Check out the European Stats on Innovation

The changing map of Europe, showing member states and would be member states. The information below was release by the European Commission during January 2007:

• In 2005 the EU27 spent just over 200 billion euro on Research & Development (R&D)

• R&D intensity (i.e. expenditure as a percentage of GDP) in the EU27 stood at 1.84%, the same as in 2004. R&D intensity remained significantly lower in the EU27 than in other major economies. In 2004, R&D expenditure was 2.68% of GDP in the United States, 3.18% in Japan, while it has reached 1.34% in China in 2005.

• R&D expenditure in the EU27 rose by 1.5% in real terms on average per year between 2001 and 2005, compared to 1.7% in the United States and 2.0% in Japan between 2001 and 2004.

• Check out all the states here.
  

Shak Gohir

New R&D funding opportunities in Europe - FP7

The DTI organised a major event to mark the start of the EU's Seventh R&D Framework Programme ( FP7 ), held in London on the 6th February 2007. It was also an event I decided not to miss, especially as Mike Carr, BT's head of research and venturing, was presenting and talking about the commercial importance of Open Innovation.

Entitled "Global challenges and global opportunities" the event was attended by some 500 people from the UK research community, industry and government.

Scientists working in university and other institutional laboratories, research divisions in large companies and even small enterprises can apply for funding from the FP7 pot.

Malcolm Wicks, the UK Minister for Science and Innovation opened the event with his keynote speech. He commented that ".......The UK is good at science. We have an envied record in research and have long been a key player in the Framework Programme. We need to maintain our strong position in the face of increasing international competition for the best researchers and research investments. ...........UK organisations have traditionally done well in the programme and secured significant levels of funding. In the previous sixth programme, FP6, the UK has so far received around 14.5 per cent of the overall funding, second only to Germany"

Ashley Ibbett, from UK's Office of Science & Innovation commented in his presentation that "Britain is involved in more projects than any other country in the EU. In a globalising economy, our scientists are on the front foot in co-operating with their counterparts across Europe".

Most of the UK's projects are based in universities. The UK government wants greater involvement from industry; it wants more corporations to follow the example of BT which now has 10-15% of its research spend tied up in Framework-funded projects.

"If you look at the technologies out there today, the window for exploitation is extremely short," explained Mike Carr, head of BT's research and venturing. "....From our point of view, the only way to succeed is to have a very rapid implementation strategy, and that means you've got to tap into technology from wherever it's from - open innovation. ....In BT we probably only do something like 1% of the world's research in telecoms; 99% is going to come from somewhere else. And FP7 is all about tapping into that wider community of knowledge."

At present the EU spends about 2% of its GDP on research and development, significantly less than the US (2.8%) and Japan (over 3%). Some emerging Asian countries, such as China, are now increasing their R&D investment to a rate where they will soon catch and overtake Europe. Business investment has stumbled of late. As a consequence, Europe is now on track to miss the so-called Lisbon objective of boosting its spend to 3% of GDP by 2010. "We need to do much more and we need to do it quicker," said Janez Potocnik, the European commissioner for science and research.

Shak Gohir

EU research budget 2007 - 2013, FP7

The Europe Union is finalising its budget for Framework Programme Seven. So its time to check the figures.

To those who are not in the know, FP7 is the programme through which the European Commission will manage the allocation of its budget for R&D in scientific research and technology development - with the strategic aim to strengthen the European economy and global competitive position. Aligning R&D investment with societal, business, global and economic needs and challenges sits at the heart of the Commissions objectives for FP7.

Today Cordis released a news article indicating that the Commission will be adopting "an amended proposal for the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), which seeks to incorporate amendments made by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers in their first readings"

FP7 will run for a period of 7 years, from 2007 to 2013. During 2005 the Commission's proposed budget was around 72 billion euro. The budget for FP7 now stands near 48 billion euro, as indicated by EARTO in their news release during May 2006.

The budget for FP6 was 16.3 billion euros and ran over a five year period from 2002 to 2006, for 15 member states. FP7 will be running over 7 years with 25 member states all seeking to participate and access to their share of the funds.

If you have been following the progress of FP7, you will already know that it includes the establishment of a European Reseach Council (ERC) . The ERC will focus on leading edge frontier reseach, with its activities been very much independent of the themes segmented in "Cooperation". ERC will have the ability to conduct its own strategic studies to help direct its operations and activities.

When the Commission initially put forward its proposal for FP7 during April 2005, it requested 11,826 billion euros. Since then the figure has been reduced significantly to 7,460 billion euro.

MEPs have requested a review of the ERC during 2008. The Commission requires more time before a viable review is possible. Janez Potocnik, the EU Commissioner for Science and Research has agreed with the European Parliment that the ERC review will be no later than 2010.

Shak Gohir

Business & Programme Manager