Commission calls for Connect initiatives
The European Commission, DG XXII, has recently announced a call for proposals for Connect initiatives. A new budget heading (B3-1002) 'Connect: Innovation and connection of Community programmes' has been introduced to promote synergy and links in the areas of education, training and culture, through a combination of innovation, research and new technologies. The new initiative is aimed at funding preparatory actions in the context of 'Towards a Europe of knowledge' and also of an 'Information Society'. The Connect initiatives are therefore intended to increase cooperation between Community programmes such as Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and the Fifth RTD Framework Programme. It has been allocated 15 million euro, which will be managed by DG X and DG XXII, each of which will launch a call for proposals in their respective fields of action. DG XXII 'Education, training and youth' has launched the present call for proposals in the following fields: - Promoting European citizenship via civic and democratic education; - Better education and wider dissemination of the results of Community programmes with high European added value; - Promoting European projects to bridge the gap between education and society; - Organising school competitions in science, maths and invention. Further information about the detail of these topics and the types of proposals that will be accepted are detailed in the call text in the Official Journal of the European Communities. For further information, please see the Official Journal of the European Communities.