The European Commission has published the newly adopted work programmes and call fiches of the 42 calls for proposals for the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), which were first issued on 22 December 2006.

Project proposers are invited to download and use these new documents. Any adjustments to the work programmes and the call fiches are clearly shown in the texts and are also summarised on CORDIS.

Here is an overview of most of the relevant themes, with indicative deadlines and link to Cordis theme’s home page and calls.

* Deadlines are given as indication, check carefully the Work Programme and Call Fiche

SusChem actions to support consortia creation:
To support the process of consortia building, SusChem has organised a Brokerage Event on 24 January 2007 that focused on the first calls for FP7. The event at the Le Meridian hotel provided information on opportunities for SusChem-relevant topics in the first FP7 calls and gave a forum for networking between potential partners to kick-start consortia building.

The event was fully booked with 150 participants from 20 European countries and well-balanced between academia and industry participants. The poster session comprised 74 posters either presenting research interests of participants and their institution or project ideas.

Presentations and posters presented at the brokerage event are available on SusChem website.

SusChem has also established a Partnering Facility to support and facilitate the formation of project consortia and the development of project proposals for upcoming calls. The SusChem partnering facility is specific to topics supported by SusChem in its Strategic Research Agenda and Implementation Action Plan.

Preparation of a proposal:
In Theme 2, Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, and Biotechnology, it is foreseen due to budget limits that only one project will be funded (if evaluated positively) per topic. Therefore it is crucial that the proposal respond precisely to the indications in the call. It can be useful to discuss your proposal with the EC contact for that topic. To know who the contact person for you topic is, you can contact Camille Burel (c.burel@europabio.org).

For more information on FP7:
FP7 at the European Commission
FP7 on Cordis
FP7 Calls
DG Research
IPR Helpdesk

Following a request of the European Parliament, the European Commission (Joint Research Centre) is carrying out an assessment of modern biotechnology and an evaluation of its consequences, opportunities and challenges for Europe in terms of economic, social and environmental aspects. The study will constitute the primary input to the reflection on the role of the Life Sciences and Biotechnology in the renewed Lisbon Agenda and to the mid-term review of the Life Sciences and Biotechnology – a Strategy for Europe.

The purpose of this study is two fold:

• to evaluate the consequences, opportunities and challenges of modern biotechnology for Europe, in terms of economic, social and environmental aspects, is important both for policy-makers and industry




• to help increase public awareness and understanding of life sciences and biotechnology.

The study focuses on major modern biotechnologies in three main application areas: human and animal health (more info), primary production and agro-food (more info) and industrial processes, energy and environment (more info).
The study includes the following three tasks.

Task 1: Mapping of modern biotechnologies and applications, analysis of data availability and identification of indicator sets. The report is already available: A preparatory study mapping modern biotechnology applications and industrial sectors, identifying data needs and developing indicators.

Task 2: Adoption of modern biotechnologies and its consequences, opportunities and challenges (report available soon).

Task 3: Contribution of modern biotechnology applications to the achievement major EU policy objectives: Analysis Report - Contributions of modern biotechnology to European policy objectives (DG JRC/IPTS) - Draft Final Version, 31 January 2007. Specific case study will be published soon for the three main applications areas.

Further information can be found on the Biotechnology for Europe website.
 

The Council adopted conclusions on an Energy Policy for Europe, highlighting priorities for action for the period 2007-2009. These conclusions are the contribution of Energy Ministers to the next Spring European Council, to be held in Brussels on 8-9 March 2007.

The Council welcomes the Energy package tabled by the Commission, in particular the Communication of 10 January 2007 to the European Parliament and Council entitled "An Energy Policy for Europe", and welcomes the Commission's intention to put forward a new Strategic Energy Review every two years. It recalls the EU's strategic objective on climate change, which aims to limit the global average temperature increase to not more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

The Council therefore supports ambitious overall EU targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions for 2020 as a key component of the global action required to achieve this climate change objective, taking into account national circumstances. The Council acknowledges that the impacts of dangerous climate change resulting from increased greenhouse gas emissions would have grave consequences, inter alia for global economic development, and therefore underlines the need for an integrated climate and energy policy, in a mutually supportive way. The Commission's proposal for an Action Plan for an Energy Policy for Europe (EPE) for the next three years is a comprehensive contribution to achieving the priorities set by the European Council in 2006 in this respect and an excellent basis for demonstrating the European Union's leadership.

Further information can be found on Europa website: 'Energy for a Changing World'.