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ACTIP Bulletin 13 March 1999
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Official launch 5th Framework Programme
Last week, on February 25 and
26, the Services of the European Commission officially launched
the 5th Framework Programme (FP). This 5th Framework Programme
is not only intended for research in the Life Sciences, but regulates
ALL research to be funded by the European Union in the period
1998-2002. The event, which attracted more than 4,000 participants
from all over Europe, gave an excellent overview of the 5th FP,
its objectives, the various Work Programmes and guidelines for
proposals. Below you will find my (Helma Hermans') interpretation
of the presentations and the distributed documentation. All errors
are mine.
Documentation
Most of the documents distributed
during the conference were still preliminary, but the final documents
will not be too much different. The Secretariat of DG 12 has
promised me to send all of you a full set of documentation; if
you cannot wait for that, the full text of the 5th Framework
Programme and of the Specific Work Programmes is also available
from: http://www.cordis.lu/fp5/home.html or contact the Programme Information
desk, life@dg12.cec.be, fax 00 32 2 299 18 60. Remember, when you think of submitting
a proposal, always rely on the official texts as published in
the Official Journal of the European Communities. The text of
calls is also published on the CORDIS website.
A useful general start is the
booklet 'The Fifth Framework Programme, the research programmes
of the European Union, 1998-2002 (catalogue number EUR 18764).
It gives the principal characteristics of the Fifth Framework
Programme and lists all thematic and horizontal programmes, including
the key actions, the generic research and the support for research
infrastructures to be found in each programme. In addition, it
gives the programmes of Euratom and the Joint Research Centre.
The booklet also helps you to identify which thematic or horizontal
programmes might be of interest to you - do browse, because interesting
elements can be found in all programmes. For example, in horizontal
programme 2 there are special measures for SME's and technology
transfer, and in horizontal programme 3 there is much emphasis
on training and mobility of researchers and access to research
facilities. According to this booklet, the
breakdown of the budget is:
For thematic programme 1, Quality
of Life and management of living resources, the specific Work
Programme and the Guide for Proposers are useful starting
points (for each programme there will be a guide for proposals).
It was emphasized by various speakers that the 5th FP is a break
with the past, in particular in the Life Sciences area. The central
theme is "Quality of Life", and objectives have been
formulated to meet such quality with respect to individual health,
the environment, the quality and safety of the food supply, and
the quantity and quality of employment. These objectives are: The Work Programme will
be revised annually, and based on external advice, i.e. from
the External Advisory Groups, priorities will be selected annually.
This will create more flexibility. As an Industrial Platform
we should discuss with the Commision officials what the role
of a platform can be in the selection of priorities.
The Guide for Proposers
for the Quality of Life programme is a useful document outlining
not only the various key actions etc. but also who can participate,
how to submit a proposal, how it will be evaluated and selected,
etc etc. At the back, it contains a list of Scientific Officers
responsible for the various key actions, generic activities and
infrastructure support.
Submitting a proposal
Depending on the type of action
and the programme, one or more legal entities should submit the
proposal. RTD proposals normally require at least two participants
from two different EU members states or associated countries.
Groups from the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, South Africa
etc may collaborate in a project, but they will NOT be funded. If you intend to submit a proposal,
you will need: The Commission has prepared a
software Proposal Preparation Tool. They say it can be downloaded
from: http://147.67.24.10/ppt/ but I tried it on Tuesday March
2 and unfortunately it then came up blanco. Maybe it will be
put up this week. The Tool, called Protool, requires
a browser with a graphic interface, preferably Netscape Navigator
or Internet Explorer. One of the speakers advised to
proceed as follows if one wants to submit a proposal: But it was also said that addressing
all the objectives formulated in the 5th FP will be a learning
process including all partners, such as researchers, industry,
users/consumers and science management.
Calls for Proposals
There will be 3 types of Calls
for Proposals: Key action 2, Control of Infectious Diseases; Available budgets: June deadline
64 million EURO; October deadline, 54 million EURO Deadline June
1: Deadline October 11: Key action 3, the Cell factory Available budgets: June deadline,
75 million EURO; October deadline, 36 miilion EURO Deadline June
1: Deadline June
15: Deadline October 18: Generic research: Deadline June
1: Deadline October 11: Predictive toxicity testing (area
4.2.2) will have a call at the end of this year. That call will
close in February 2000. Open call: area 14, support for research infrastructures Budget: 1999: 20 million EURO;
2000: 16 miilion EURO; 2001: 16 million EURO; 2002: 8 million
EURO Open, every year: * facilities for development
and validation of drugs, vaccines, methods and devices for improved
diagnosis, monitoring and therapy * European warning system for
communicable diseases * Registries and pooled databases
of clinical trials * European facilities for batch
production for clinical trials * Preclinical research facilities,
notably: facilities for the development of in vitro systems or
cell cultures and, where no other means exist, breeding of animals,
to provide models of human diseases and facilitate development
of vaccines, new drugs and medical devices.
Funding
The implementation measures that
will be funded and the research areas covered will vary from
call to call, so please see the Offical Journal and specific
Guides for Proposers. The following actions can be
supported: * training (individual and host)
fellowships (100%, max 24 or 36 months) * research training networks
(100%) * thematic networks (100%, max
48 months) (i.e. for cluster projects, or platforms coordinating
exploitation of results) * concerted actions for existing
RTD projects (100%, max 4 years) * accompanying measures (100%)
New: cluster projects
New are the Cluster projects,
which are defined groups of RTD projects, aimed at complementarity
and facilitating the exploitation of the results. According to
several speakers, a cluster project is not a large RTD project
but a group of projects providing a certain critical mass. The
intention is that a topic is addressed from different aspects,
for example, both basic knowledge, clinical experience, manufacturing,
individual interest/patient groups. All types of projects can
be assembled and integrated with a cluster, including those funded
by different RTD activities.
Evaluation of the proposals
After an eligibility check (watch
this, some say as many as 20% of proposals is rejected because
they are incomplete!), the project is evaluated on scientific
excellence and quality of management. If the proposal survives
this phase, it will be evaluated by a larger panel of independent
experts who will assess: the contribution to societal needs,
the community added value and the economic and social development
aspects. Thus, while projects in FP 4 were mainly judged on meeting
the scope of the science as described in the Work Programme,
in FP 5 the proposals will have to match the socio-economic objectives
of the key actions, as described in the Work Programmes. In words
of one of the speakers: in FP 4, a wealth of information was
generated; FP 5 offers a lens that focuses that wealth of information
on issues of importance. Also, a major issue is linking the ability
to discover to the ability to produce.
Programme contact points
The Guide for Proposers gives
the following contact points for areas of interest to our platform: Key action 2, control of infectious
diseases: Key action 3, cell factory: Key action 4, toxicological methods:
Alain Van Vossel, Laurent Bontoux Key action 6, ageing population:
Philippe Jehenson Generic activities, neurosciences:
Line Matthiessen Support for research infrastructures:
Shaid Baig Coordination of policies and
actions: Maurice Lex Communication: Stephane Hogan Innovation and SME: Waldemar
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