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European Funding Programmes

This page provides an overview of European programmes relevant to the ICT and digital media sector. As ICT becomes more and more a horizontal commodity (rather than a vertical technology), many funding and research programmes address the ICT element. But the main R&D funding source is the ICT programme of FP7.

EMF SERVICES FOR YOU:
 ICT PROGRAMME Wiki: easy access to the ICT programme through alphabetical key words with direct links to CORDIS
Self-learning TRAINING MODULES for EU funding principles, EU project proposal writing, partner profiling and search, and much more...
[Both services were developed during the PRO-IDEAL project co-funded by the ICT programme]

R&D Programmes

Seventh Framework Programme for Research & Development
The Seventh Framework Programme of the EU is one or the largest research & development programmes worldwide. Running from 2007 - 2013, it disposes of an overall budget of 50.5 billion EUR. It is split into four sub-programmes: COOPERATION (to foster cooperation between academia and industry in key technologies), CAPACITIES (to foster research & innovation capacities), IDEAS (to support frontier research) and PEOPLE (to enhance the mobility and careers of researchers).

FP7 - COOPERATION (to foster cooperation between academia and industry in key technologies)

ICT Programme
FP7 addresses ICT under COOPERATION through its 9bn EUR ICT Programme.

Market-Near Innovation programmes

CIP Competitiveness & Innovation Programme
The CIP is complementary to FP7 as it addresses more market-near research. It is divided into three sub-programmes:
1. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (EAI), 
2. ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP) and
3. Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE).

EUREKA
EUREKA is a pan-European inter-governmental network for market-oriented, industrial R&D.
It is not an EU programme, but interlinks national R&D programmes. To participate, only two entities from two different member countries (not only EU countries) are required.
EUROSTARS
EUREKA's Eurostars Programme is the first European funding and support programme to be specifically dedicated to SMEs. Eurostars will stimulate them to lead international collaborative research and innovation projects by easing access to support and funding.

International Cooperation

FP7 - CAPACITIES (to foster research & innovation capacities)

FP7 - International Cooperation
Within the CAPACITIES programme of FP7, International Cooperation targets all regions of the world for bilateral or bi-regional cooperation projects.
PRO-INVEST
PRO€INVEST is an EU-ACP partnership programme developed and undertaken by the European Commission on behalf of the ACP countries. It is running until 2011.
EuropeAid
The Commission’s EuropeAid  co-operation office manages EU external aid programmes and ensures that development assistance is delivered worldwide.

Lifelong Learning Programmes

Lifelong Learning Programme
The European Commission has integrated its various educational and training initiatives under a single umbrella, the Lifelong Learning Programme. For the period of 2007 to 2013, it disposes of nearly €7 billion EUR. Its  sub-programmes include:

  • Comenius for schools
  • Erasmus for higher education
  • Leonardo da Vincifor vocational education and training
  • Grundtvig for adult education
  • Transversal programmes (across at least 2 sub-programmes) with 4 key activities: KA1: Policy cooperation
    KA2: Languages
    KA3: ICT
    KA4: Dissemination and exploitation of project results

Cultural and Media Programmes

CULTURE 2007-2013
The EU’s Culture Programme funds projects and initiatives to celebrate Europe’s cultural diversity. Its budget for 2007-2013 is €400 million.
  MEDIA PROGRAMME
The MEDIA Programme supports independent film producers in Europe.