Collective research projects
The European Commission has published a call for tenders for collective research projects under the Sixth Framework Programme's 'Horizontal research activities involving SMEs' thematic priority. This is one of the areas covered by the 'Integrating and strengthening the foundations of the European Research Area' specific programme. The collective research project (9.5.2 in the work programme) may address any subject in the whole field of science and technology covered by Article 163 of the EC Treaty. Collective Research is a scheme where RTD performers undertake scientific and technological research activities on behalf of industrial associations or groupings in order to expand the knowledge base of large communities of SMEs and thus improve their general standard of competitiveness. In all cases the industrial associations/groupings retain the ownership of the results. Collective Research Projects may address pre-normative research issues, technological problems related to the development and implementation of legislation, and technological problems of whole industrial sectors that could not possibly be addressed by Cooperative Research Projects. The dissemination of results to large communities of SMEs and the training of staff from SMEs and industrial associations/groupings will be expected to be major components of these projects. The indicative budget for this call is 40 million euro.To see the call text, please visit: http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/call_details.cfm?CALL_ID=22(opens in new window)