Community Research and Development Information Service - CORDIS
Practical Guide to EU funding opportunities for Research and Innovation
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The knowledge economy – with its emphasis on education, research, technological development, innovation and entrepreneurship – is at the heart of the renewed Partnership for Growth and Jobs, a programme to develop Europe's economy and guarantee quality of life for its population.
In an open global economy, competitiveness lies in the capacity of businesses to create high value-added goods and services. A move towards innovation-based sustainable growth is therefore at the heart of the EU's response to globalisation. Research and innovation can also offer solutions to overcome the great challenges that face our continent and the whole world, challenges such as energy security, climate change, environmental degradation, exclusion of vulnerable groups, ageing population and disabilities, global health threats, and demographic developments.
At the Community level, the Union possesses three key funding instruments to support research and innovation: Cohesion policy which is funded through the Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund; the Research Framework Programme and the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme. In 2007 the European Commission published its ideas on 'Competitive European Regions through Research and Innovation' 1 and called on Member States and regions to make more effective use of the available funding instruments. The issues to be addressed in achieving this aim cut across many domains of European Commission policy, such as economic affairs, employment policy, energy, transport, agriculture, environment and information society, going beyond the programmes under our responsibility. With all our colleagues, we hope that the ideas put forward will see a change in approach, with much greater attention to the optimal use and combination of the different EU funds. For this to happen, we rely on the active cooperation of the Member States and regions.
This Practical Guide was conceived in order to help potential beneficiaries of our programmes find their way through the three funding instruments and identify the most appropriate funding scheme for them. It provides a concise description of the three funding sources, explains how they can in practice be combined and provides policy makers with advice on setting up mechanisms at the national and regional levels to foster co-ordinated access to them.
It has been produced with the full collaboration and support of our fellow Commissioners Mrs Mariann Fisher Boel (Agriculture and rural development), Mrs Viviane Reding (Information Society and Media), Mr Andris Piebalgs (Energy), Mr Joe Borg (Fisheries and maritime affairs), Mr Vladimír Špidla (Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities) and Mr Antonio Tajani (Transport), who are jointly responsible with us for the funding instruments covered by the guide. Together, we hope that this guide, above all else, proves to be practical and user-friendly. Its aim is to provide potential recipients of EU funding for research and innovation with the basic information they need to access this funding.
Competitive European regions through research and innovation COM (2007) 474 of 16/08/2007
Last updated on: 2009-02-11