The Council has also reached a political agreement on the text of the Council Decision concerning the Seventh
Framework Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) for research and training activities
(2007-2011). The final adoption of this Decision will take place simultaneously with the final adoption of the EC
Framework Programme Decision. The draft text has been transmitted to the European Parliament for information.

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On this basis, the Commission has proposed that the Seventh Framework Programme should, in
order to fulfil the objectives laid down in the Treaty and contributing to the Lisbon process by
helping to make a reality of ERA and enabling open coordination so that appropriate cooperation
in S/T research activities is undertaken at national and European levels, have the following new
characteristics:

— concentration on a selected number of thematic priorities in which Community action can add
the greatest possible value, and where in some duly justified cases, support for a long-term stra-
tegic research agenda could be granted in the framework of Joint Technology Initiatives;

— support for research at the frontiers of knowledge, through investigator-driven basic research
performed by the most excellent research teams in Europe, through the creation of an indepen-
dent European Research Council;

— better education and research training, easier access to research opportunities and better recog-
nition of the researcher's contribution to the goals of society, through the strengthening of the
human resources policy within the framework programme building on the positive experiences
with the ‘Marie Curie’ Actions under previous framework programmes;

— optimising the use and development of European research infrastructures; strengthen the inno-
vative capacities of SMEs and their ability to benefit from research; support the development of
research-driven clusters; unlock the potential in the EU's convergence and outermost regions;
bring science and society closer together, and give support to the coherent development of
research policies at Community and national level;

— strengthen the important role of the Joint Research Centre in providing customer-driven scien-
tific and technological support for the conception, development, implementation and moni-
toring of Community policies, and in functioning as an independent reference centre for science
and technology in the EU in the areas of its specific competence;

— simplification and streamlining of the implementation arrangements, on the basis of improved

management procedures.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

A. General observations

The Council's common position reflects to a considerable extent both the proposal of the Commis-
sion and the opinion of the European Parliament as regards the structure, scientific and technolo-
gical content, means of implementation of the Framework Programme as well as the financial
amount and its indicative breakdown.

During its examination of the Commission's proposal, the Council sought to incorporate to the
largest possible extent the amendments of the European Parliament, to reflect the considerable
degree of consensus between the two legislative bodies, while at the same time respecting the
general thrust of the Commission's proposal. To this end, the Council has followed certain guiding
principles:

(1) recognition of the role of the Framework Programme as an instrument for achieving major
Community objectives, bearing in mind that the bulk of European research and technological
development efforts are funded by the Member States at national level;

(2) the need for a focussed Community research effort bringing about a critical mass of expertise
and European added value, while ensuring sufficient in-depth coverage of relevant topics under
the themes chosen for Community research;

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(3) the need to complement the focussed effort on key thematic research areas by providing flex-
ible support to Community policies and by enabling a response to emerging scientific and tech-
nological needs in the rapidly evolving research environment, while setting appropriate para-
meters for such flexibility so as to ensure legal clarity;

(4) the need to implement the Framework Programme using instruments which are apt to achieve
the critical mass of expertise and European added value in the research activities, while ensuring
a smooth transition from the Sixth Framework Programme and safeguarding the possibility for
all interested parties/entities to participate in Community research, provided the criterion of
scientific excellence is fulfilled;

(5) the need to give greater importance to public-private partnership at all levels, including strongly
improved support for research and technological development of SMEs as well as long-term
strategic research agendas of whole industry sectors such as those defined by European Tech-
nology Platforms and — in a few carefully selected cases — the setting up of Joint Technology
Initiatives;

(6) the need for clarity, in particular by providing the necessary level of detail, both in terms of S/T
content and funding, bearing in mind that the Framework Programme must be implemented
through specific programmes which will, by their very nature, provide for more detailed imple-
menting modalities.

B. Specific comments

1. Main amendments to the Commission proposal

(a) E t h i ca l i ssu e s

Concerning ethical issues, the Council has agreed to the line suggested by the European
Parliament in its first-reading opinion: rules with regard to ethics in the Seventh Framework
Programme, and in particular with regard to embryonic stem-cell research, are now clearly
set out in the text of Article 6 of the Framework Programme Decision. In addition, the
Commission has made it clear that it will maintain the practice adopted during the Sixth
Framework Programme and excluding the activities of destroying human embryos, including
for the procurement of stem cells, from Community financial support under the RTD frame-
work programme.

(b) S c i e nti fi c a nd t e c h nolog i c a l c ont e nt

i. Cooperation

While broadly maintaining the Commission's proposal on the scientific and technolo-
gical content of the thematic priorities, the Council, in the light of the European Parlia-
ment's amendments, clarified and extended the scope of certain of them as follows:

— the number of priorities was increased from nine to ten, splitting security research

away from space research;

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

— in order to support research aiming at identifying or further exploring new scientific
and technological opportunities in a given field, as well as in their combination with
other relevant areas and disciplines, future and emerging technologies and unforeseen
policy needs will be addressed in an open and flexible way, through specific support
for spontaneous research proposals, including for joint calls,
in order to nurture
novel ideas and radically new uses and to explore new options in research roadmaps,
in particular linked with a potential for significant breakthroughs;

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— dissemination and transfer of knowledge will be prioritised in order to facilitate the
use of results by industry, policy makers and society, with appropriate restrictions
for the security theme due to the confidentiality aspects of its activities;

— particular attention will be paid to assure an adequate participation of SMEs. To this
end, and broadly reflecting the views of the European Parliament, the aim will be to
enable at least 15 % of the funding available under the ‘Cooperation’ part of the
programme to go to SMEs. The Council has also recognised the role of European
Technology Platforms while not, however, suggesting direct funding to them, consid-
ering that a project based approach is more appropriate to reach this aim;

— concerning the Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs), the Council accepted the European
Parliament's amendment adding supplementary criteria as regards their creation.
Hence, the nature of JTIs 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 their contracts, and intellectual property rights. In addi-
tion, strong efforts will be made to ensure their transparent operation and that any
allocation of Community funding by the JTIs will take place on the basis of the prin-
ciples of excellence and competition;

— in the first priority (Health),

in response to concerns expressed by the European
Parliament, a broader scope of research has been accepted, notably including post-
genomic research; new preventive tools for regenerative medicine; new delivery
approaches; modelling of complex systems; age-related illnesses including dementia;
Hepatitis C and potentially newly emerging epidemics such as SARS; rheumatoid and
musco-skeletal diseases; aspects of palliative medicine; patient safety and better use of
medicine including aspects of pharmacovigilance and scientifically tested comple-
mentary and alternative medicines; research into health-care systems including home
care strategies and assessing the cost, efficiency and benefits of different interven-
tions; research on lifestyle and environmental factors and their interaction with medi-
cation;

— in the second priority (food, agriculture and biotechnology), the objective has been
broadened to include environmental challenges, aquaculture, coastal contexts and
response to specific dietary needs of consumers. Activities have been widened to
include bioinformatics, sustainable use of biodiversity, land-based biological resources
including soil fertility, plant health, epidemiological studies, diseases linked to animal
feedstuffs and other threats to the sustainability and security of food production
including climate change; the role of fisheries has been highlighted in response to
the views of the Parliament;

— in the third priority (information and communication technologies). By building
upon the amendments proposed by the European Parliament, this priority has been
strengthened to include product, service and process innovation and creativity; reduc-
tion of digital divide and social exclusion; the needs of people with special needs
including the ageing population; promotion of accessibility and transparency of
governance and development processes; RTD management and communication;
innovative high-value ICT based products and services; ICT research activity based on
the ‘open source’ development model; various exploitation paths and business
models as a result of ICT research; photonics; Free, Libre and Open Source Software
(FLOSS); sustainability issues in the field of electronics; exploitation of quantum
effects; storage; mathematics; natural cooperation; improvement of health care provi-
sions; health information space for knowledge management; ecological aspects of
mobility; access to interactive digital content;

— accessibility and use over time of scientific resources and assets in multicultural
environment; empowerment of small and medium-sized organisations and commu-
nities; traditional industries; and optimisation. In addition, and in contrast to the
original Commission's proposal, research into Future and Emerging Technologies has
been made an integral part of all activities under this priority, not merely as a single
activity under this priority.

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— in the fourth priority (nano-sciences, nano-technologies, materials and new produc-
tion technologies), the rationale has been broadened to include power generation,
energy, ceramics and nano-medicine. Activities have been extended to include manu-
facture of basic materials and components; nano-metre precise components; moni-
toring and sensing; nano-composites; geo and optical technologies; footwear and
steel.

— In the fifth priority (energy), the rational and activities have been strengthened to
include identification of adequate and timely solutions for energy systems due to
finite nature of conventional oil and natural gas reserves; affordable energy costs for
citizens and industries; reference to both 2005 and 2006 Green Paper (1), Europe's
world leadership in a number of energy generation and energy efficiency technolo-
gies; electricity production from wastes; production of fuels from biomass and waste;
storage; distribution and use of carbon-neutral fuels, in particular biofuels for electri-
city generation; highly efficient and cost-effective power and/or heat generation
plants with near zero emissions based on in particular underground storage; develop-
ment and demonstration of other solid fuel conversion technologies producing also
secondary energy carriers and liquid and gaseous fuels; development of energy
storage options; further final and primary energy consumption savings for buildings
and transport;
the use of new and renewable energy technologies and energy
demand management measures and devices; scientific support for policy develop-
ment. In addition, concerning the polygeneration, it was found appropriate at this
stage, due to limited resources, to integrate it under activity 'Energy efficiency and
savings' and not as a separate activity as proposed by the European Parliament.

— in the sixth priority (environment, including climate change), the Council followed
the line of the European Parliament by extending the objective to include climate
and adaptation of environmental pressures, and the rationale to include construction
and fisheries, references to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCC), the UN Convention on Combat Desertification and the Stockholm Conven-
tion on Persistent Organic Pollutants; as well as the contribution of environmental
technologies to sustainable consumption and production; natural heritage; and
higher competitiveness while at the same time ensuring a more sustainable future for
next generations. Scope of activities have been clarified to more explicitly include
polar regions; global and regional interactions; atmosphere, effects of the sea level
rise on coastal zones and impact on particularly sensitive areas; improvement of fore-
casting; droughts, forest fires, landslides, avalanches and other extreme events as part
of climate disasters; impact of disasters related to geological hazards and climate;
improvement of management strategies, also within a multi-risk approach; control of
landscape; sustainable products;
invasive alien species,
protection, conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage,
including human
habitat; alternative testing strategies using in particular non-animal methods for
industrial chemicals; third party assessment instruments; assessment, exploitation and
management of natural resources; and differing scales of observation;

lagoons; preservation of

— the seventh priority (transport, including aeronautics) has been improved to include
benefits for all citizens; transport's relevance on environment; interoperability and
intermodality of waterborne transport; smaller size vehicles for different applications;
innovative maintenance; repair and overhaul; accessible combinations of technolo-
gies; sustainable surface transport; transport applications such as hydrogen and fuel
cells, taking into account cost-efficiency and energy-efficiency considerations; logis-
tics; means of transport with lower levels of pollution; infrastructure maintenance;
and EGNOS;

(1) 2005 Green Paper on Energy Efficiency (COM (2005)265), 2006 Green Paper on a European strategy for sustainable

competitive and secure energy (COM (2006) 105).

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— the eight priority (socio-economic sciences and the humanities) has been extended to
include demographic change; definition of regulatory measures in cultural, scientific
and technological areas, as well as in the area of gender equality; intangible goods;
regional cohesion; socio-economic impact of European policies and legislation;
reconciliation of professional and family life; disability issues; inequalities; ethnicity
and religious pluralism; developing regions; peace fostering; future development of
the enlarged EU; role of civil society; and dissemination of knowledge;

— in the ninth priority (space),

the rationale has been broadened to incorporate
forestry; health; technological spin-off effects and indispensability of space applica-
tions in a high-tech society; efficient exploitation of space assets in coordination with
in-situ assets, including airborne assets; and cost-effective missions. Activities have
been extended to include in-situ monitoring; support to the integration and harmoni-
sation of Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) data (both satel-
lite-based and in-situ, including ground based, shipborne and airborne); development
of space-based systems for risk prevention and risk management and all kinds of
emergencies, enhancing convergence with non-space systems; maximisation of scien-
tific added value through synergies with initiatives of ESA or national space agencies
in the field of space exploration, and facilitation of access to this scientific data; coor-
dination of efforts for the development of space-borne telescopes and detectors, as
well as for data analysis in space science; and bio-medicine;

— in the tenth priority (security), the objective has been improved to include natural
disasters and privacy. The broadened rationale includes support
to Community
policy in the field of health, and the emphasis of the security research for European
capabilities regarding surveillance, distribution of information and knowledge of
threats and incidents as well as systems for better assessment and situation control
through better use of common ICT-systems in the fields of different operations.
Activities have been extended to include methods for rapid identification; restoration
of safety in case of crisis; providence of an overview of, and support for diverse
emergency management operations; security systems interconnectivity; intelligence,
information gathering and civil security; mission oriented research related to cultural,
social, political and economic dimensions of security, the role of human values and
policy making, psychology and social environment of terrorism.

ii. Ideas

The Council followed the line of the European Parliament to enable the rapid creation of
the European Research Council (ERC), consisting of an independent scientific council
and a dedicated implementing structure. By building upon the EP's amendments, it has
also further extended the text to ensure that the management of the ERC will be carried
out by staff recruited for that purpose; that the Scientific Council will represent a diver-
sity of the research fields and that they will be appointed for a period of four years,
renewable once, on the basis of a rotating system; that the Scientific Council will also
establish an overall scientific strategy, have full authority over decisions on the type of
research to be funded, and also establish a code of conduct addressing, inter alia, the
avoidance of conflicts of interest; that the administrative and staffing costs of the ERC
will be consistent with lean and cost-effective management; that the Commission will
ensure that the ERC will act in accordance with the principles of scientific excellence,
autonomy, efficiency and transparency, and draw up an annual report on the ERC's
operations and realisation of the objectives and submit it to the European Parliament
and the Council; and that the ERC will have the faculty to conduct its own strategic
studies for preparing and supporting its operational activities.

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However, the Council has opted for a more flexible approach than the European Parlia-
ment as regards the ERC's structure. A decision on a possible modification of ERC's
structure should therefore be taken only after the interim evaluation of the Framework
Programme, foreseen for no later than 2010, in the context of which an independent
review of the ERC's structures will explicitly look at the advantages and disadvantages of
structures such as an Executive Agency or Article 171 of the Treaty, against criteria of
scientific excellence, autonomy, efficiency and transparency.

iii. People

The Council has agreed to the large majority of the European Parliament's amendments.
This programme now includes a reference to building on the experience with the ‘Marie
Curie’ actions under previous Framework programmes and their impact on the European
Research Area; training specifically intended for young people; increased participation of
women researchers; open European labour market for researchers free from all forms of
discrimination; special measures to encourage early-stage researchers and support early
stage of scientific careers, as well as measures to reduce ‘brain drain’; encouragement of
centres of excellence around the European Union; synergies with other Community poli-
cies; and the broadening of scientific and generic skills, including those relating to tech-
nology transfer and entrepreneurship.

iv. Capacities

While broadly maintaining the Commission's proposal, the Council decided to include
coherent development of policies as a separate activity undertaken in this part of the
Framework programme rather than keeping it as a horizontal part of other activities in
the ‘Capacities’ programme.

In the light of the European Parliament's amendments, the Council further clarified the
scope of certain activities, as follows:

— in the ‘research infrastructures’ activity, the objective now refers to the development
of the European Research Area. The scope of activities regarding existing infrastruc-
tures have been clarified to include access to high performing research infrastructures
also from researchers from industry and SMEs; evolution and development of global
connectivity; open standards for interoperability. Concerning new infrastructures,
Community activities should focus mainly on the preparatory phases, given that
Member States' role will remain central
in their development and financing. As
regards the criteria for funding, the Council extended the list to include contributions
to technological development capacity, and to developing ‘research-based clusters of
excellence’, as well as the possibility of using EIB loans and Structural funds;

— in the ‘research for the benefit of SMEs’ activity, the Council has followed the line of
the European Parliament to include bridging the gap between research and innova-
tion; enhancing the exploitation of research; research providers; complementarity
with the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme as well as with other Com-
munity programmes;
in response to amendment from the European Parliament,
support to ‘national exploratory awards’ has been added, whilst limiting its scope to
preparing proposals for actions under ‘research for the benefit of SMEs’ as the
Council considered that the clear focus should be in support for research projects;

— in the ‘regions of knowledge’ activity, the Council extended the scope to include facil-
itation of the emergence and creation of regional clusters which contribute to the
development of the European Research Area; support to emerging Regions of Knowl-
edge; relationship with Structural Funds; and synergy with the Community and rele-
vant national and regional programmes;

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— in the ‘research potential’ activity, the activities have been clarified to include syner-
gies with the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme in order to promote the
regional commercialisation of R&D in collaboration with industry;

— in the ‘science and society’ activity, the Council has broadened the activities to
include measures to make scientific publications more accessible to members of the
public wishing to consult them; promotion of the role of women in research and in
scientific decision-making bodies; creation of an open environment which triggers
curiosity for science in young people; promotion of full participation of young
people in science;
improved inter-communication and mutual understanding
between the scientific world and the wider audience; better presentation of scientific
work; support to scientific publications;

— in the ‘activities of international cooperation’, the Council has provided that activities,
currently undertaken by INTAS which will be wound up by the end of 2006, will be
subsumed in this programme as well as in the specific programmes ‘Cooperation’
and ‘People’. It has also extended the objective to include facilitation of contacts with
partners in third countries with the aim of providing better access to research carried
out elsewhere in the world; the activities will also include specific cooperation
actions of mutual interest.

v. Non-nuclear actions of the Joint Research Centre

the ‘Themes’ of

The Council clarified the rationale to include coordination of actions under this part
with the research undertaken under
the ‘Cooperation’ Specific
Programme with the aim of avoiding overlap and duplication. Activities have been
extended to include scientific/technical support to the development of risk assessment
and management procedures as a tool for the European decision-making process; exper-
tise and role in the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) research
activities and in the development of new applications in this field; and development and
validation of alternative strategies, and in particular non-animal methods, in all relevant
research areas.

(c) O ve r a ll a mou nt a nd br e a kdow n of fu nds

the originally proposed budget

Following the conclusion of the Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parlia-
ment, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial manage-
ment (1),
the Seventh Framework Programme of
for
72.726 million euro had to be reduced while preserving appropriate focus and critical mass.
The Council has maintained the Commission's amended proposal for the maximum overall
amount of EUR 50 521 million, in accordance with the European Parliament's opinion. The
Council has however proposed adjustments to the breakdown of this figure, as follows:

— In the ‘Cooperation’ part, the Council has followed the line of the European Parliament's
amendments to increase the funding for the thematic themes which have a great poten-
tial for improving European competitiveness, in particular as regards the first (health),
the fifth (energy) and the eighth priority (socio-economic sciences and the humanities),
but not to the same extent. Following the split of the ‘security and space’ theme into two
separate priorities, the Council decided to earmark EUR 80 million less for security than
for space because it considers that Community competence in this area remains limited;

— In the ‘Capacities’ part, the Council followed the line taken by the European Parliament
the proposed funding for ‘research infrastructures’ and instead substantially
to cut
increase the funding for ‘research for the benefit of SMEs’. Nevertheless, the Council
considers that activities in the ‘Capacities’ part constitute an essential element of the
Framework Programme as they support key aspects of European research and innovation
capacities; therefore they suffered a considerably smaller reduction than that foreseen by
the European Parliament;

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

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— Concerning the ‘Ideas’ and ‘People’, the Council has kept the funding as proposed by the
Commission, and hence did not follow the European Parliament's amendments which
increased the funding for both these parts of the Framework Programme at the expense
of ‘Capacities’.

2. Council's position on the European Parliament's amendments

The Council's common position incorporates a large number of the European Parliament's amend-
ments (232 of the 326 amendments suggested), in whole, in substance or in part, sometimes in a
modified form or in a different place, and often in the form proposed by the Commission in its
modified proposal, as outlined above.

(a) The Council's common position incorporates the following amendments,

in whole or in

substance:

— 1, 3, 4, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 24, 26, 32, 35, 39, 43, 44, 47, 52, 58, 59, 66, 76, 88, 93, 95,
97, 121, 126, 130, 132, 137, 142, 146, 148, 149, 153, 162, 173, 174, 180, 181, 182,
183, 189, 190, 192, 193, 198, 201, 209, 214, 215, 216, 221, 224, 225, 226, 227, 230,
231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 243, 245, 246, 251, 256, 262, 264, 266, 273, 284,
288, 289, 294, 295, 296, 297, 302, 303, 304, 309, 324;

(b) The Council incorporated in principle, or in part, the following amendments:

— 2, 5, 6, 16, 17, 19, 20, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33, 34, 40, 42, 45, 46, 50, 53, 60, 63, 67, 68, 69,
70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, 90, 94, 96, 98, 99, 101,
104, 106, 107, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124, 125, 127,
128, 129, 131, 136, 138, 140, 141, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 163, 165, 166,
167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 175, 177, 178, 179, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 195, 196,
197, 199, 200, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 210, 211, 213, 222, 223, 228, 238,
239, 240, 241, 242, 244, 248, 253, 255, 257, 268, 269, 272, 274, 275, 276, 278, 280,
286, 287, 291, 293, 298, 299, 300, 313, 315, 334, 350, 351, 359, 361, 362;

(c) The Council followed the Commission in not incorporating the following amendments:

— 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 36, 37, 38, 41, 48, 49, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57, 61, 62, 64,
65, 74, 83, 91, 92, 100, 102, 103, 105, 108, 116, 117, 118, 133, 134, 135, 139, 143,
144, 145, 147, 150, 151, 152, 161, 164, 176, 191, 194, 212, 217, 218, 219, 220, 229,
247, 249, 250, 252, 254, 258, 259, 260, 261, 263, 265, 267, 270, 271, 277, 279, 281,
282, 283, 285, 290, 292, 301, 305, 306, 307, 308, 310, 311, 312, 314, 320, 347, 349,
360.

IV. CONCLUSION

In establishing its common position, the Council has taken full account of the Commission's proposal
and the European Parliament's opinion in first reading. A considerable number of amendments, in full
or in part, have been incorporated in the common position with the aim of meeting the bulk of the
European Parliament's concerns. The Council believes that its common position represents a well
balanced text and it looks forward to constructive discussions with the European Parliament with a
view to rapid adoption of the Seventh Framework Programme as well as its implementing measures
(i.e. Rules of Participation, Specific Programmes).