''Europe can only achieve its bioenergy and biofuels targets with a step-change in research intensity investment and effective technology transfer," said Christian Patermann, Director of Biotechnology, European Commission, Research DG, at a European conference on biorefinery research in Helsinki.

Agreeing with the need to increase research, Mr. Patermann pointed to the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), where he said advanced biofuels and biorefineries were considered priority areas for research. In addition, four European Technology Platforms (ETPs) in the areas of sustainable chemistry, plants for the future, sustainable forestry and biofuels would provide key input for FP7. For more information about biofuels, FP7 or the Helsinki conference, please contact Dirk Carrez, d.carrez@europabio.org

The proceedings of the European Conference on Biorefinery Research, organized by the European Commission and the Finnish Presidency of the European Union – 19-20 October 2006 in Helsinki, are now available on the web.

The European Investment Bank has completed a review of its financing targets for energy projects that help to implement the relevant EU policies. Research and development for energy will increase under the existing (Innovation 2010 Initiative - i2i) policy for a knowledge-based economy. New risk-sharing financial instruments will be developed for this type of projects. The EIB Group will seek complementarity between the EU's 7th Framework Programme for Research and its i2i, and it will support the European Technology Platforms as well as the research infrastructure for energy. For more information, please visit the EIB website.

The Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC) has finalised the first draft of its work programme for 2007, outlining who will be eligible to apply for funding from the ERC, and how proposals will be evaluated.

The ERC is a new initiative, and is due to begin operating in 2007 as part of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). As the work programme explains, 'The fundamental principle for all ERC activities is that of stimulating investigator-initiated frontier research across all fields of research, on the basis of excellence.'

Two types of grant will be available, the Advanced Investigator Grant and the Starting Independent Researcher Grant. The first call for proposals will address the latter. It will be open to excellent researchers of any nationality who are in the EU or an associated country, or moving to the region, who are establishing and leading their first research team or programme. The budget for the first call will be around €300 million.

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The Commission’s annual work programme translates the annual policy strategy into policy objectives and an operational programme of decisions to be adopted by the Commission. It sets out major political priorities and identifies legislative initiatives, executive and other acts that the Commission intends to adopt for the realisation of these priorities. The President presents the Commission work programme to Parliament and the Council.

 Read more: www.europa.eu