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COM(97) 142
09-04-1997
Commission proposal for the Fifth RTD Framework Programme
Annex IV:
Rules for financial participation by the Community
The European Community will contribute financially to the research and technological development activities, including demonstration activities, hereinafter referred to as "indirect RTD actions" carried out under the programmes implementing the Framework Programme. In addition, it will carry out directly research and development activities hereinafter referred to as "direct RTD actions".
The key actions, the activities for the research and development of generic technologies, support for research infrastructures and the activities carried out in the context of activities 2, 3 and 4, as described in Annex II, will be implemented through indirect RTD actions and direct RTD actions.
1. Indirect RTD actions
The indirect RTD actions will comprise five categories: shared-cost actions, training fellowships, support for networks, concerted actions and accompanying measures. Shared-cost actions will be the main mechanism for implementing the programmes.
The rate of financial participation by the Community in these actions will be as follows:
(a) Shared-cost actions
- Research and technological development projects, demonstration projects, integrated projects:
Research and technological development projects are projects designed to obtain new knowledge likely to be useful either to develop or significantly improve existing products, processes and services or to meet the needs of society. They will be financed in principle at a level of 50% of the eligible costs. In the special case of legal entities which do not keep analytical accounts, the additional costs generated as a result of the research will be financed at the rate of 100%.
Demonstration projects are projects which are designed to prove the technical viability of technologies and which cannot be commercialised directly. They will be financed in principle at a level of 35% of the eligible costs.
Integrated projects are projects with both a research and technological development component and a demonstration component. They will be financed at a level corresponding to the weighted average of the levels applicable to the two components.
- Support for access to research infrastructures:
Support will be granted to existing research infrastructures so that they can receive teams of Community researchers and enable them to optimise their research work.
Community funding granted as a contribution towards the optimum utilisation of infrastructures is set at up to 100% of the additional eligible costs connected with receiving teams of Community researchers and making the facility available.
- Technology stimulation projects to encourage and facilitate SME participation in RTD activities:
"Cooperative research" activities will be financed up to 50% of the eligible project costs.
"Collaborative research" activities will be financed in the form of an award covering up to 75% of the eligible costs of the exploratory phase of an RTD activity, including project validation and preparation, a feasibility study and partner search, during a period not exceeding 12 months.
(b) Training fellowships
In the context of the fourth activity, the Community "Marie Curie" fellowships scheme will comprise several categories: fellowships for young researchers with proven experience, industrial host fellowships for training young researchers and development host fellowships.
Under the fellowship scheme for young researchers with proven experience, fellows will receive an allowance designed solely to cover their subsistence expenses and proper social welfare expenses. They will also receive a contribution designed to take into account the costs involved in mobility.
In the context of the second activity, the fellowship schemes will on the one hand enable young researchers from developing countries to be given an opportunity to spend time in Community laboratories, and on the other enable young Community researchers to spend time in Japan and Republic of Korea.
Community funding will cover up to 100% of the eligible fellowship costs and a contribution to the eligible costs of the host institution when it is in the Community.
(c) Support for networks
The thematic networks will bring together manufacturers, users, universities, research centres and organisations concerned with the diffusion or transfer of innovation around a given scientific and technological objective so as to facilitate the incorporation and transfer of knowledge, and cooperation between research players and users, ensure that market needs are taken into account more effectively and promote scientific and technological excellence. Community funding will cover up to 100% of the additional eligible costs of coordinating and implementing the thematic networks.
Research training networks will be created in advanced or emerging fields of research on topics freely chosen by the researchers. Their main aim will be to train young researchers at pre-doctoral and post-doctoral level. Community funding will cover up to 100% of the additional eligible costs connected with setting up and maintaining the network. The average maximum amount per partner per annum will be set in the specific programme to be adopted under the fourth activity.
(d) Concerted actions
Concerted actions will be designed to coordinate national RTD projects already in receipt of funding, in order to exchange experience acquired, to expand the research efforts of the various players so as to reach a critical mass, to disseminate results and to inform users. Community funding will cover up to 100% of the additional eligible costs connected with concertation.
(e) Accompanying measures
Accompanying measures will contribute towards the implementation of the specific programmes or the preparation of future activities, with a view to enabling them to achieve or define their strategic objectives. They will also seek to prepare or support the other indirect RTD actions. Measures devoted to the commercialisation of products, processes or services, marketing activities and sales promotion are excluded. Community funding may be up to 100% of the eligible costs of the measures.
In the Decisions adopting the specific programmes implementing the 5th Framework Programme there can be no derogations from the financial participation rates set above, with the exception of duly justified special cases. The Decisions may spell out in more detail the indirect RTD actions described above, supplement them or subject them to additional conditions or limitations.
The other rules for the financial participation of undertakings, research centres and universities in indirect RTD actions and for the dissemination of results are specified in the Council Decision adopted pursuant to Article 130j of the Treaty.
2. Direct RTD actions
The direct RTD actions to be implemented by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) will comprise research activities of an institutional character and scientific and technical support activities of an institutional character. The research activities of an institutional character are those for which the JRC has special or even unique facilities in the Community and which contribute to the implementation of Community RTD policy. The scientific and technical support activities of an institutional character are activities necessary for the framing and implementation of Community policies and tasks incumbent on the Commission pursuant to the Treaty which require the JRC's impartiality. Community funding will normally be 100% of the costs of the direct RTD action.
3. Any Council Decisions taken pursuant to Article 130o, as referred to in Article 3(2) of this Decision, will lay down, where necessary, the rules for financial participation by the Community.
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