www.czu.cz/vyzkum/publikace/ Manfred G.Raupp; www.raupp.info

Over 100 000 participants from more than 50 countries responded with nearly
12 000 projects to the first calls for proposals of the ?20 billion EU Sixth
Research Framework Programme 2002-2006 (FP6). The first crop of FP6 calls
closed earlier this year. The response to these first calls, with a budget
of some ?5 billion, was consistent across all themes and funding
instruments, both new and traditional, with partners from he acceding and
candidate countries present in nearly 40% of proposals. Contracts are now
being negotiated for projects in all areas from ageing to allergies,
information and communication technologies, marine sciences, nanotechnology
and carbon sequestration.

'The strong and balanced response to FP6 first calls for proposals is
encouraging: the European scientific and business community is vibrant and
willing to pool resources at the European level,' says European Research
Commissioner Philippe Busquin. 'But our research funding scheme, although
important, only represents 5% of overall European research spending. It is
for EU Member States and industry to join forces and overcome the present
fragmentation of resources. FP6 can encourage this endeavour by helping
achieve the critical mass in key scientific areas.'

The biggest research funding scheme in the world
With a budget of ?17.5 billion (?20 billion including contributions from
acceding and associated countries), FP6 is one of the biggest research
programmes in the world. By supporting projects in selected strategic areas
it will foster the creation of the European Research Area, a true internal
market for knowledge and science. For the first time there are also projects
aimed at promoting the co-ordination of national programmes and policies.
The first round of calls for proposals under FP6 were published on 17
December 2002 and closed in March-April 2003.

Almost 12 000 proposals
The 11 596 proposals received have now been evaluated by independent experts
and contract negotiations are underway for those projects selected for
funding. Here are the main results (see Attachment 1 for a table showing the
number of proposals and participants for each part of FP6, Attachment 2 for
some project examples and Attachment 3 for background information on the
Sixth Framework Programme):
? 11 596 proposals were received involving 106 117 participants from over 50
countries;
? all the topics identified as priorities by FP6 have been covered by
proposals, and the quality of the proposals submitted was high;
? the Integrated Project were the most popular of the new funding
instruments;
? there was a relatively low level of industrial participation in Networks
of Excellence, where some proposals show that the intended use of this
instrument is not yet clear to all partners; the Commission is taking active
steps to ensure greater understanding;
? the high level of interest in the first call means that it will probably
be possible to fund only one in six projects overall; increasing the focus
of future calls, and greater use of the two-step submission procedure will
help to improve this;

More participants, in particular from accession and third countries
? the number of participants per proposal increased with respect to FP5,
ranging from 14 to 53 depending on the theme and funding type, compared with
an overall average of just 7 under FP5;
? acceding/candidate1 countries were involved in 40% of proposals; measures
to improve the flow of information on FP6 to these countries are under way
with a view to increasing the number of co-ordinators in the next round, and
the evaluation of a dedicated call for these countries will soon be
completed;
? associated states participated in 24% of proposals and other countries
outside the EU in 19%;
? in the priority thematic areas, for the projects selected for contract
negotiation, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) represented 13% of
the funding and 17% of the participants.
A second round of calls based on the results of the first calls and the
advice of FP6 Advisory Groups is now being prepared for publication. Details
of all calls are available on the Commission's Europa and CORDIS web sites:
[europa.eu.int]
[fp6.cordis.lu]

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