EU Offers R&D Funding Guide

Charles Troy, charlie.troy@laurin.com

The European Commission has published “Practical Guide to EU Funding Opportunities for Research and Innovation.” The organization says that the handbook is intended to help stakeholders, in a user-friendly and comprehensive way, find the right funding for their projects.

Besides providing a description of each programme’s structure and overall budget, it explains funding eligibility and the application process. The three funding instruments are Cohesion policy, which is funded through the Structural and Cohesion Funds; the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7); and the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP).

“Central to the realisation of the goals of the Lisbon Agenda is the need to promote the knowledge economy, in particular through research, technological development and innovation,” states the commission, adding that the three funding instruments are key.

In addition to describing the funds, the guide advises how to develop project ideas, how to find the relevant funding sources and how to mix funding sources. It also lists useful Web site links. Finally, a checklist and scorecard help identify potential funding sources at every stage of implementing a project.

The manual, which currently is available in pdf format but soon will be accessible also as a Web-based application, can be downloaded on CORDIS, the Community Research and Development Information Service. The guide will become available in other Community languages, too.