General Overview of European 7-th Framework Program
The European seventh Framework programme (FP7) is the main financial tool through which the European Union supports research and development activities covering almost all scientific disciplines. It is the single largest research program in the world, it has a total budget of over 53 billion Euro’s; FP7 started in 2007 and will expire in 2013. The Seventh Framework Programme bundles all research-related EU initiatives together under a common roof playing a crucial role in reaching the goals of growth, competitiveness and employment
The main goals of FP7 are to the underpin knowledge based economy in Europe and to establish the European Research Area (ERA). The European Research Area is a concept to create an "European internal market" in research, an area of free movement of knowledge, researchers and technology; structuring and co-ordinating national research policies and activities and developing a common European research policy.
By specifically funding research projects with an international dimension, either international consortia, working together on one project, or by stimulating researchers to work in another country or by funding basic research to set a new international standard helps to achieve the objectives of the European research Area and improve the knowledge based economy.
One of the themes in FP7 is research in Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and Biotechnology. The primary aim in funding food, agriculture and biotechnology research under FP7 is to build a European Knowledge Based Bio-Economy (food, feed, forest, fisheries, agriculture, aquaculture, chemistry, etc.) by bringing together all industries and economic sectors that produce, manage and exploit biological resources and related services, supply or consumer industries, such as food, fisheries, forestry, agriculture, etc.
Although this booklet can be used as a general introduction to FP7 its’ main focus is on in Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and Biotechnology.
Opportunities for ICPC countries
FP7 is not only for research groups and industry within the European Union member states. The EU wants to create an open network where knowledge flows freely among member states as well as importing and exporting knowledge with the rest of the world.
In order to realise this international setting of the European Research Area it is necessary that European research consortia collaborate with research groups and industry in non-EU countries.
For research in food, agriculture and biotechnology this is even more true. The knowledge-based bio-economy will play an important role in a global economy, where knowledge is the best way to increase productivity and competitiveness and improve our quality of life, while protecting our environment and social model. It is a sector estimated to be worth more than ˆ 1.5 trillion per year.
The European Union is the world’s largest importer/exporter of food products, and trades with countries all over the world in an increasing diversity of food products. With this extensive trade in food products, food safety cannot be seen solely as an internal issue. Exactly the same concerns as regards zoonoses, contaminants and other concerns apply to food products in international trade and international research.
All European research projects are, in principle, open to participation of partners from ICPC-countries (International Cooperation Partner Countries, ICPC-countries, including Russia).
In fact, the European Commission stimulates participation of partners from ICPC countries when it comes to research for the Knowledge Based Bio Economy. In many areas the EU and it’s close neighbours are obvious partners when it comes to sustainable exploitation of Europe’s natural resources.
Knowledge on for instance forestry, industrial biotechnology, food production and crops for bio-fuels needs to be developed in close cooperation with each other so EU and ICPC countries partners can benefit from each others experience. Partners from Russia, Eastern European and central Asian countries are eligible to receive the same kind of funding of the European Union as their EU-counterparts.
General budget of FP7 Programme is more than 53,3 billion Euro’s.
It is possible to find the budget allocation on the web-site:
www.cordis.europa.eu/fp7/budget_en.html.
About 1,94 billion Eurosis supposed to allocate for Thematic Priority “ Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food”
General structure of FP7 is based on 4 providing final strategic goals of FP7:
- COOPERATION – Development of international R&TD cooperation;
- IDEAS – New ideas for practical realization;
- PEOPLE –amp;TD staff, representatives of industry, their participation in the Programme, citizens and society of European countries, as consumers of achievements from modern science and technology;
- CAPACITIES – Additional possibilities for combining of efforts of scientists, manufactures, and financial resources for realization of FP7 and for creation of mutual European Research Area (ERA) on the basis of European conception of “Knowledge Based Bioeconomy”, accepted as a strategic task in European countries.
Peculiarity of FP7 is in structural organization of Thematic Priorities into TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS. More detailed see at the sites cordis.europa.eu and ec.europa.eu.
Furthermore for revealing of new and perspective ideas, which can be realized in different R&TD projects of FP7 it was established European Research Council (http://erc.europa.eu/index.cfm), final aim of which is financial support of R&TD teams, possessing by new and prospective ideas.
