European Commission

The changes, to be introduced in the next EU budget after 2013, would bring together the current Framework Program for research, the Competitiveness and Innovation Program, and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.
The Commission is seeking the views of all interested individuals and organizations on these proposed changes and on the specific questions set out in the Green Paper.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/csfri/index_en.cfm

As part of its efforts to help develop higher education in Europe, the European Commission plans to adopt a new Communication on the modernization of higher education in the third quarter of 2011. This will provide strategic direction for the development of European higher education in the next ten years, including in the areas of education, research and innovation. This new Communication will review progress towards the objectives set out in the 2006 Communication on modernizing higher education and propose actions in response to the challenges of the new decade.
To help prepare the new Communication, the European Commission is currently undertaking wide-ranging consultations with stakeholders in European higher education. As part of this, we would like to invite you to complete a short online questionnaire, asking for your views on the priorities for higher education in the period up to 2020, including its research and innovation dimensions. The questionnaire will take around 10 minutes to complete. You can access it in English, French or German, through the following links:
English:     http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=Modernisation
Français:   http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=Modernisation&lang=fr
Deutsch:    http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=Modernisation&lang=de

The questionnaire will be open until 15 March 2011. Thank you in advance for your contribution

The Degree Profile, drafted collaboratively by four noted experts, is a baseline set of reference points for what graduates should know and be able to do with the degrees they’ve earned. It lays out a series of specific learning outcomes in five broad categories — outcomes that students must achieve to earn associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees, regardless of their field of specialization. In December the drafters met in Indianapolis to review the comments received and to make revisions to the working draft.  The Foundation will now release the proposed Degree Profile – what they are calling a “beta version” – for broad discussion; for testing, implementing, and improving.

At its core, the Degree Profile is an effort to create a practical tool that all stakeholders can use to clearly define — and thus begin to ensure — high-quality, college-level learning. Though it is certainly designed to help institutions meet quality standards, it is by no means an effort to promote standardization. In fact, the Degree Profile is meant to facilitate and encourage the institutional diversity that has long been a strength of the American higher education system.

You can obtain a copy of the full document here: www.luminafoundation.org/publications, and are invited to help Lumina shape this “beta” version through testing. 

An email address for questions and comments on the Degree Profile has been setup at the following address: DegreeProfile@LuminaFoundation.org.

The €100 000 'career integration' grants are funded through the EU's Marie Curie program and aim to encourage European scientists to return to Europe, as well as to attract the best junior researchers of other nationalities to work at European universities, companies and other institutions.
"If we want to advance science and underpin innovation in Europe, we must ensure that Europe is an attractive place to work for European researchers – and we need to attract the best talent from abroad as well," said Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner responsible for education and the Marie Curie program.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) 2010 working paper on employment and mobility among doctorate holders, up to 30% of European doctorate holders have worked outside Europe in the past ten years with significant flows towards the United States. Among the reasons cited for this "brain drain" are better financial support for research and a better climate for innovation.
Other countries offer similar incentives, such as the Faculty Early Career Development Program of the National Science Foundation in the United States.

Who can apply?

In order to achieve an innovative Union, Europe needs world-class researchers who can tackle current and future challenges. The European Union is committed to inspiring, motivating, training and retaining highly-skilled researchers.
The EU career integration grants are available to researchers of any nationality. The funding is targeted at the post-doctoral level and there is no restriction on the area of research. The deadline for applications is 8 March 2011. An independent panel of top-level European and international experts evaluate and select the best researchers to receive the grants.

7000 new jobs forecast

The Marie Curie Actions are part of the People program within the EU's 7th Framework Program for Research and Technological Development. In 2011, the Marie Curie Actions will have a budget of €772 million and are expected to create 7,000 new jobs. In addition to individual fellowships, the Marie Curie Actions also support doctoral candidates, partnerships between academia and industry and short-term exchanges.

Read more about the Career Integration Grant in the Funding Opportunities Section of this newsletter.

The term of office of the new members runs from 2 February this year till the end of 2013. The new members are:

- Prof. Nicholas CANNY, National University of Ireland, Galway (IE)
- Prof. Tomasz DIETL, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
- Prof. Daniel DOLEV, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
- Prof. Sir Timothy HUNT, London Research Institute (UK)
- Prof. Mart SAARMA, University of Helsinki (FI)
- Prof. Anna TRAMONTANO, University of Rome La Sapienza (IT)
- Prof. Isabelle VERNOS, Centre Regulació Genómica, Barcelona (ES)

The new members have been identified by the independent ERC Identification Committee, composed of six high level scientists and appointed by the European Commission in September last year. The scientific community was consulted in this identification process. The ERC Scientific Council is composed of 22 distinguished scientists and scholars. The first council's term of office runs till February 2011 and two thirds of members will stay for a second term. The outgoing members are: Prof. Dame Wendy HALL DBE FRENG, Prof. Dr. Michal KLEIBER, Dr. Oscar MARIN PARRA, Prof. Dr. Fotis C. KAFATOS, Prof. Salvatore SETTIS, Prof. Dr. med. Rolf ZINKERNAGEL. As Scientific Council member Prof. Leena PELTONEN-PALOTIE passed away last year this seat will also be filled.

The grants, worth up to €3.5 million each, will allow them to pursue their innovative, 'blue sky' research throughout Europe. This is the third Advanced Grant call since the ERC was launched in 2007 as a flagship component of the EU's 7th Research Framework Program. The ERC promotes research at the frontiers of knowledge in all domains.

Compared to last year's Advanced Grant call, there was an increase in the number of applications (2009, representing a 26% increase), as well as selected projects (266, representing a 13% increase), which resulted in a slightly decreased success rate of around 13%. The ERC competitions are open to the best researchers of any nationality. This time candidates of no less than 26 nationalities are among the selected who will carry out their
projects in universities or other research institutions throughout the EU and its Associated Countries. British, German and French nationals lead in terms of numbers. This follows the same pattern when it comes to countries hosting successful applicants. As in regard to the profiles of successful researchers, the average age is around 54 years, which reflects the significant experience of the target group of this grant scheme. Of the successful candidates just over 9% are women, with the ratio varying between the different domains and panels.

The ERC is open to the whole spectrum of research domains and the distribution of proposals in this call is: 46% in 'Physical Sciences and Engineering', 37% in 'Life Sciences' and 17% in 'Social Sciences and Humanities'.

ERC Advanced Grant 2010 Outcome: Indicative statistics:  http://erc.europa.eu/pdf/Statistics_AdG2010.pdf

Read more about the current call for the ERC Advanced Grant in the Funding Opportunities section of this newsletter.

“I pledged on my first day in office to cut the red tape which hinders our Research Framework Programs and holds back Europe's research and innovation capacity. Today, with my colleagues, I am delivering the first steps.
The Framework Programs have been a big success, as the recent independent evaluation confirmed.
But the report also said we need more simplification. Let me put it more starkly: we need to replace Kafka with common sense. We need to send red tape to the shredder. We need simple and clear rules, consistently and rigorously applied. The three changes we are announcing today will save millions of euro and deliver better value for taxpayers' money. They will feed into better research results and lead to new products and services. So it is a big contribution to the Innovation Union and to the Europe 2020 Strategy.

First, we are removing rules requiring many participants to set up entire parallel accounting systems purely to deal with claiming back the costs for staff working on FP7 projects. They will now be able to use their usual accounting practices and systems and make simpler claims. And they will no longer need to pay thousands of euro to provide certificates setting out how they calculate staff costs.

Second, we want more SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) taking part. We have made good progress. SMEs now account for 14.7 per cent of participants in the parts of the program for which they are eligible. But the rules have disqualified SME owner/managers from claiming for the time they spend on FP7 projects, because they do not take formal salaries against which payments can be calculated. We are changing that. There will now be flat-rate payments. This will open up FP7 to many more young and dynamic SMEs.

Nobody set out to make the Framework Program complex. But the programs have expanded with success. New elements have been added on an ad-hoc basis with different rules. Different Commission Directorates-general and agencies run different parts of the program and practices have diverged. So the third thing we are doing today is setting up a steering group at Director-general level to ensure consistency.
None of these changes will jeopardize control of EU funds. Indeed, it has always been a principle in the Court of Auditors, where I spent ten years, that simpler rules are better respected and abuses easier to detect. We can make today's changes under the Commission's own prerogatives, although we have consulted the European Parliament and Member States.

But this is only the start. I set out in April some more radical measures. Things like replacing reimbursements of detailed costs with one-off payments. The Commission alone does not have the legal power to make changes as far–reaching as those. They require changes to rules that govern all EU spending. So we have already put on the table the necessary amendments to the financial regulation. It is now for the Council and Parliament to approve them. I believe they will. Those changes would in turn allow more radical simplification in the successor to the current Framework Program post-2013.

We need to focus research and innovation on the grand challenges like climate change, energy, food security, health and an ageing population. Our funding must help give Europe an edge in the global markets of tomorrow. We must strive to create the maximum number of jobs.

Because the Innovation Union is not just a science policy, it is an economic policy. It is an employment policy.
So I will be here in a few weeks' time to explain our ideas on the future of European research and innovation funding. We will publish a Green Paper. We will invite views from all stakeholders. And before the end of the year, we will make a legislative proposal…

and more accessible to the best researchers and most innovative companies, especially Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Based on the simplification plan unveiled by the Commission in April 2010, these measures will take effect at once.
Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said: "Today's measures will allow the many thousands of excellent people we fund to save time and effort on paperwork and concentrate on what they do best - working to boost growth and jobs and improve our quality of life in Europe through world class research and innovation. We want to attract even more and better applicants, including dynamic small businesses which can't cope with reams of red tape. This is only the start: the Commission has already proposed big changes to the overall financial rules governing all EU funding programs, and if the Parliament and Council agree with those, we will put forward more radical simplification measures for the successor program to FP7."

Three concrete measures
The Commission adopted three concrete measures with immediate effect on the management of EU research grants in the current EU research program (FP7). Each of these steps responds to concerns repeatedly expressed by participants and would-be participants in FP7:

• Allowing more flexibility in how personnel costs are calculated so that EU research grant-holders can apply their usual accounting methods when requesting reimbursement for average personnel costs. They will no longer need to set up entire parallel accounting systems just for this purpose.
• Reimbursing SME owners, whose salaries are not formally registered in their accounts, for their contribution to work on research projects through flat-rate payments,.
• Removing inconsistencies in the application of the rules on research funding through a new steering group of senior officials from all the Commission departments and agencies involved.

Next steps
The Commission considers simplification as one of the basic design principles for the next EU research and innovation program, and it will continue to push for substantive improvement. The Commission will present its legislative proposals for the next EU research and innovation program by the end of this year, following an open consultation to be launched in the early spring.

Background
The current EU research program, FP7, has attracted more than 40,000 proposals from the research community since 2007, and almost 8,000 projects have been funded so far. Nearly all European universities participate, and about 15% of the participants are SMEs.
Several concrete steps have already been taken towards simplifying procedures both before and after the launch of FP7. In April 2010, the Commission adopted a Communication presenting further simplification options which apply to the existing legal framework and to a possible revision of the EU Financial Regulations in the longer term(see IP/10/472 and MEMO/10/156). This Communication triggered a broad debate among EU institutions and many other research and innovation stakeholders. In this context it is also recalled that the Commission's proposal on the revised EU financial regulation offers simplifications that have yet to be applied to FP7, such as the abolition of interest bearing accounts, and proposes measures which will set the basis for a more radical simplification of the next framework program. It is now under the responsibility of the Council and the European Parliament to adopt these measures.
The measures adopted in the present Commission Decision are based on a broad consensus in this debate, and are also in line with the recommendations of the Expert Group carrying out the Interim Evaluation of FP7 (IP/10/1525). (SOURCE: Europa Press Release)
Link to the full text of the April 2010 Communication on simplification: http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/index_en.cfm?pg=documents.
Report of interim evaluation expert group

Why is simplifying research funding important?
Research and Innovation are at the core of the EU's Europe 2020 strategy for growth and jobs as set out under the Innovation Union flagship initiative.  A pre-requisite for delivering the best results is that research programs are highly attractive and accessible to researchers, European industry and entrepreneurs, universities and other research and innovation actors. This requires clarity of objectives and instruments, consistency and stability of rules, and lightness and speed of administrative procedures. The adopted improvements will feed into better research results achieved more efficiently, and will lead to new products and services that will create sources of growth and jobs.
European Framework Programs invest large sums of money – well over €50 billion between 2007 and 2013 for the Seventh Framework Program alone - and it is very important, not least in a time of austerity, to get the best possible value for every euro spent.

How did the rules get so complicated in the first place?
Over 25 years, the scope and budget of the EU's Research Framework Program has expanded significantly. This resulted in more participants and more diverse funding schemes and, of course, in a need for more controls to ensure that the EU funds are spent correctly. Moreover, changing political and economic priorities have led to ad-hoc actions with different sets of conditions to promote particular areas of research or research sectors. Thus, a number of different rules and administrative procedures were developed to optimize European effort in research, but participation in EU-funded projects became more complex.
More broadly, simplification also requires bridging the gap between funding rules and principles specific to the Framework Program and a wide range of accounting practices used for other purposes by the research organizations and businesses that participate.

What are the main changes being made now?
First, there will be more flexibility in how personnel costs are calculated so that EU research grant-holders can apply their usual accounting methods when requesting reimbursement, based on average personnel costs. Second, SME owners whose salaries are not formally registered in their accounts can now be reimbursed through flat-rate payments for their contribution to work on research projects. For this purpose the Commission has set up a system of flat-rate allowances already applied in the Marie Curie research grant scheme. The hourly flat rate for a researcher will mainly depend on his/her experience and country of residence. For instance hourly rates applicable in 2011 for researchers established in Belgium will vary from around €24 for early stage researchers to about €55 for very experienced researchers.
And third, a new steering group of senior officials from all the Commission departments and agencies involved will remove inconsistencies in the application of the rules on research funding.

How does the reimbursement of personnel costs work? Can you give an example of how it will change?
A general principle governing EU research funding was that beneficiaries claim actual costs for the resources employed on EU projects. For personnel costs this meant that grant holders had to calculate the payroll cost of each individual researcher for the time spent working (usually expressed in hours). Very often this meant that they had to introduce a parallel method of calculating personnel costs for their participation in EU research projects, which was incompatible with their own practice and actually increased their costs.
The new changes allow them to group personnel in categories based on objective criteria (experience, seniority, level of salary, department, etc). The grant holder calculates an average rate based on the salaries of the employees within each category or group This average is then used to charge the personnel costs to the projects by multiplying the average rate by the hours dedicated to each project under each category or group regardless of the actual costs of the individuals who performed the work (which could be higher or lower than the average).
Here is an example. One category could include two researchers: researcher one with a salary of €48.000 and researcher two with a salary of €36.000. The total cost of the category is €84.000 and the total hours worked in the year are, for instance, 3360 (1680 * 2 researchers). The average hourly rate of the category would be €25 (84.000 / 3360). Whenever the department collaborates in a project, the hours are charged at €25 irrespectively of who actually performs the work, whether it is researcher one or researcher two. For certain beneficiaries, categories could include dozens of researchers and thus the average system becomes a real simplification in the calculation of costs.

How much money will these changes save?
Up to now, grant holders who use average personnel costs, including SME owners and natural persons without a salary in the accounts, were obliged to produce a certificate on how they calculated their personnel costs. These certificates cost around two to three thousand euro in the simplest cases, rising considerably for large institutions with complex structures. Moreover, beneficiaries frequently had to dedicate additional time and money to adapt their personnel costs calculation methods to the requirements of the Commission to obtain the approval of their methodology.

How much time will these measures save?
It is impossible to quantify in advance, but cumulatively across the thousands of projects affected, a great deal of time will be saved. For example the new rules on accounting for personnel costs will make it easier and quicker for participants to compile and submit reimbursement claims and easier and quicker for the Commission or the Research Executive Agency to process those claims and get payments made.

Will existing projects be affected by the changes, or only new ones?
In most cases the Commission will allow participants in ongoing projects under the Seventh Research Framework Program (FP7) to benefit immediately from these changes. The measures are designed in such a way that their retro-active application does not cause additional burden for beneficiaries.

Why has it taken since April to bring these changes forward?
The Commission has to guarantee the maximum level of simplification without undermining the sound financial management of European taxpayers' money.
Therefore, an extensive analysis was needed on the impact of the new measures from both financial and legal points of view. Moreover, based on the Commission communication on simplification from April
(see IP/10/472 and MEMO/10/156 and
http://ec.europa.eu/../communication_on_simplification_2010_en.pdf), broad inter-institutional discussions with the Council and the European Parliament took place to jointly determine the best approach.

How will the Commission ensure that these changes do not lead to a risk of reducing effective financial control?
As the European Court of Auditors indicated in its most recent Annual Declaration of Assurance for the EU budget, simpler and clearer rules and procedures reduce the scope for error and increase assurance on the legality and regularity of expenditure. The new rules adopted are clearly defined in a transparent and unequivocal manner providing an additional realistic balance between trust and control. The Commission is fully dedicated  towards ensuring the sound financial management of European research policy.

Do these changes fully reflect the recommendations of the Mid-Term Evaluation? (See IP/10/1525)
Yes. The recommendations of the interim evaluation of FP7 were fully considered when designing these short-term simplification measures. More profound changes suggested in the report, which would require an adaptation of the overall legal framework, will be tackled in the Commission proposal for the rules of the next research and innovation program.

What progress has been made towards simplification so far?
Important progress has already been made over the last few years. Some measures for simplification were already included in FP7 from the beginning, as compared with previous Framework Programs. Others are the result of the Commission's ongoing efforts to improve the rules and procedures.
On the basis of 150 FP7 calls, there has been a significant reduction in "time-to-grant" - the interval between the deadline for bidding on funding in response to a call for proposals and the signature of a grant agreement - if compared with FP6 calls. The overall median (the interval after which half of all grants in a call are signed) in FP7 is currently 330 days, i.e. 30 days (or 10%) shorter than in FP6.
Achievements in FP7 include:

• A considerable reduction of ex-ante controls to ease the participation of SMEs and high-tech start-ups. 80% of FP7 participants are completely exempt from an ex-ante financial capacity check.
• A major reduction of the number of audit certificates submitted covering the costs charged to the research projects. Contrary to FP6 where all participants had to submit at least an audit certificate for the project, 75% of FP7 participants are exempt from providing such certificates. Since each certificate costs between some hundreds and several thousand euro, these exemptions are leading to saving of tens of millions of euro compared with FP6.
• The introduction of a single registration facility. Applicants no longer have to supply the same information every time they take part in a new grant application.
• A streamlining of reporting requirements
• Improvements to IT tools ("e-FP7")
• Improvements to the service and guidance offered to applicants

Will there be more changes before the end of FP7?
No further radical changes should be expected for FP7. The continuity of the rules in place is also important for participants in FP7 and this in itself avoids uncertainty.
However, certain additional measures could still be implemented, such as the removal of the requirement for beneficiaries to hold interest-bearing bank accounts. This measure would lift the current obligation to open such bank accounts for managing the pre-financing funds paid by the Commission. This requirement implies in certain cases an important administrative burden for a number of beneficiaries. Nevertheless, the measure is part of the proposals for the new Financial Regulation applicable to all EU programs, which are currently being discussed with Parliament and Council. Therefore, it cannot be treated separately only for research actions. A positive outcome of these discussions will lead to the removal of this requirement.

What kind of changes can we expect under the next research program?
The Commission is dedicated to the adoption of proposals for the legal framework of the next program by the end of 2011. A full public consultation based on a Green Paper will be launched during First Quarter 2011. Further substantive simplification will be a key priority for future research and innovation funding. A measure with far reaching potential for simplification is the establishment of a single set of consistent rules for all participants, thereby providing predictability for participants. Other avenues that will also be explored include the simplification of the complex matrix of different funding rates, the introduction of more flat rate payments and simpler methods for determining indirect costs. Moreover, the broad acceptance of the usual accounting practices of participants should become the general rule.

Why not make some of these changes now?
Simplification is not just a question of what can be done under the Research, Innovation and Science portfolio. All Commission programs are governed by the same financial regulation. Commissioner Lewandowski has put forward proposals to amend this to allow more flexibility. Some of the measures sought for research funding depend on Council and Parliament decisions and whether they will allow an increase in the Tolerable Risk of Error in certain fields, including research projects.

What is the Tolerable Risk of Error?
Financial transactions can rarely be absolutely free of the risk of error, especially in projects which may have dozens of participants, last several years and where accounting procedures are necessarily complex.
The purpose of the Tolerable Risk of Error (TRE) is to ensure a proper balance between the extent of controls and the effectiveness of policy. The error rate is (roughly) defined as the relation between the amount of costs incorrectly declared and the overall costs (in a project, a collection of projects or a whole program).
Reducing error rates requires increased control, including very detailed audits taking place after projects have concluded. This is in turn costs money and staff time. For each policy area, the Commission will strive to agree the most appropriate TRE with the Budgetary Authorities. Under the current system, the risk of error is 2% for all policy areas, regardless of the size of the projects or the complexity of the specific rules. By slightly raising the Tolerable Risk of Error for research and other projects to between 2% and 5%, as Commissioner Semeta is proposing, controls could be more effective while also saving money and reducing bureaucracy. Currently, the administrative cost of recovering or reimbursing back to projects the tiny amounts of money based on minimal errors discovered during the audit process can sometimes far exceed the sums collected or reimbursed.
Errors should not be confused with fraud or deliberate misrepresentation, which is always referred to OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud office, and will continue to be referred there.

What is the state of play in the discussions with the European Parliament and the Council over the Financial Regulation and the Tolerable Risk of Error (TRE)?
Discussions on the revision of the Financial Regulation are still ongoing. 1 January 2012 remains the target date for the assertive entry of the revised Regulation. As in regard to the TRE, in May 2010 the Commission initiated an in-depth and ongoing debate with its Communication to the European Parliament, the Council and the Court of Auditors titled "More or less controls? Striking the right balance between the administrative costs of control and the risk of error" (http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/10060/2010/EN/10060-2010-1919-EN-3-0.Pdf). The European Parliament has, however, already expressed its full support for the adoption of a higher rate of tolerable risks of error for research activities.

Which departments and agencies of the Commission are directly involved in running FP7?
The departments of the Commission directly involved in running FP7 are:
Directorates-general:
Research and Innovation
Information Society and Media
Mobility and Transport
Education and Culture
Enterprise and Industry
Energy
Agencies:
ERCEA (European Research Council Executive Agency),
REA (Research Executive Agency)

How will setting up a new committee of Directorates-General simplify things or achieve consistency?
Research programs are implemented by different Directorates General and Agencies with a large degree of decentralization. This has major advantages in terms of flexibility and speed of decision-making but has also led, unfortunately, to rules and procedures being applied in different ways across different areas. This has sometimes created confusion for beneficiaries and can even discourage them from re-applying for support. So the Commission is establishing the new committee to help iron out these inconsistencies.

When will this new committee start work and when do you expect it to deliver results?
The new Committee will be operational immediately and will deliver results on relevant issues in a continuous manner. The Committee will meet upon request from the Directorates-general when a controversial issue is raised. Resources for secretarial and technical support have been put in place and the necessary steps to define the working procedures of the Committee are already underway.

EU research funding represents 5% of overall public funding in Europe - what steps are being taken to simplify and streamline national funding? How is the Commission involved?
National research funding procedures are compartmentalized in 27 different systems which have evolved separately. Simplifying these national rules is an obvious way of reducing the complex array of different conditions and funding schemes that European researchers are facing. In early 2010, the Commission established a Stakeholder Platform with key EU research funders and beneficiaries, to draw up common principles governing research funding across the EU.
Thanks to Commission programs such as the Marie Curie scheme and initiatives such as the Researchers Charter, European researchers have better access to non-national programs and better mobility. However, they are facing complex barriers. Simpler rules for the Framework Program will set benchmarks for national programs based on best practice.

How close are we to the 15% target for SME participation in the eligible parts of the Framework Program?
The latest figures have shown the participation of SMEs to be at around 14.7 %. Although the situation has improved, there are still efforts to be made. The Commission expects that the new simplification measure adopted for SME owners without a salary will further promote participation from this key economic sector.

It will take place between 5 and 7 April 2011 in Munich (Germany) at the Hilton Munich City Hotel. The event takes “knowledge transfer” in all its facets as its lead theme. The objective is to identify existing and upcoming challenges for the transfer of technology knowledge along with access to creativity in order to identify better support practices.
The event is primarily intended for participants in the 2009-2012 generation of INNO-Nets and INNO-Actions and their Reflection Groups, Think Tanks and Councils. For these policy cooperation projects, the event will be an opportunity to share experiences and findings from the ongoing activities, and to discuss and disseminate lessons in promoting transnational cooperation in support of innovation and in developing new forms of innovation support. In addition, the event will be open to partners from the policy analysis strand (INNO-Grips and INNO-Metrics) and to other stakeholders in innovation support (e.g. innovation agencies, cluster organizations and innovation support providers) with an interest in the PRO INNO Europe® initiative or in innovation policy and innovation-related transnational learning and cooperation.
The 4th PRO INNO Europe® partnering event will consist of an outdoor excursion on the 5th of April to a vanguard centre with regard to ‘Holistic Innovation Exercises’ and of plenary presentations and discussions on the 6th and 7th of April. See the corresponding program outline on: http://www.proinno-europe.eu/proinno-partnering-event/content/home-0
The partnering event is now open for registration. Booking your place to participate in the 4th PRO INNO Europe® annual partnering event can be done via: http://www.proinno-europe.eu/proinno-partnering-event/content/partnering-event-registration-form.  A further elaborated version of the agenda will follow soon with further practical information regarding logistics etc., so please keep an eye on:  http://www.proinno-europe.eu/proinno-partnering-event/content/home-0
Please send questions to: info_proinno@lists.proinno-europe.eu

Calls for sessions, exhibition and posters are now open on the FET2011 conference web site!
Call for sessions: Deadline: 15th January 2011; Notification to applicants: 15th February 2011
Call for exhibits: Deadline: 15th January 2011; Notification to applicants: 15th February 2011
Call for posters: Deadline: 15th February 2011; Notification to applicants: 15th March 2011
A simple registration  is needed before submitting a proposal. All submissions can be modified until the call closes. Don't hesitate to submit an early draft.  Contact: secretariat@fet11.eu, www.fet11.eu

Organized for the 15th time this year, it attracted over 5,000 registered candidates and 120 employers, rendering it the largest event of its kind on the entire North American continent. During the first day of the Fair, employers presented themselves with exhibit booths and individual 30-minute presentations that were also offered throughout the day. The following two days of the Fair were devoted to interviews and satellite events.

EU Delegation/EURAXESS Links USA booth at the European
Career Fair at MIT, 22 January 2011 (Photo: Claus Madsen)

Among this year’s exhibitors, 34% represented the for-profit domain and 66% were non-profit organizations.
Examples of for-profit organizations that exhibited at the Fair include Novartis, Siemens, Orange, Barilla, Bertelsmann AG, TO Tom, Procter & Gamble and many others. Nearly half of the non-profit organizations were European academic institutions, whereas about 25 percent represented non-profit research institutes.

A significant fraction of non-profits involved policy making and the distribution of funding.

This year’s candidates represented 127 different nationalities. Although Europe and the United States remain the most represented places of origin, there were also increased numbers of registered candidates coming from India and China. Among European countries, the representation of Eastern Europe grew as compared to the prior editions of the Fair. Many of the candidates at the European Career Fair already held EU work permits (23%). Moreover, many of the candidates had work permits for both the US and the EU (16%). About a sixth of the candidates had work permits from other countries. While candidates with Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees made up slightly more than 60 percent, a fourth of the candidates had a doctorate degree. (SOURCE: ECF Press Release)

EURAXESS Links USA, together with the EU Delegation, the European Research Council, and the Joint Research Centre, were present at the Fair with exhibit booths and staff members from the respective organizations available to provide information about employment and funding opportunities.

The European Commission, represented by the EU Delegation Office in Washington, has been partnering with the ECF since 2007 to promote Europe as a great place to pursue a career in science and technology, be it in industrial research, research organizations, academia or science policy. You can find further information on the ECF website: https://www.euro-caeer.com/

At the European booth (Photo: Claus Madsen and EURAXESS Links USA)

Future TIP grant competitions may target specific research topics within eight areas of critical national need: civil infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, health care, water resources, complex networks and sustainability.
For additional information regarding these topic areas or to comment on TIP's authored whitepapers visit http://www.nist.gov/tip/wp/index.cfm. Program officials emphasize that the three-year plan is not a formal solicitation for proposals.

There are no current TIP competitions. Specific competitions related to these topics will be announced in the Federal Register, on grants.gov and on the TIP website. Read the plan... (Source: SSTI Weekly Digest - 2 February 2011)

HFIP is soliciting proposals to support academia for projects involving applied hurricane science and/or hurricane modeling that demonstrates a potential to transition into operational hurricane systems with the goal of improving operational hurricane guidance.
Eligible applicants include everyone not currently from government laboratories and organizations.

Europeans from academia and companies are welcome to apply.  
Expected number of awards: 10
Estimated total program funding: $1,000,000
Award ceiling: $150,000
The current Federal Funding Opportunity of NOAA's Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program (HFIP) is open until 4 March 2011.
The text of the call for proposals and the link to the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program (HFIP) can be found at: http://www.hfip.org/
Link to the Federal Funding opportunity in Grants.gov

The Fulbright-Schuman Program provides $3,000 per month plus a travel stipend, visas, and health and accident insurance for grants between two months and one academic year.
The program is open to citizens of all 27 EU member states and to U.S. citizens with two years of relevant experience. European participants focus on research and/or post-graduate study at an accredited American university or independent research center. Americans may conduct research or lecture in any of the EU member states, either independently or in affiliation with European universities and other institutions.
The Fulbright-Schuman Program is administered by the Fulbright Commission in Brussels and is jointly financed by the U.S. Department of State and the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission.

Application deadlines:
U.S. Scholars - August 1, 2011
U.S. Students - October 1, 2011
European Scholars - March 1, 2012
European Students - March 1, 2012

For more information: http://www.fulbrightschuman.eu/
Questions about the program can be directed to: adviser@fulbright.be

The following calls are currently open under the Ideas program:

The following calls are open under the Cooperation program:

• Health / 1 Open call
• Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology / 1 Open call
• Information and Communication Technologies / 2 Open calls
• Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies / 2 Open calls
• Energy / 2 Open calls
• Transport (including Aeronautics) / 2 Open calls
• Socio-economic sciences and Humanities / 1 Open call
• General Activities / 1 Open call
• Joint Technology Initiatives (Annex IV-SP1) / 1 Open call

Participants from the United States are eligible to join research proposals under the Cooperation scheme. To do so, these programs require at least three partners in three different EU or associated countries plus a partner in the United States. With the exception of Health proposals, there is no funding from the European Union for U.S.-based partners unless the participation of the U.S. partner is deemed necessary for the success of the program. Cooperation schemes in the area of Health provide for full funding of the U.S.-based partners.

The following calls are open under the Capacities program:

• Activities of International Cooperation / 3 Open calls

To access a full list of currently open calls for proposals launched by the European Commission, and for full details of the calls, go to: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/calls/

Over 400 grants will be offered in 2011.
The EU career integration grants are available to researchers of any nationality. The funding is targeted at the post-doctoral level and there is no restriction on the area of research. To be eligible, applicants must have been actively engaged in research, but cannot have carried out their work in the country of their host organization for more than twelve months over the last three years. Finally, applicants must not have previously benefitted from a European or an International Reintegration Grant (ERG or IRG) or from a Career Integration Grant.
An independent panel of top-level European and international experts evaluate and select the best researchers to receive the grants.
The deadline for applications is 8 March 2011.
To find out more:
Quick info page for Career Integration Grants
Marie Curie Actions
Marie Curie information per country
The Applicant Guide can be downloaded from the following link (look for CIG under the PEOPLE program): http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.FP7CallsPage

Applicants are expected to be active researchers who have a track record of significant research achievements over the last 10 years. Although there are no restrictions regarding age, nationality or current place of residence, the Principal Investigators should be exceptional leaders in terms of originality and the significance of their research contributions.

Applications are welcome in any discipline with the following deadlines:

- Physical Sciences and Engineering (9 February 2011)
- Life Sciences (10 March 2011)
- Social Sciences & Humanities (6 April 2011)

Funding is provided up to €3.5m for a period up to 5 years.
More information: ERC    Cordis

Candidates from the United States are eligible to participate as they have a Science and Technology Agreement with the European Union. Support will be provided for a period of 24-48 months. The maximum duration of the individual staff exchanges is 12 months, which can be split into several exchange periods within the total duration of the program. During this period, joint research, joint training, joint workshops, seminars or other networking activities can be performed.

A minimum of three partners are required (two from EU Member States or Associated Countries + one other country). To provide one example: an Austrian and a Hungarian university could develop an exchange program with a research institute in the United States. Both European-based partners will be eligible to receive funding; however the U.S. based partner organization will need to bring its own funding to this exchange program.

All fields of research are relevant and are to be chosen by the researchers.
Deadline for applications is 17 March 2011.

Further information is available from Cordis – click the Guide for Applicants page.

The list can be accessed at: http://www.euussciencetechnology.eu/document/show/id/151

Link2US has initially identified fourteen funding programs within six U.S. federal government entities that are open to European Union researchers. This information is now available on the Link2US website in database form. Additional programs and entities will be added and updated annually.
Access the database

Virtual Help Desk for Link2US
The Virtual Help Desk provides answers to your questions about U.S. funding programs open to European researchers and assists with the details of applying for funding. Assistance is provided via telephone on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:00 a.m.–10:30 a.m. Washington DC time (approximately 2:00–4:30 p.m. European time) at +1‑202‑326‑6663.
For all questions and comments outside of the scheduled office hours, please contact info@link2us.eu 

The call for experts is open for both individuals and organizations.

Further information

 There are 3 options:

• Do you want to upload your CV? Login into your account MyEURAXESS:
  http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/index.cfm/res/index
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• Do you want to delete your account? Click here:
  http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/index.cfm/res/deleteAccoun

Find A Postdoc: http://www.findapostdoc.com/
Career.edu: http://www.career.edu/index.php
Nature.jobs: http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/index.html
Jobs.ac.uk: www.jobs.ac.uk
Research Jobs in the Netherlands: http://www.academictransfer.org/org/
Euro Science Jobs: http://www.eurosciencejobs.com/

Elsevier Jobs: http://www.recruitment.elsevier.com/register/default.aspx

With this new investment, EU financial support for cancer research since 2003 amounts to close to €1 billion, funding 183 projects. More information

1) clinical research into practice;
2) health systems research and
3) health promotion and disease prevention.

International public health and health systems research is incorporated as a fourth area and addresses health policy research, health systems and health service research, maternal and child health, and reproductive health in the context of the Millennium Development Goals. More information

'Innovation' will be in a short, fast-paced and highly visual 3-minute format produced in HD and featuring dynamic interviews of scientists and innovators.
TO VIEW "INNOVATION": In addition to television distribution by Euronews, "Innovation" magazines will be available in web streaming on a number of sites, including