The European Commission (EC) held its annual FP7 Information Day ahead of publishing the upcoming calls for proposals in energy. The priorities of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP7) correspond to the ones of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) and are in line with the 2011 Work Programme of the European Commission. Implementation of these priorities are also now encouraged through the European Industrial Initiatives (EEI) of the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan, launched in June, with the aim to put the EU in the pathway to achieve its goals for 2020 and enable the transition to a low carbon economy by 2050.
ETN attended the info day for the FP7 calls, please see a brief overview of the research priorities and the upcoming calls to be published on 20 July 2010. You can find all presentations on the FP7 webcast portal.
In addition, there are specific calls on Energy and NMP (Nanoschiences, nanotechnologies, materials and new production technologies), on Energy-efficient Buildings (EeB), on ERA-NET and ERA-NET Plus projects, and on the Ocean of Tomorrow. There are also two other energy research funding programmes, namely: the Research Fund for Coal and Steel and the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative.
This year's FP7 calls on energy do not have a call specific to gas turbine technology, however do contain calls which are more general, and may still be of interest to the ETN members. These include calls for research and development in the field of CCS, clean coal technologies, and funding for the exchange of research staff.
Key remarks by the EC:
- Partners are especially encouraged from Central-Eastern Europe (as only 5,2% of funding went to these
countries in 2009);
- SMEs are also encouraged to become partners in consortiums;
- For demonstration projects there are some additional requirements:
o Industrial leadership in coordination and management;
o Credible share of professionals (CVs of full-time staff and experts will need to be included);
o Manageable size (max 20 partners)
o Replicable: a replication plan needs to be included to ensure deployable results, while it still needs to
remain in the scope of pre-competitive research;
o Risk management and mitigation aspects need to be included.
Please download the brief overview of the energy calls, and for more specific information on the individual calls, please contact the ETN office.
The EC also held an FP7 Information Day on Environment on 12-13 July 2010, with a special focus on eco-innovation (the decoupling of growth from environmental impact and resource use) as a central pillar of the EU 2020 strategy. The call for proposals features four different topics and has a budget of approximately EUR 50 million. Further information on the environmental call for proposals will be available after 20 July on Cordis.