Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

C 85/16 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 15.3.2001

Call for proposals for indirect RTD actions under the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration on �Confirming the international role of Community
research�(1998-2002)

(2001/C 85/09)

Call identifiers:

(shared cost actions, concerted actions, thematic networks)

INCO-COPERNICUS �BALKANS A2: ICFP501A2PR02

INCO-MED A3: ICFP501A3PR02

INCO-DEV A4: ICFP501A4PR03

1. In accordance with the Decision of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 22 December 1998, concerning the
fifth framework programme of the European Community
for research, technological development and demonstration
(RTD) activities for the period 1998 to 2002 ( [1] ) (hereinafter
referred to as the fifth framework programme), and with the
Council Decision of 25 January 1999, adopting the specific
programme for research, technological development and
demonstration on �Confirming the international role of
Community research�( [2] ) (hereinafter referred to as the
specific programme), the European Commission hereby
invites proposals for indirect RTD actions under the
specific programme.

In conformity with Article 5 of the specific programme, a
work programme ( [3] ), specifying detailed objectives and RTD
priorities and an indicative timetable for their implementation, was drawn up by the European Commission to
serve as the basis for implementing the specific programme.
The objectives, priorities, indicative budget and types of
indirect actions referred to in this call notice correspond
to those set out in the work programme.

2. This call relates to proposals, specified under point 4 of this
call, called by a fixed deadline, following which evaluation
will take place, and following which no other proposal will
be considered under this call notice.

Proposals are submitted in one step.

3. The specific programme is implemented notably through
indirect RTD actions as provided for in Annexes II and IV
of the fifth framework programme and in Annex III of the
specific programme.

Evaluation and selection criteria and modalities relevant to
this call are given in the fifth framework programme, the
specific programme, the Council Decision of 22 December
1998, concerning the rules for the participation of undertakings, research centres and universities and for the
dissemination of research results for the implementation
of the fifth framework programme ( [4] ) (hereinafter referred

( [1] ) OJ L 26, 1.2.1999, p. 1.
( [2] ) OJ L 64, 12.3.1999.
( [3] ) Commission Decision C(2000) 4353.
( [4] ) OJ L 26, 1.2.1999, p. 46.

to as the rules for participation and dissemination), and the
work programme.

Information on these rules and on how to prepare and
submit proposals is given in the guide for proposers,
which can be obtained, along with the work programme
and other information relating to this call, from the
European Commission using one of the following addresses:

European Commission
DG RTD �Unit 06
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200
B-1049 Brussels

E-mail: inco@cec.eu.int
Web: http://www.cordis.lu/fp5.

4. Those eligible to participate in indirect RTD actions under
the specific programme, according to the rules for participation and dissemination, are hereby invited to submit
proposals that address the following parts of the work

programme.

COPERNICUS 2 �BALKAN REINTEGRATION A2

(shared cost actions, concerted actions, thematic networks)

NIS AND CEECs NOT IN THE PRE-ACCESSION PHASE:

COPERNICUS-2

(Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)

Unless otherwise indicated, research will be undertaken
mainly by means of shared cost actions. Concerted actions/
thematic networks will also be possible.

Deadline: 15.6.2001

Budget: EUR 4,3 million

Call identifier: ICFP501A2PR02.

15.3.2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 85/17

Priorities for the dedicated call for Balkan reintegration
(2001)

(a) Environment and industry: specific regional problems

RTD leading to management systems and technologies
aimed at the prevention and remediation of environmental
problems specific to these countries and their regions, and
at the improvement of the environmental standards of
industrial activities and their usage of resources. Also,
RTD leading to improved quality and reduced cost of
process for services and products within regional industry.
Particular attention will be paid to the closer involvement of
local industry within research activity.

�Environmental management for industrial metropolitan
areas and areas adversely affected by the extraction of
natural resources; aimed at the remediation/mitigation of
pollution, the treatment of industrial and municipal
waste and the use of recycled materials resulting from
depuration sludge, biodepuration and (bio-)composting.

�Development of environmentally benign and sustainable
industrial technologies applicable to existing regional
industry: minimisation of emissions, effective and
secure use of raw materials and energy. Innovative
product development leading to better use of existing
industrial capacity and ultimately contributing to
increased employment in the region.

(b) Health: specific regional problems

RTD concerned with the specific diseases and health
problems resulting from war and migration of refugees in
the region.

�Increased understanding of the post-conflict and posttrauma health problems, leading to development of
more effective rehabilitation procedures and treatments.

INCO MED A3

(shared cost actions, concerted actions, thematic networks)

MEDITERRANEAN PARTNER COUNTRIES

(Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta ( [1] ), Morocco,
Palestine Authority, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey)

Deadline: 17.9.2001

Budget: EUR 29,5 million

Call identifier: ICFP501A3PR02.

( [1] ) In the case of a country becoming associated to the fifth framework
programme, that status will take precedence.

Objectives and approach

The objectives are those of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and target long-range sustainable development
around the Mediterranean Sea in the context of transboundary economic, environmental and socio-political
problems. The approach is to concentrate on a set of five
strategic areas: socioeconomic modernisation, managing
scarce regional water resources, preserving and using
cultural heritage, promoting healthy societies and regional
environmental sustainability. These areas of specific
relevance to the region are not addressed under the
thematic programmes of the fifth framework programme
or under the research for development part of this
programme and were selected through an extensive
process of Euro-Mediterranean dialogue. Synergy and
complementarity between this programme, the thematic
programmes and MEDA cooperation activities will be
ensured.

(a) Socioeconomic modernisation

Safety, efficiency and interoperability of regional
transport systems

(shared cost, concerted actions and thematic networks)

This theme targets the development of scenarios of socioeconomic and transport policy reference in which the
options for the economic development, the different
transport policies, and the network of transport system
can be enhanced. A special attention can also be given to
the role of transport in the economic sustainable integration
of the Mediterranean region.

Specific objectives:

�research on interoperability between the Mediterranean
countries and between this region and the European
countries, in view to identify the regulatory obstacles
and proposals for solutions,

�decision support systems for the planning of infrastructures and traffic and introduction of methods and
models for evaluating the impact of transports systems
on socioeconomic activity and environment, enhance
the safety and efficiency of transport systems, targeting
the cohesion of the various national transport systems,
and their management at regional level,

�methods and criteria for identifying and for evaluating
the development of transport corridors and networks in
the Mediterranean within the context of the extension of
the Trans-European transport networks.

Thematic network dedicated to this these topics will include
transport research institutions, operators and responsible
authorities at the local and national levels.

C 85/18 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 15.3.2001

(b) Preserving and using cultural heritage

Enabling linguistic diversity

(priority shared cost and concerted actions)

Language diversity in the Mediterranean area is and will
remain in the foreseeable future a major challenge for
information and communication systems. The renewal of
the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue implies a better understanding of each other throughout the age groups from
early school to higher education level and research
institutes, and thus the development of cost effective and
user friendly methods and tools for cross-lingual
information access, knowledge sharing and inter-personal
communication.

The overall objective is to turn �language diversity�into a
priority subject for Euro-Med multidisciplinary research.
This research conducted in close cooperation with the IST
specific programme can only target specific Mediterranean
aspects that could not be undertaken under this
programme. This research should combine and integrate
from a multilingual and cross-cultural perspective ongoing
and upcoming efforts in areas such as: basic and
value-added communications, business processes and electronic commerce, education and training, cultural heritage
and electronic publishing. These objectives will target the
promotion and application of new approaches, standards
and tools and may include where appropriate the adaptation
of existing methods and techniques to Euro-Med languages.

Specific objectives:

�the understanding of users’ requirements from systems
for multilingual information handling and the development of cross-lingual systems for digital information
access, delivery and management over global networks,

�the improvement of multimedia linguistic interoperability between European and Semitic languages; crosslingual/cross-cultural authoring and localisation of
multimedia content,

�annotated repositories of written and spoken language
data, including recording, preservation, conservation and
archival work on materials relevant to the study of
dialects and oral culture.

(c) Promoting healthy societies

(priority to shared cost actions)

Research will address the new epidemiological and socioeconomic reality, which is emerging in the Mediterranean
area and will target strategies to alleviate the burden of
disease on society and to support economic activity.

Specific objectives:

�research on epidemiological transition and its consequences on health planning and sector development
and on health of migrants and health of vulnerable

groups,

�research on regionally specific preventative, biological
and clinical aspects of important metabolic and genetic
congenital disorders and research on trauma rehabilitation,

�research in support of regional infectious disease
surveillance and control in line with EU-Mediterranean
collaboration activities in these domains.

(d) Regional environmental sustainability

Integrated policy and resource management of coastal

zones

(priority to shared cost actions)

The aim is to develop a participatory strategic approach to
planning and management of coastal areas in order to
maximise their long-term contribution to socioeconomic
diversification and sustainable regional development.

Coastal areas are subject to an increasing diversity of
demands for new opportunities to diversify local and
national economies: coastal fisheries, aquaculture, windforms, tourism, leisure, etc. The economic imbalance
between coastal and inside regions should be taken into
account.

Specific objectives:

�development of early warning tools and decision
support systems on the equilibrium between the
coastal areas’ resources and inland regions. (As for
example remote sensing for land use and climate
impacts, airborne surveillance systems or coastal water
observing buoys),

�research activities on coastal typology, monitoring and
dynamics of Mediterranean countries with particular
interest for estuaries and marine ecosystem protection,

�scientific research on hydromorphology, models and
data collection, identifying indicators and technologies
for coastal dynamics in particular for flooding, erosion
or sand stabilisation,

�long-term research measuring the sustainable development in coastal areas, the impact of human activities,
in particular on water quality and availability, and identifying potential users and beneficiaries.

15.3.2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 85/19

INCO-DEV A4

(shared cost actions, concerted actions, thematic networks)

RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPMENT

(ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific), Asia, Latin America, Gulf
countries; Mediterranean partner countries (only eligible for
c(i) and c(iii)) and Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) (only eligible for c(iii))

Deadline: 17.9.2001

Budget: EUR 68,5 million

Call identifier: ICFP501A4PR03.

Objectives and approach

The objectives of the programme are: to undertake research
to tackle the challenges posed to developing countries; to
mobilise the strengths, expertise and resources of the
European scientific community jointly with developing
country research teams; and, to use RTD cooperation to
support Community development cooperation policy in
line with current strategy.

For research on these issues to be successful, the nature of
the research intervention needs to be correctly matched to
the nature of the problem to be tackled. Therefore, the
programme favours inter and multidisciplinary approaches
in research proposals. In order to achieve this, the
programme envisages an integrated scheme consisting of
three levels of research: (a) policy research to determine
the conditions for sustainable development, including
gender issues, involving the State, market forces and civil
society; (b) systems research on complex issues involving
many interacting components, such as, rehabilitation and
management of renewable natural resources or health
care; and (c) research on specific scientific and technological
problems to generate tools for sustainable development,
which can be used in a particular context of system
management or policy development.

This three-level scheme creates unity in the programme
since it can be applied to research independently of
thematic area and also to cross-sectoral subjects. In the
design of the programme, due importance is given to
research on individual scientific or technological problems
on a sectoral basis. However, it is recognised that the policy
and systems backgrounds to these problems, need to be
examined on a broader front. The approach thus also
includes a process of thematic concentration, with policy
research covering strategic sectors and representing the
broadest thematic range, systems research narrowing to
natural capital and the human environment, including
health, and tools research focussing on specific key items.

In order to guarantee quality, the programme will employ
the same practical methods of operation as adopted by the
FP5 thematic programmes. Developing country partnerships

will be constructed on a regional basis. The programme will
thus extend the scope of Community RTD to other
geographical regions. Moreover, the programme will
strengthen and add value to ongoing research, reduce
isolation of developing country scientists, enable these to
work at an international level while based in their own
institutions, and provide training opportunities. The
programme will complement Community development
cooperation policy and therefore will not include technical
assistance or other methods of operation characteristic of
development aid.

The priorities are continuously focused, on a regional basis,
following dialogue with developing countries. Research
proposals should give a high profile to training and
information dissemination activities and address the coordination needs with existing North-South partnerships and
investments committed by Member States and associated
countries.

(a) Policy research on the conditions for sustainable development

(all regions except Mediterranean and Balkan partner
countries. Priority to concerted actions and thematic
networks)

Research will aim to identify the socioeconomic and policy
conditions and the corresponding implementation measures
that favour progress in sustainable development. It will
apply to public policy issues, and will involve the State,
market forces and civil society. Some issues will be of
broad application whilst others will be specific to a
particular geographical region, ecosystem or technology
application. The direct outcome will be policy options,
which may be used by decision-makers to direct and
influence policies. This will be achieved by looking at past
policies, at the prevailing situation, and particularly at
scenarios for the future.

Research proposals should lead to a set of options which,
without being prescriptive, will provide clear indications for
decision-makers about the likely consequences of pursuing
different courses of action in terms of societal objectives
such as economic growth, equitability, environmental
sustainability, etc. It is highly desirable that proposals
should integrate partnerships of researchers with decisionmakers in order to capitalise on each other’s competence
and viewpoint, as well as to facilitate the adoption of
research results. Priorities for the year 2001 call are:

(a)(i) Making the most of research: RTD in the global knowledge
society

The aim of this theme is to determine how to ensure
effective use of the resources invested in RTD in developing
countries. This means considering demand for research
from users as well as supply factors, such as the often
dispersed and uncoordinated sources of support to
research or the relative isolation of researchers. The theme
focuses on the contribution of research to:

C 85/20 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 15.3.2001

�efficient and cost-effective RTD policies in developing
countries, considering aspects such as public and
private investment, regional and international cooperation, institution-building, links to education and
training, university-industry cooperation, use of mass
media and telecommunications, intellectual property
rights, and methodologies for impact assessment and
priority-setting,

�policies for the use of innovative information society
technologies in teaching and learning processes,
including lifelong learning, and distance learning in the
specific context of developing countries and new,
existing or traditional knowledge, and information
systems supporting sustainable development.

(a)(iv) Promoting sustainable settlement patterns: planning,
organisation, employment and rural-urban interactions

In many developing countries rural migration to towns and
urban growth are creating enormous conurbations where
the achievement of adequate employment levels and
decent living conditions presents a challenge for planning
and societal organisation. These population shifts also lead
to new food consumption patterns, create market opportunities and place new demands on agriculture. While
new settlements can be a burden on surrounding rural
areas they are also a source of investment. This theme
aims to explore these issues in order to contribute to the
design of policies for:

�economically and environmentally sustainable urban
settlements in rural areas on the periphery of cities,
giving special consideration to energy, transport and
how to avoid natural resource degradation in adjoining
ecosystems,

�structural change in agriculture, including development
of urban and peri-urban agriculture, to cope with
migration to towns and evolving patterns in urban
demand,

�making use of knowledge and information society tools
and techniques for innovative organisation and work
methods in relation to sustainable urbanisation

processes,

�innovative approaches to urban and peri-urban
employment creation, for example, micro-enterprises,
community-based or participative actions, information
society technologies, micro-credit, mini-industrial
facilities or small-scale services,

�assessing the socioeconomic dynamics, patterns of
savings, financial flows and new patterns of exchange
associated with rural-urban migration and urban-rural
investment.

(b) Systems research on natural capital and the human
environment, including health

(all regions except Mediterranean and Balkan partner
countries. Priority to shared cost actions and concerted
actions)

Following from the broader analysis of policy options, this
activity deals with a practical approach to systems, emphasising the relationship between human activity and the
environment.

(b)(ii) Managing the human environment and the rural-urban
interface: health systems, water management and land use

Population movement from countryside to towns, the
ensuing links between these two areas and urban spread
into rural areas contribute to a growing importance of
the rural-urban interface. Human welfare and the
environment are often casualties of the urban growth that
is proceeding rapidly in all parts of the developing world.
The objective of this theme is the design of systems to
reduce the negative impact, contribute to human welfare
and provide employment. Priorities for the year 2001 call
are limited to:

(b)(ii)(1) Health systems

Improving health systems focusing on equitable health
financing systems and inequities in the access to health
care delivery, quality of care as well as development of
new indicators for ascertaining efficacy of health sector
reforms. In this context, attention should be given to
youth, reproductive health and major infectious diseases
(malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS).

(b)(ii)(2) Rural urban interface sustainability in water
management, land use and sanitary risk:

�management systems to ensure effective use of local
water resources, to ensure hygienic conditions and to
prevent pollution of wetlands, coastal zones and underground aquifers by run-off,

�integration of small-scale agricultural systems into the
urban or peri-urban environment, emphasising
recycling of wastes, by-products and water, agricultural
practices reducing polution by pesticides, fertilisers and
heavy metals,

�sustainable systems in cities’ zones of influence to
provide products, such as, fuelwood, charcoal, or
fodder for urban markets, and for land uses, such as
domestic eco-tourism and green-belt zoning,

�prevention of sanitary risk linked to the proximity of
human/animals in peri-urban area: human and animal
epidemiological survey, zoonosis.

(c) Tools for sustainable development

(Mediterranean partner countries only eligible for parts (c)(i)
and (c)(iii), and Balkan countries only eligible for part (c)(iii).
Priority to shared cost actions and concerted actions)

15.3.2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 85/21

Research activities at this level focus on individual technological steps, which might be of direct application or
which might need combining into more complex technological packages for their exploitation. In either case
research should be targeted directly at significant
problems, which have been identified in the context of
policy or of potential application in a particular system.
Proposals, which involve a multidisciplinary approach, are
strongly encouraged.

(c)(i) Tools for health improvement: attacking the major infectious
diseases

The challenges posed by the major infectious diseases
(malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS) and their links to
poverty call for scaling-up and refocusing of the R & D
efforts towards new tools to control diseases and improve
case management.

The proposals should be aiming at control and case
management of the major diseases linked to poverty such
as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. While the focus of
the call is on these three diseases, other major gastrointestinal, respiratory and vector-borne infections will be
considered if their causative links to poverty in the region
of research are clearly demonstrated.

Priorities for the year 2001 call are:

Clinical evaluation of:

�new vaccines and drugs for treatment and prevention,

�new drug combinations and immuno-therapy,

�other interventions based on new understandings of
vector biology and disease physiopathology.

Projects should address those issues in the fields of
biological, epidemiological, clinical and social sciences as
well as ethics with a view to enable researchers and
research institutions in developing countries to organise
and conduct population trials. Operational research
projects addressing ways to improve delivery of interventions are eligible for funding under thematic network
schemes.

(c)(iii) Market-oriented products and services in agro-food: adding
value and meeting consumer demand

Evolving European legislation and consumer demand, such
as, health considerations, diet change resulting from urban
living, desire for choice, particular quality and sanitary
requirements as well as export specifications raise many
issues for food-processing and biosafety research.
Moreover, processing and adding value to raw materials is
an area of interest for industry, including SMEs, and offers
opportunities for employment creation. The theme concentrates on the following issues, which should be tackled on a
processing chain basis, including information systems on
markets:

�processing technologies mainly targeting SMEs for
adding value, increasing transportability to markets,
lengthening shelf-life, total quality assurance or
labelling (eco and origin, genuine foods),

�development of risk assessment methods for new
(agro-food and bio) technologies considering consumer
health and environment,

�developing appropriate quality standards, hygienic and
aesthetic, according to the handling and processing
methods used.

(c)(iv) Safe and efficient water management: low-investment and
ecologically suited environmental technologies for use,
decontamination and recycling

Rising population, industrialisation and urbanisation are just
some of the processes in competition for water, which at its
extreme can lead to conflict. Contamination can aggravate
this process by rendering scarce resources useless or a
health hazard. The challenge is to increase efficiency in
the water chain and to provide the necessary inputs for
the design of policies to ensure the best use of the
resource. Priorities are the development of:

�viable technologies for treatment of wastewater from
urban and rural settlements and from processing agricultural products to promote hygiene and to permit
adequate reuse,

�techniques for monitoring, analysing dynamics and
assessing impact on watersheds of water pollutants of
urban, agricultural, geological or mining origin.

When submitting a proposal for an RTD project or a
concerted action, proposers may include an application
for a �Bursary for young researcher from developing
countries�. Further information on this scheme is given in
the guide for proposers.

5. Proposers are encouraged to prepare proposals with a
software tool (the proposal preparation tool �ProTool)
which is available from the Commission via the Internet
(http://www.cordis.lu/fp5/protool), by electronic mail or on
CD-ROM. It will help them prepare the administrative and
technical information required.

Proposals may be sent in one of two ways:

�Made by the proposal preparation tool and sent electronically, by use of a sealing mechanism, including
encryption and server uploading or electronic mail.

The coordinator must request a digital certificate from
the Commission’s certification authority for electronic
signature of the proposal file. When the proposal has
been finalised, it is then �sealed�and a short validation
file (�fingerprint�) is created.

C 85/22 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 15.3.2001

The validation file, which identifies the proposal file
uniquely, must be sent (electronically or by fax) not
later than 5 p.m. (Brussels local time) on the applicable
closing date (see point 4). The unmodified proposal file
must be received electronically not later than 48 hours
after expiry of the deadline.

�Prepared on the paper forms distributed with the
information package or made by the proposal preparation tool and then printed out by the coordinator.

To be receivable, proposals submitted on paper must be
received by the Commission not later than 5 p.m.
(Brussels local time) on the applicable closing date ( [1] ) (see
point 4) at the following address:

European Commission
ORBN 8

INCO 2
(call identifier)
Square FrŁre Orban/FrŁre Orban-plein 8
B-1000 Brussels.

Important notice: The above constitutes a change with
respect to previous calls where deadlines applied to
submission. Deadlines now apply to receipt by the
Commission.

Proposers are requested to use only one of the methods
described above, by which to submit proposals, and to

( [1] ) Users of courier services that ask for the recipient’s telephone
number should give the following: (32-2) 296 02 45.

submit only one version of any given proposal. In the
case of an eligible proposal being received in both paper
and electronic formats, only the electronic version will be
considered.

6. In all correspondence relating to this call (e.g. when
requesting information, or submitting a proposal) please
make sure to quote the relevant call identifier.

In submitting a proposal, either on paper or electronically,
proposers accept the procedures and conditions as described
in this call and in the documents to which it refers.

According to the rules for participation and dissemination
and the European Commission Regulation for implementing
them, Member States and associated States may have access,
on presentation of a reasoned request, to useful knowledge
which is relevant to policy-making. This knowledge must
have been generated by those RTD actions supported as a
result of this call and which addressed a part of the work
programme specified as eligible for such access.

All proposals received by the European Commission will be
treated in strict confidence.

The European Community pursues an equal opportunities
policy and, in this context, women are particularly
encouraged to either submit proposals or to be involved
in their submission.