ITRE reaches agreement on FP7

The European Parliament's Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) has adopted, in a second reading, a set of comprise amendments on the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), which were agreed upon in informal meetings with the Council.

The 39 new amendments deal with issues such as the structure of the European Research Council (ERC) and the proposed Risk Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF).

MEPs agreed on an amendment on renewable and end use energy, which foresees a 'major part' of the budget from FP7's energy theme going to the field, instead of two thirds as proposed by the Parliament in its first reading. According to ITRE, special attention will be devoted to the coordination of issues linked to rational and efficient use of energy in FP7 and in other EU policies.

A compromise was also reached regarding the administrative costs of the ERC, which should now not exceed 5% - MEPs had originally asked for a limit of 3%. On the issue of the Parliament's involvement in the interim evaluation of the ERC, it was agreed to opt for co-decision procedure in case changes in the structure of ERC become necessary.

ITRE also endorsed amendments on the rules of participation for companies, research centres and universities, as well as the RSFF, which is designed to encourage bank lending to research projects. Initially, the Council had planned to allocate €1 billion from the FP7 budget to finance RSFF. However, under the amendment, a lower contribution of €500 million is foreseen until 2010, with the possibility of releasing the additional €500 million after a review.

On the European Institute of Technology (EIT), the committee stressed that no money from FP7 should be used to finance the proposed structure. Only administrative costs directly associated with research projects may be covered.

The amended text will be put to the vote at a Parliament plenary session, due to be held on 29 November, before it is put to the Council on 5 December.

If all goes to plan, the first calls for proposals for FP7 projects could be published by December 2006, with closing dates in March 2007. Following an evaluation period, the first FP7 projects could start as early as the end of 2007 or early 2008

For further information on FP7, please visit:
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/

Copyright ©European Communities, 2006
Neither the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, nor any person acting on its behalf, is responsible for the use, which might be made of the attached information. The attached information is drawn from the Community R&D Information Service (CORDIS). The CORDIS services are carried on the CORDIS Host in Luxembourg – http://cordis.europa.eu. Access to CORDIS is currently available free-of-charge.

Most Popular Now

Philips Foundation 2024 Annual Report: E…

Marking its tenth anniversary, Philips Foundation released its 2024 Annual Report, highlighting a year in which the Philips Foundation helped provide access to quality healthcare for 46.5 million people around...

Giving Doctors an AI-Powered Head Start …

Detection of melanoma and a range of other skin diseases will be faster and more accurate with a new artificial intelligence (AI) powered tool that analyses multiple imaging types simultaneously...

Scientists Argue for More FDA Oversight …

An agile, transparent, and ethics-driven oversight system is needed for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to balance innovation with patient safety when it comes to artificial intelligence-driven medical...

New AI Transforms Radiology with Speed, …

A first-of-its-kind generative AI system, developed in-house at Northwestern Medicine, is revolutionizing radiology - boosting productivity, identifying life-threatening conditions in milliseconds and offering a breakthrough solution to the global radiologist...

AI Agents for Oncology

Clinical decision-making in oncology is challenging and requires the analysis of various data types - from medical imaging and genetic information to patient records and treatment guidelines. To effectively support...

New Research Finds Specific Learning Str…

If data used to train artificial intelligence models for medical applications, such as hospitals across the Greater Toronto Area, differs from the real-world data, it could lead to patient harm...

Start-ups in the Spotlight at MEDICA 202…

17 - 20 November 2025, Düsseldorf, Germany. MEDICA, the leading international trade fair and platform for healthcare innovations, will once again confirm its position as the world's number one hotspot for...

AI Detects Hidden Heart Disease Using Ex…

Mass General Brigham researchers have developed a new AI tool in collaboration with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to probe through previously collected CT scans and identify...

AI Medical Receptionist Modernizing Doct…

A virtual medical receptionist named "Cassie," developed through research at Texas A&M University, is transforming the way patients interact with health care providers. Cassie is a digital-human assistant created by Humanate...

AI Tool Set to Transform Characterisatio…

A multinational team of researchers, co-led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, has developed and tested a new AI tool to better characterise the diversity of individual cells within...

MHP-Net: A Revolutionary AI Model for Ac…

Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer globally and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Accurate segmentation of liver tumors is a crucial step for the management of the...

Human-AI Collectives Make the Most Accur…

Diagnostic errors are among the most serious problems in everyday medical practice. AI systems - especially large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT-4, Gemini, or Claude 3 - offer new ways...