REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Annual Report on Research and Technological Development Activities of the European Union in 2012
Date: 2013-10-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU programme, applied research, financing method, innovation, research and development, scientific cooperation













EUR-Lex - 52013DC0713 - EN











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52013DC0713

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Annual Report on Research and Technological Development Activities of the European Union in 2012 /* COM/2013/0713 final */









REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL
Annual Report on Research and
Technological Development Activities of the European Union in 2012
1.           Background to the Annual Report
on RTD Activities
The Annual Report on
research and technological development activities of the European Union is
prepared pursuant to Article 190 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU). The purpose of this report is to provide a concise
overview of key measures in the reporting year without being exhaustive. Although
formally not within the scope of this Report, some information related to the
Euratom Treaty has been included. 
2.           The broader political
context in 2012 
The European Union’s
strategy for growth and jobs, Europe 2020, is the mainstay of the Union’s
approach in 2012 to structural reforms and improving competitiveness. The
priorities for action in 2012 were highlighted in the Annual Growth Survey 2012[1].
The year started in
difficult circumstances. There was declining confidence in the euro, economic
growth was ebbing away and most importantly the belief of our citizens in
Europe’s capacity to fix its problems stood at an all-time low[2]. 
The European Union
continued to combat the crisis. The Commission's proposal for a blueprint on
how to complete economic and monetary union laid out a long-term vision as well
as the concrete steps that need to be taken in the short and the medium term.
The Commission
identified that a change was needed in how Europe’s economy operates – a change
that would release the many strengths Europe can bring to bear on tomorrow’s
economy of high innovation, knowledge and skills. This is why Europe 2020
places research, technology and innovation at the forefront of activities
designed to help Europe exit the current economic crisis and build smart,
sustainable and inclusive growth. There is untapped potential for the European
economy to be more innovative, productive and competitive whilst using fewer
resources and reducing environmental impact[3].
The Commission announced the final and
biggest ever set of calls for proposals under its Seventh Framework Programme
(FP7). The funding - which is open to organisations and businesses in all EU
Member States and partner countries - makes up the lion’s share of the EU’s
proposed EUR 10.8 billion research budget for 2013. 
This announcement came
just days after EU leaders emphasised the importance of research and innovation
in the Compact for Growth and Jobs[4]
as an integral part of the European Union's response to the economic and financial
crisis
3.           The Innovation Union
Launched by the
Commission in October 2010, as part of the Europe 2020 strategy, the Innovation
Union is about creating a vibrant, innovation-based economy fuelled by ideas
and creativity, capable of linking into global value chains, seizing
opportunities, capturing new markets and creating high-quality jobs. 
3.1.        Monitoring progress in
innovation
Overall, progress towards setting up the
policy framework for an Innovation Union has been very positive: more than 80%
of the initiatives are on track including deepening the European Research Area (ERA)
and Horizon 2020. The principle of ʻsmart fiscal consolidationʼ -
i.e. protecting or, if possible, increasing growth-friendly expenditures, such
as R&D - is now embedded in the European Semester. The business environment
in Europe will become more innovation-friendly thanks to Single Market measures
such as the unitary patent, faster standard setting, modernised EU procurement
rules and a European passport for venture capital funds. European Innovation
Partnerships are pooling resources and concentrating demand and supply-side
measures on key societal challenges.
The global position of Europe is still
relatively strong. The EU is one of the world's best-performers when it comes
to producing high-quality scientific and innovative products. It still captures
the largest share of income generated in global manufacturing value chains.
Since 2008, the EU has improved its innovation performance and it closed almost
half of the innovation gap with the US and Japan. The EU is also maintaining
its strong innovation lead over Brazil, India, Russia, and China, although the
latter is decidedly catching up. In addition, South Korea has almost tripled
its innovation lead over the EU since 2008 and joined the US as an innovation
leader. 
Furthermore, while public R&D spending
in the EU grew throughout the crisis as governments strived to keep up their
R&D investments, and thus incentivise businesses to do likewise, recent data
point to a potential reversal of this trend. In 2011, the total public R&D
budget of the 27 EU Member States decreased slightly for the very first time
since the beginning of the crisis. However, the exceptional length and
harshness of the current crisis could begin to undermine the EU policy
consensus that R&D investments need to be protected. It has also exposed structural
weaknesses in Europe’s innovation performance and reinforces the need for more
comprehensive reforms to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of national
R&I systems. Possible ways to achieve this include smart specialisation
strategies, better linkages between public research and business innovation and
improved framework conditions for business investments.
The 2013 Innovation Union Scoreboard[5] shows that the process of
convergence in the innovation performance of Member States has come to a halt.
As convergence was the dominant pattern since the introduction of the
Scoreboard in 2001, this signals a clear risk of a growing innovation divide.
As the crisis gets longer and deeper, and growth disparities between some
European regions increase, there is an even stronger need to implement the
Innovation Union swiftly and deepen it in areas crucial to innovation, such as
higher education, innovation-based entrepreneurship and demand-side measures.
Momentum in fields such as social innovation will also need to be maintained.
In addition, preparatory work is on-going to maximise future synergies between
Horizon 2020 and Structural Funds, in a context of Smart Specialisation. 
3.2.        Tackling societal
challenges: European Innovation Partnerships
The European Innovation Partnership (EIP)
approach to accelerate the development and uptake of innovations for societal
challenges entered a new phase during 2012. The pilot partnership on Active and
Healthy Ageing (AHA) moved from the planning to the implementation stage, and
the approach was proposed for four more areas. There was an encouraging
response to the AHA Partnership's invitation for commitments with 261
commitments to specific actions, more than 50 regions and municipalities
offering themselves as reference sites, and hundreds of partners signing up to
a web-based Marketplace for Innovative Ideas. 
Following the endorsement of the Strategic Implementation
Plan of the pilot, the Commission put forward proposals for new EIPs in the
areas of ‘Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability’, ‘Raw Materials’,
‘Water’ and ‘Smart Cities and Communities’. Following endorsements from the
Council, the ʻWaterʼ EIP delivered its Strategic Implementation Plan
(SIP) in December 2012, and expectations are that the ʻAgricultureʼ,
the ʻRaw Materialsʼ and ʻSmart Cities and Communitiesʼ SIPs
will be delivered in 2013 so that implementation can start as early as possible.
4.           Delivering the European
Research Area
Further to the European Council conclusions
on completing ERA, the Commission adopted a Communication on a Reinforced ERA
Partnership for Excellence and Growth[6],
proposing effective national research systems, optimal transnational
cooperation and competition, an open labour market for researchers, gender
equality and gender mainstreaming in research, and access to and circulation of
scientific knowledge. It centres on a strenghtened partnership approach between
Member States, the Commission and research stakeholder organisations. The
approach was endorsed by the Council[7].

The ERA is part of the Innovation Union and
Horizon 2020 supports its creation in many ways. It is one of the key
structural reforms for driving growth in Europe – and is increasingly
recognised as such. The combined effect of the EU reaching the 3% target of GDP
dedicated to research, Horizon 2020 and an increased share of transnational
funding (currently 0.8%), thanks to completing the ERA, could generate as much
as EUR 445 billion of additional GDP and 7.2 million extra jobs by 2030[8].
An essential element of this partnership
approach is the Joint Statement of 17 July 2012 by the Commission and five
major research stakeholder organisations[9],
in conjunction with written commitments set out in Memoranda of Understanding.
These entail that the organisations will make seizable progress until the end
of 2013. 
Implementation of the ERA Communication
will be supported by the ERA Monitoring Mechanism (EMM), which aims to gather
information to monitor progress at Member States and Associated Countries
level. The Commission will play a key role in setting up and running the EMM
for national authorities and research stakeholders. As a first step, the Commission
carried out an ERA survey to establish progress in implementing the relevant
actions identified in the ERA Communication within public research
organisations.
4.1
Researchers
The implementation of the sixteen measures
foreseen to promote researchers' mobility, training and career development was
central to this process, with a focus on aspects such as: open, transparent and
merit-based recruitment; launch of ‘EURAXESS-Voice of the Researchers’ to
ensure direct communication with individual researchers; the setting up of a
Task Force to propose solutions for a possible pan-European supplementary
pension fund(s) for researchers; collaboration with research stakeholders to
define and implement the principles for access and portability of national
grants; and a specific procedure for admitting third country nationals for the
purpose of scientific research.
The ERA Steering Group on Human Resources
and Mobility helped to prepare and follow up corresponding initiatives, specially
through: the delivery of the final report and recommendations of the Working Group
on human resources issues, including the Human Resources Strategy for
Researchers (HR4R); the setting up of new working groups on innovative doctoral
training and on the professional development of researchers; and the delivery
of the 2012 researchers’ report, which monitored progress.
4.2 Joint
programming
In order to support the Joint Programming
process, in 2012 the Commission launched coordination and support actions that
will support five of the six second wave Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs): Connecting
Climate Knowledge for Europe, Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans, More
Years, Better Lives – The Potential and Challenges of Demographic Change, The
Microbial Challenge - An Emerging Threat to Human Health and Water Challenges
for a Changing World. There was a further call to possibly support the 6th
JPI, Urban Europe - Global Urban Challenges, Joint European Solutions in 2013.
In 2012, three of the four first wave JPIs -
the pilot JPI on Neurodegenerative Diseases -including
Alzheimer’s disease; Agriculture, Food Security and
Climate Change; and A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life - adopted their Strategic
Research Agendas (SRAs) defining activities to be undertaken in the next years.
The JPI on Cultural Heritage and Global Change, a new challenge for Europe
launched a pilot joint call and should adopt its SRA early in 2013.
To facilitate the ongoing joint programming
process on cross-border research cooperation, the Commission proposed two new
actions for Member States and stakeholders: the ERA–Mark and the synchronised
call. The Commission initiated discussions with stakeholders to launch pilot
activities by 2014.
4.3 Research Infrastructures
The European Commission continued to work
closely together with the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures
(ESFRI) in order to complete or launch 60% of the ESFRI Roadmap projects by
2015. In 2012, 15 national roadmaps were published and seven were still under
preparation. 
In 2012, efforts increased to use the
Structural Funds for the construction of the ESFRI projects and were focused on
the first two facilities including ELI (Extreme-Light-Infrastructure) to be
implemented by 2016 in the Czech Republic (EUR 290 million), and Romania (EUR 180
million).
In 2012, the Commission proposed an
amendment to the regulation setting up a legal framework for a European
Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), which was designed to facilitate the
establishment and operation of large research infrastructures involving several
European countries. Although uniform and timely implementation of this
regulation in the various Member States remains a challenge, the Common
Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure (CLARIN ERIC) has been
established and the Commission has been examining the application of seven
other projects (ECRIN, EURO-ARGO, ESS survey, BBMRI, EATRIS, DARIAH, C-ERIC).
On 11 December 2012, the Council[10] emphasised the need to renew
and adapt the ESFRI’s mandate to adequately address the existing challenges, as
well as ensure that ESFRI projects already in progress are followed up after a
comprehensive assessment, and that infrastructure projects listed in the ESFRI
roadmap are given priority.
In order to assess progress of EU support
under Horizon 2020, the Commission has also set up a high level Expert Group. The
Commission has also launched a consultation for future research activities
aiming at a wider and more efficient transnational use of existing research
infrastructures. 
4.4 Universities:
Modernisation Agenda 
A study to set up structured Innovative
Doctoral Training programmes was carried out to provide guidance for structured
programmes on a Europe-wide scale. A pilot call on ‘ERA Chairs’ for convergence
regions was launched to facilitate structural changes in universities and other
research organisations, with the aim of fostering excellence and thus improving
their performance in competitive research funding. A feasibility study was also
being prepared to assess the best way of setting up a European Accreditation
mechanism for the ‘Charter and Code’-based human resource management, in
universities and in publicly-funded research institutions.
4.5 Open access, knowledge transfer and digital ERA
Open access has been embedded in Horizon
2020. Member States were asked to nominate a national Point of Reference to facilitate
the exchange of information and enable mutual learning. The Commission intends
to organise a first meeting of the National Points of Reference for exchange of
lessons learned and best practices. 
An expert group on knowledge transfer was
set up in 2012 to deliver in-depth analyses and recommendations. The Commission
launched a study to develop guidelines on the main issues that may be adressed
by participants in their consortium agreements. The
ERAC Working Group on Knowledge Transfer provided guidance
and feedback for the study tracking progress in implementing the Commission’s Intellectual
Property Recommendation and Code of practice[11].
Digital ERA will support the provision of
e-infrastructures, seamless cross-border access to digital research services
and take-up of e-science and the development of related policies. In 2012, this
collaboration started by integrating Digital ERA into the ERA follow-up
structures and activities, including stakeholder platform interactions and
systematic monitoring of the ERA Communication actions. E-infrastructures
enable the creation, circulation and use of knowledge in Europe, and foster
collaboration among scientists. In 2012 the focus has been on data-enabled
science and engineering (EUDAT, OpenAIRE), computational infrastructure (PRACE,
EGI, Helix Nebula), the research and education network GÉANT, virtual research
communities and e-science. Highlights include the publication of the European
strategy on High Performance Computing (Communication to Parliament and
Council), the development of the infrastructure supporting Open Access and of
the global Research Data Alliance (RDA); and the launch of Africa Connect
linking Europe to Sub-Saharan Africa.
5.           International Cooperation
The major highlight of the year was the
Communication on ‘Enhancing and focusing EU international cooperation in
research and innovation: a strategic approach’[12].
In this Communication, the Commission proposes a new strategy for international
cooperation in research and innovation, in particular with a view to preparing
for Horizon 2020.
International
cooperation in research and innovation is not an end in itself - it is, rather,
a mean for the Union to achieve its higher level objectives. In particular this
means strengthening the Union’s excellence and
attractiveness in research and innovation and its economic and industrial
competitiveness; tackling global societal challenges; and supporting the
Union’s external policies.
To achieve these
objectives, the strategy defines a dual approach:
Horizon
2020 will be open to participation from entities from across the world,
although the approach to providing funding from the Union budget to these
entities will be revised. Through this general opening, European researchers
will be free to cooperate with their third country counterparts on topics of
their own choice.
Targeted
activities will be developed where cooperation will be sought on particular
topics and with identified countries or regions. These will be grouped into
multi-annual roadmaps.
A number of
cross-cutting issues will also be an integral part of the strategy:
·                        
Partnership with Member States will be
strengthened, building on the work of the Strategy Forum for
International S&T Cooperation;
·                        
Common principles for the conduct of
international research and innovation activities will be developed and promoted
with our international partners, with the aim of creating a global, level
playing field. This will be facilitated by the recently established Global
Research Council, a voluntary forum set up to share best practice and establish
common principles;
·                        
There will be closer coordination with other Union
policies with a strong external dimension as well as with the activities of
international organisations and multilateral fora. 
The implementation
of the strategy will be closely aligned with Horizon 2020. To strengthen
governance, the Commission has committed itself to publishing a progress report
every two years starting in early 2014. Some 350 top-level scientists and
policy-makers from more than 30 countries around the European Union and
Mediterranean region met in Barcelona, Spain, in April 2012 to launch a new
partnership in research and innovation. The new partnership was proposed by the
European Commission as part of the Union's response to the political changes
taking place in the southern Mediterranean area and in view of Horizon 2020.
The Conference launched a process towards a common Euro-Mediterranean research
and innovation agenda.
6.           Horizon 2020 - The
Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020)
Bringing together,
for the first time, all EU research and innovation funding under a single
programme, Horizon 2020 will focus on three key priorities: strengthen the EU's
position as a world leader in science; strengthen industrial leadership in
innovation; and help address major concerns shared by all Europeans, across a
number of key societal challenges. 
On 28 November 2012, the Industry, Transport
and Research (ITRE) Committee of the European Parliament adopted, with an
absolute majority, three of the four reports of the Horizon 2020 package. The
Council of the EU reached a Partial General Approach on the Framework Programme
Regulation (31 May 2012), on the Rules for Participation and Dissemination
Regulation (10 October 2012) and on the Specific Programme Decision (11
December 2012).
This provides a very good basis for the
trilateral negotiations among the EU institutions with a view to concluding the
ordinary legislative procedure on the Horizon 2020 package in a first reading
agreement by the end of 2013.
7.           The Seventh Framework
Programme
7.1         Implementation of the 2012
work programmes
53 calls for proposals were concluded in
2012 for a total indicative budget of EUR 4.4 billion. A total of 17 374
eligible proposals were received, of which 3 089 were retained for funding,
resulting in a success rate of 17.78 % on a proposal basis.
A total of 70 059 applicants were involved
in all eligible proposals, for total project costs of EUR 36.99 billion and a
total requested EU contribution of EUR 30.78 billion. A total of 14 821
applicants were involved in the retained proposals, for total project costs of
EUR 6.92 billion and a total requested EU contribution of EUR 4.98 billion. The
overall success rate was 21.16 % in terms of applicants and 16.18 % in terms of
EU contribution requested.
7.2         The 2013 work programmes
Adopted in July 2012, the 2013 calls for
proposals, worth some EUR 8.1 billion, will support projects and ideas that
will boost Europe’s competitiveness and tackle issues such as human health,
protecting the environment and finding new solutions to growing challenges
linked to urbanisation and managing waste. 
The work programmes include some of the
following features:
–                        
The calls target both innovation and a range of
societal challenges, building a bridge to Horizon 2020. 
–                        
In total EUR 4.8 billion is dedicated to
thematic research priorities. Industrial innovation will be supported through
close-to-market activities such as piloting, demonstration, standardisation and
technology transfer. The three public-private partnerships launched under the
European Economic Recovery Plan are implemented through calls for proposals and
matched by private investments. The calls are highly relevant to industry with
more than 50% industrial participation and about 30% of the total EU funding
going to SMEs.
–                        
Special attention will be given to Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in a package worth up to EUR 1.2 billion. This
includes measures of EUR 150 million for guarantees to leverage EUR 1 billion
in loans for SMEs and mid-caps. 
–                        
Around EUR 2.7 billion will help cement Europe's
place as a world class destination for researchers, mainly through individual
grants from the European Research Council (EUR 1.75 billion), and Marie
Skłodowska-Curie Actions (EUR 963 million) for research training and
mobility. 
–                        
To help address the innovation divide, a new ‘European
Research Area Chairs’ initiative has been launched. A EUR 12 million pilot call
will select a total of five ERA Chairs, to be hosted by universities or other
eligible research institutions in less developed regions in five different EU
countries. 
–                        
Innovative thematic research priorities in these
calls include: around EUR 155 million for ‘Oceans of the future’, to support
sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors; around EUR 365 million
for technologies that will transform urban areas into sustainable ‘Smart Cities
and Communities’; some EUR 147 million to combat the rise of drug-resistant
bacteria; and nearly EUR 100 million dedicated to innovative solutions for
managing fresh water resources.
–                        
The calls also support the Digital Agenda's ICT
research funding targets, with almost EUR 1.5 billion going to the thematic
area of information and communication technologies. 
–                        
The EUR 8.1 billion worth of investment is
expected to leverage an additional EUR 6 billion of public and private
investment in research, and estimated to increase employment by some 210 000 in
the short-term and generate, over a 15 year period, an additional EUR 75
billion in growth. 
–                        
The EU’s total research budget of EUR 10.8
billion for 2013, the largest ever in the history of the European Union's
Framework Programmes, includes funds outside the work programmes, such as nuclear
energy research (EUR 993 million) under the Euratom Treaty, Joint Technology Initiatives
with industry (EUR 751 million) and public-public partnerships with Member
States. The total budget also includes funding for the Commission's Joint
Research Centre[13].

7.3         Highlights
7.3.1      Innovation 
The 2013 FP7 Work Programme includes more
activities that are closer to markets and users, as well as more support to
transfer results from the lab to the market. More support is provided to
innovative SMEs and small mid-caps in the field of access to risk finance with
the launch of a new counter-guarantee scheme within the RSFF for SMEs (RSI),
which complements the guarantee scheme launched successfully in 2012. 
There is also wider support for
public-private partnerships. More themes experiment with pre-commercial
procurement, both for co-financing actual joint procurements and for supporting
networking and preparatory work. Public sector innovation is becoming more
important and includes support to innovative solutions both in public
administrations and in public sector services. Social innovation is supported
in different ways by a majority of themes, including both social innovation
actions and socio-economic research.
An increasing number of themes also include
specific support for the exploitation of promising existing research results,
whatever their origin, both EU and non-EU funded. The actions include follow-up
funding addressed directly to research project results, as well as support
networks aimed at facilitating exploitation.
7.3.2      Dissemination
The dissemination of
results of EU-funded research plays a pivotal role in delivering the European
Research Area, promoting openness and capitalising on Europe’s creative
potential. The Commission supports
the dissemination of research results by providing funding within the projects
to actively disseminate the results. The Commission also actively raises public
awareness of the funded research results and provides on-line access to the
results via CORDIS[14],
the Commission’s Community R&D Information Service, and the Joint Research
Centre’s Publications Repository[15].

In addition, the Commission is investigating going
beyond current activities and further improving the dissemination,
communication and exploitation of EU-funded research results.
7.3.3      Simplification
Activities in 2012 built on the impetus given by the Communication
on simplification[16]
and the ensuing debate. A series of measures receiving overall support were
implemented in practice. 
The Research and Innovation Participant Portal
was developed further with the deployment of new services for participants and
improvements in the user-friendliness of the system.
The outcome of the simplification debate also fed into the revised
Financial Regulation and its Rules of Application which entered into force. Some
highlights affecting framework programme grants include: 
·                        
revised rules related to the eligibility of VAT
to simplify the financial management of research and innovation grants, e.g. for
universities and other public research bodies.
·                        
the abolition of the obligation to create and
report interests. This obligation exists today, and has created considerable
administrative effort and costs in terms of opening and managing separate
accounts, and for managing a register of exceptions for organisations that
cannot open interest-bearing accounts due to national legislation. 
7.3.4      Reaching the SME Target
The participation of SMEs in the FP7 is
closely monitored by the European Commission. Particular attention is given to
funding for SMEs under the Cooperation Programme, in line with the target
established in the legislative package. The aim is to ensure that at least 15%
of the funding of the Cooperation Specific Programme goes to SMEs.
By the end of 2012 there were 18 589 SME
participations in the entire FP7. The EU contribution going to SMEs reached
approximately EUR 4.8 billion.
The 15% target was reached already at the
end of 2011, when SMEs received 15.3% of the EU funding in the Cooperation
Programme. In 2012 this figure increased. At the end of the year, the
percentage of EU contributions going to SMEs in the Cooperation Programme was
16.6%.
The significant increase in the budget
share going to SMEs can be attributed to the SME strengthening measures in the 2011
and 2012 work programmes. Further progress is expected with the 2013 work
programme.
8.           Outlook for 2013
In 2013, the
Commission will continue to deliver on the Innovation Union actions. It will
present the 2012 State of the Innovation Union: Accelerating change. However,
in the light of on-going crisis, Europe needs to do more to make the Innovation
Union a reality. The EU and its Member States must accelerate their joint
efforts and deepen the Innovation Union. In 2013, the Commission will launch a reflection
to prepare the next steps for deepening the Innovation Union.
The Commission will
prepare the first ERA Progress Report in 2013. It will consist of a comparison of
the actions announced by Member States in their National Reform Programmes
(NRPs) with the baseline from 2011. A full assessment of progress in implementing
the ERA will be made from 2014 onwards.
The Commission
intends to make proposals on a number of public-private and public-public
partnership initiatives in July 2013.
The Horizon 2020 package
is expected to be adopted by the end of 2013. The Commission will undertake all
preparatory work and make the necessary arrangements to ensure a smooth start
and implementation of the programme.
[1]               COM(2011) 815 final of 23.11.2011
[2]               Standard Eurobarometer 78, Autumn 2012, Public
Opinion in the EU
[3]               A Stronger European Industry for Growth and Economic
Recovery - Industrial Policy Communication Update, COM(2012) 582 final
[4]               Adopted by the European Council on 27-28 June 2012
[5]               http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/files/ius-2013_en.pdf
[6]               COM(2012) 392 final of
17.7.2012
[7]               Conclusions of the 3208th Competitiveness Council
meeting of 11.12.2012
[8]               SWD(2012)212, Commission Staff Working Document –
Impact Assessment accompanying Communication (2012)392 final
[9]               EARTO, EUA, LERU, NordForsk, and Science Europe
[10]             Conclusions of the 3208th Competitiveness Council
[11]             COM(2008)1329
[12]             COM(2012)497 of 14.15.2012
[13]             Information on the direct actions of FP7 for the year
2012 can be found in the annual report of the Commission's Joint Research
Centre: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/index.cfm?id=2530
[14]             http://cordis.europa.eu/
[15]             http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/
[16]             COM(2010)187