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News archive - VINNOVA Published Report on "Priority-setting in the European Research Framework Programmes"

VINNOVA, the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, has taken the initiative to study the prioritisation mechanisms in the EU Framework Programmes (FP) as well as in RTD funding in the USA, China and Japan The first out of four studies covers the process of thematic priority-setting in the EU Framework Programms and gives an outlok on the expected time frame and structure of FP8.

"The Ljubljana Process which started in May 2008 means that the Commission and Member States will have to work in partnership", author Dan Andrée describes in his foreword. "Governance of the ERA is not about legislation, it is about involving Member States and other stakeholders in a constructive debate. Europe has to find to new ways of facilitating such a debate. This will be a challenge, not only for the Commission but perhaps above all for Member States and other stakeholders. It is hoped this paper may stimulate a debate ahead of the preparations for FP8."

Outlook on FP8

Here is a brief excerpt from the author's expectiations concerning FP8, which will supposedly be adopted by the middle of 2013 in order to prepare calls at the end of 2013 for a formal start in 2014:

"An important question is whether the thematic content will continue to be very prescriptive or more bottom-up? A very important aspect is if the structure is decided before the discussion on thematic content. There are different options regarding the structure itself. In FP7, the Commission opted for ‘continuity with change’ meaning that the thematic structure built on the FP6 thematic structure with the addition of Space and Security. However, even if the structure was mainly the same, the content is very different. This strategy was also very much asked for by stakeholders in the consultation. Maybe it is less likely that the same strategy will be used in FP8. There are at least three possible scenarios for the thematic structure, which also could be combined:

1. Major European/Global Challenges expressed either in more general terms (as in FP5) such as ‘Quality of Life’ or more problem-solving, such as ‘Towards a clean, zero-waste society’. A political process should be started in order to identify these challenges which could also be linked to Joint Programming.
2. Technology/thematic approach expressed by a combination of enabling and/ or converging technologies such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science, space research andinterdisciplinary research.
3. Competitiveness-driven research such as new medicines and application of genomics, manufacturing technologies, aeronautics, ICT building on ETPs and JTIs and complemented by policy-driven research such as public health, food quality, climate change etc."

For further details, please see the related document.