Research funding by the European Union has increasingly gained in importance over the past few years, and this development is expected to continue in the future. The following text and additional material provide a condensed introduction to the backgrounds of EU research funding, point out important principles and lines of argument, and offer general practical advice concerning application procedures and project implementation.

Historical introduction to European research funding

Since 1984, the so-called Research Framework Programmes (FPs) form the centre of European research funding. These programmes run for several years and offer a variety of different instruments of funding. The 8^th Framework Programme starts on January 1, 2014. Over time, the FPs have undergone great changes in their research and research funding systems due to the influence of the European integration process and globalisation.

A defining process within these changes is the gradual development of the programmes towards an increased focus on science and academia. Thus, the major part of the funds is now obtained by universities, institutions of higher education and research institutions. An illustration of this development is the strong, quality-oriented funding of frontier research, separate funding schemes for social sciences and humanities as well as the fact that all of the schemes are open for cooperation with non-European partners.

At the same time, the original concept of EU research funding – reinforcing the competitiveness of European industry – has always been present and has recently regained great significance. In this respect, the 5^th Research Framework Programme can be seen as an historical landmark, since its systematic evaluation revealed the need for enhancing the impact of EU-funded projects with regard to marketable products and technologies. Ever since the Framework Programmes of the EU show an effort to combine proximity to the market and proximity to academia within the spectrum of their funding opportunities.

For a detailed discussion of the development of EU research funding: David/Gaul: „Forschungsförderung in Europa – eine Erfolgsgeschichte. Entwicklung und Funktion der Forschungsrahmenprogramme der Europäischen Union“; in: Wissenschaftsmanagement 2009, No.6.

European research funding today

Today, European research grants make up approx. 10% of all external research funding at German universities, and this is a growing trend. Reasons for such a development are manifold: The EU provides gradually increasing budgets which partly entail enormous growth rates; for decades, the stability regarding thematic prioritisation has ensured high planning security; the relevant funding schemes provide for many different research opportunities ranging from thematically defined calls for proposals to such calls which are open to all scientific fields; by now, EU research grants, especially those of the European Research Council (ERC), are internationally renowned; research within the frame of EU funding programmes offers unique access to partners from academia and industry in the whole world.

EU research funding already plays a vital role with regard to financing research, setting priorities and developing funding instruments, especially for those European counties whose research funding systems lack the high expansion rate of the German system. However, this trend is not restricted to such counties: For nations with a strong academic sector, too, EU funding has become an important indicator for decisions of national funding and a benchmark for the international visibility of the respective institution. In view of this, a complex debate about the relationship of national and European research funding has evolved in Germany. The discussion addresses questions such as the distribution of tasks and resources on the national, bilateral and multilateral level as well as on EU-level.

For a detailed discussion of national and European research funding:

• Wissenschaftsrat, 2010: „Empfehlungen zur deutschen Wissenschaftspolitik im Europäischen Forschungsraum“
• EUROHORCs und ESF, 2008: „Vision on a Globally Competitive era and their Road Map for Actions“
• Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, 2009: „Förder-Ranking 2009. Institutionen – Regionen – Netzwerke“

Practical advice

In part, the procedures and rules of EU research funding instruments substantially deviate from standard procedures of national research organisations such as the DFG (German Research Foundation) in Germany. It is therefore recommended to get to know the particular rules of EU research funding as well as its backgrounds and informal factors, and to make use of the corresponding KoWi consulting services.

General information about the 7^th Research Framework Programme and its sub-programmes (so-called “Specific Programmes”) and about the follow-up programme “Horizon 2020” (from January 1, 2014) can be found here.

As a first overview, the following files entail publicly accessible information from a few funded projects that shows how project proposals within the so-called Specific Programme “Cooperation”, the centrepiece of the 7^th Framework Programme, can be structured.

1. "Small/Medium-Scale Focused Research“ Projekt (STREP) funded within the topic ICT:
   AVANTSSAR - Automated validation of trust and security of service-oriented architectures
   • Overview of the project and the participating partners
   • Information on the project proposal (from the ‘Description of Work’ (DoW) and the deliverables)
2. „Collaborative Project  Small/medium scale focused research“ project funded within the topic 'Environment':
   EUCLIPSE - EU Cloud intercomparison, process study and evaluation project
   • Overview of the project and the consortium partners
   • Information on the project proposal (from the Technical Annex of the Grant Agreement)
3. „FET Open“ project funded within the topic ICT:
   OPPORTUNITY - Activity and context recognition with opportunistic sensor configurations
   • Overview of the project and the consortium partners
   • Information on the project proposal (from the Technical Annex of the Grant Agreement)

The Specific Programme “Cooperation” allows for large group projects with several European and non-European partners. Planning and preparing such a project can be challenging. Typically, a number of questions arise during this preparation phase. The following file gives some answers:

• FAQ Cooperation (German only)

Drafting and formulating a proposal are also of central importance in the two other Specific Programmes “Ideas” (fostering excellent frontier research) and “People” (promoting mobility and junior researchers). Here is a summary of general principles and tips:

• FAQ ERC: Starting Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants (DE)
• FAQ Marie Curie Individual Fellowships (DE)

Once a project is accepted for funding, its implementation becomes the central point of concern, especially with regard to financial management and the management of agreements. Many of these issues can be solved by setting up an appropriate contract between project members and institutions in order to avoid conflicts of interests from the start. In cooperation with a number of partners from academia KoWi has prepared model employment contracts and a model consortium agreement, which may function as a template for setting up such a contract.