Commission to present research priorities for 2007-2013

The EU’s 7th Research Framework Programme will focus on ten thematic areas and introduce simpler rules for the introduction and evaluation of EU research projects.

Commissioner Janez Poto?nik will present the Commission’s proposal for the EU’s 7th Research Framework Programme on Wednesday 6 April. 

In the context of the relaunch of the Lisbon agenda, EU leaders confirmed their commitment to strengthen European research and development efforts during their Spring Council in March. The Commission’s proposal for its long-term budget 2007-2013 foresees a doubling of the research budget.

Ten themes will be proposed as the main priorities for the 2007-2013 period: health, food, agriculture and biotechnology, information and communication technologies, nanotechnology, energy, environment and climate change, transport, space, security and socio-economic sciences and the humanities.

Collaborative research, support for “frontier research” (to be overseen by a new European Research Council), strengthening of human potential (through the Marie Curie Action) and more support for research infrastructure are the four basic components of the 7th Framework Programme. 

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