The EU Member States have earmarked a total of € 9.05 billion for funding ICT over the duration of FP7; making it the largest research theme in the Cooperation programme, which is itself the largest specific programme of FP7 (with 64% of the total budget).
ICTs have a catalytic impact in three key areas:
- productivity and innovation, by facilitating creativity and management;
- modernisation of public services, such as health, education and transport;
- advances in science and technology, by supporting cooperation and access to information.
The FP7 ICT Work Programme 2013
This new work programme 2013 provides additional detail of the implementation of the Specific Programme, setting out information on the priorities, objectives and policy relevance of the research topics which will be implemented through calls for proposals.
The Work Programme helps mobilise the necessary resources around key ICT research challenges and objectives. It continues to focus on a limited set of challenges with mid-to-long term goals that require trans-national collaboration, in addition to the FET scheme. Each challenge is addressed through a limited set of objectives that form the basis for Calls for Proposals. Each objective specifies the set of outcomes targeted by the research work and their expected impact on industrial competitiveness and on addressing policy and socio-economic goals.
With a budget to support more than 15.000 researchers per year, and its clear impact on furthering collaboration and partnership, ICT in FP7 has an increasingly essential role in reinforcing Europe's underlying innovation capacity, helping industry explore new avenues and take higher risk with higher returns.
Deadline of the upcoming Call
- ICT Call 10 [10.07.2012 until 15.01.2013]: 705.5 M Euro
- ICT Call 11 [18.09.2012 until 16.04.2013]: 236.5 M Euro
Additional Sources:
Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)
As part of the European Economic Recovery Plan, the Commission is launching four Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). The four PPPs represent a powerful means of boosting research efforts in three large industrial sectors - automotive, construction, internet and manufacturing - which have been particularly affected by the economic downturn and where innovation can significantly contribute towards a more green and sustainable economy.
- Factories of the Future PPP consists of a research programme of € 1.2 billion to support the manufacturing industry in the development of new and sustainable technologies. The programme is financed jointly by industry and the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme. The objective is to help EU manufacturing enterprises, in particular SMEs, to adapt to global competitive pressures by improving the technological base of EU manufacturing across a broad range of sectors
- Energy-efficient buildings PPP consists of a financial envelope of € 1 billion to boost the construction sector, and aims at promoting green technologies and the development of energy efficient systems and materials in new and renovated buildings - this, with a view to radically reducing their energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The programme is financed jointly by industry and the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7).
- The Green Cars PPP has a foreseen envelope of €5 billion to boost to the automotive industry in a time of economic hardship, and support the development of new, sustainable forms of road transport. The scope of this initiative is really broad, and research is just one part of it. These financial support measures will be supplemented by demand-side measures, involving regulatory action by Member States and the EU, such as the reduction of car registration taxes on low CO2 cars to stimulate car purchase by citizens.
- The Future Internet PPP has been recently initiated and proposed by industry on the basis of collaborative work that has been ongoing since mid-2008. An essential characteristic of such a PPP should be to develop open, standardised, cross-sector service platforms. From a European policy perspective, sectors such as healthcare, mobility, environment and energy management are prime candidates to benefit from novel ‘smart’ – internet-empowered – infrastructures, which will facilitate the rapid take-up and adoption of services by millions of users and consumers.
Deadlines of the upcoming Calls:
- PPP Future Internet (FI) [18.05.2012 until 24.10.2012]: 80 M Euro
- PPP Green Cars (GC), PPP Factories of the Future (FoF) [10.07.2012 until 4.12.2012]: 110 M Euro
- PPP Smart Cities [10.07.2012 until 4.12.2012]: 95 M Euro
Further Calls relevant to our domain
- FET Open Xtract [12.09.2012 until 29.01.2013]: 15 M Euro
What sort of research is covered by the FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) Open scheme?
- ICT-relevant, visionary, high quality, long-term research of a foundational nature, involving bright new ideas of high-risk – high-pay-off, aiming at a breakthrough, a paradigm shift, or at the proof of a novel scientific principle, or
- Research refining the visionary ideas that have gone past the proof-of-concept phase to bring them to the maturity level where they could be taken up by the mainstream ICT programme objectives
Additional Information: FET OPEN scheme
Additional sources
These websites bring together information on:
- The "Innovation Union" – turning ideas into jobs, green growth and social progress
- Vision 2030 for Scientific Data e-Infrastructures.: Riding the Wave: How Europe can gain from the rising tide of scientific data
- The FP7 ICT research programme and its objectives
- FP7 ICT: Find a call
- Participating in ICT research under FP7
- Search for individual research projects funded under FP7
- Research e-Infrastructures to aid researchers will also be supported through the Research Infrastructures Work Programme of the FP7 Capacities programme
- Registration of Experts for Research Activities
- Digital Agenda for Europe- an ambitious action plan for a digital economy
- Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth
- i2010 - A European Information Society for growth and employment
