Sources of information on EU Research and Innovation

Sources of Information on EU Research and Innovation

• Two main Portals for EU research and innovation: "Europa" and "Cordis"
• 7th Research Framework Programme (2007-2013): The European Commission adopted a proposal for a new EU programme for Research. The proposal provides new impetus to increase Europe's growth and competitiveness, recognising that knowledge is Europe's greatest resource. "Europa" and "Cordis"
• EU Energy research
• Online Presentations of the 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7): A major FP7 information event was organised in Brussels in 2007. All video presentations are available.
• 6th Research Framework Programme (2002-2006): The EU's Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development is a major tool to support the creation of the European Research Area - ERA."
• Find a running Community research project: FP6 and FP7
• Investing in European Research
• International Cooperation in FP7: FP7 is open to and promotes international S&T cooperation.
• Communication "More Research and Innovation - Common Approach": Research and innovation have been confirmed as key challenges in the new Lisbon Partnership for Growth and Jobs. The 2002 Barcelona European Council set the goal of raising overall research investment in the EU from1.9% of GDP to around 3% by 2010.
• Information and Communication Technologies: Information and Communication Technologies are vital to creating growth throughout Europe’s economy and achieving its social and environmental goals. It is therefore crucial that Europe masters these technologies, rather than simply importing them.
• Key S&T Figures: The Key Figures report 2008/2009 take a detailed look at the most important aspects of EU research and innovation investment and performance.
• The European Researcher's Mobility Portal: If you are a researcher planning your next move in Europe, look here for career opportunities and to find information and assistance.
• Marie Curie Actions: Marie Curie Fellowships actions provide may opportunities to pre and post-doctoral researchers.
• The EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard: The EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard provides economic and financial data and analysis of companies from the EU and from abroad investing the most in Research and Development.
• European Innovation Scoreboard: The EIS is the instrument developed by the European Commission, under the Lisbon Strategy, to evaluate and compare the innovation performance of the Member States.
• European Technology Platforms: They provide a framework for stakeholders, led by industry, to define research and development priorities, timeframes and action plans on a number of strategically important issues where achieving Europe's future growth, competitiveness and sustainability objectives is dependent upon major research and technological advances in the medium to long term.
• Building the "European Research Area": The idea of a European Research Area grew out of the realisation that research in Europe suffers from three weaknesses: insufficient funding, lack of an environment to stimulate research and exploit results, and the fragmented nature of activities and the dispersal of resources.
• European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures: The role of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) is to support a coherent approach to policy-making on research infrastructures in Europe, and to act as an incubator for international negotiations about concrete initiatives. In particular, ESFRI has prepared a European Roadmap for new research infrastructures of pan-European interest.
• Gate2Growth: Gate2Growth is the pan-European Business Platform for (i) Entrepreneurs seeking financing (Business Matching), (ii) Investors (InvestorNet), (iii) Technology Incubator Managers (Incubator Forum), (iv) Knowledge Transfer Offices (Proton Europe), (v) Academia in entrepreneurship, innovation and finance(Academic Network), (vi) Innovative companies seeking expert service providers (Service Centre).
• European Institute of Innovation and Technology: The proposal to establish EIT ) was first put forward in 2005 as part of the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy. In a Communication to the European Council on February 22 entitled “Implementing the renewed partnership for growth and jobs. Developing a knowledge flagship: The European Institute of Technology”, the Commission defined the key elements of EIT.
• European Research Council: The objective of the 'Ideas' programme in FP7 is to enhance the dynamism, creativity and excellence of European research at the frontier of knowledge. This is to be done by supporting "investigator-driven" research projects carried out across all fields by individual teams in competition at the European level.
• Stimulating research and innovation through public procurement: A new study confirms that there is sufficient room within the framework of EU legislation for national and regional governments to apply innovation-oriented procurement if they wish. "Innovation and Public Procurement. Review of Issues at Stake" recommends that Member States take initiatives to encourage procurement for innovation.
• SINAPSE: The main and general objective of SINAPSE (Scientific INformAtion for Policy Support in Europe) e-network is to make better use of scientific knowledge in policy making. SINAPSE is open to all scientists, scientific organisations and anyone with an interest in science.
• Competitiveness and Innovation Framework programmes (2007-2013): The proposed Framework Programme is structured around three main blocks of activities: (i) The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme, particularly focussing on SMEs, (ii) the ICT Policy Support Programme, to support the adoption of ICTs in business, administrations and public sector services and (iii) the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme.
• Towards world-class clusters in the European Union - Implementing the broad-based innovation strategy: This Commission communication calls for more efforts for facilitating the emergence of world-class clusters in the European Union. It addresses key challenges to achieve this: Deepening the internal market, improving cluster policies, fostering trans-national cooperation, promoting excellence of cluster organisations, and improving the integration of innovative SMEs into clusters.
• Cluster Mapping: The European Observatory of clusters will be built upon the results of two cluster mapping projects. The first project, completed in June 2006, covers the EU-10 countries while the second, to start in September 2006, will cover EU-15, the three Candidate Countries i.e. Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey as well as Iceland, Israel, Norway and Switzerland.