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FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

EU funding in general

Currently, there is no EU budget dedicated specifically to SEIS. Projects for building SEIS components should seek funding from the various funding programmes that exist in the EU budgetary period (2007-2013). This page aims to help you in your search for funding to support development of national, regional and local SEIS components. It provides the main funding opportunities that could be used and a list of useful links for further information. However these lists are not exhaustive. We welcome your suggestions for other funding programmes and institutions that could be included in this page.

In 2007 the European Union launched a new set of programmes: up to €975 billion over a seven-year period. This budget is managed by the European Member States (76% - structural funds and agricultural subsidies), the European Commission (22% - research, education, health, youth actions etc) and third countries or international organisations (2% - UN, Red Cross, etc). Overall, there exist two main forms of financing: Grants (calls for proposals) and Public contracts (call for tenders)¹.

The Commission awards directly funds in the form of grants in order to implement projects or activities in relation to European Union policies. These grants may be awarded within fields as diverse as research, education, health, consumer protection, protection of the environment, humanitarian aid, etc. The calls for proposals are published in the respective Department’s web site and in the Official Journal of the European Union – C series. More information on the Grants of the European Union are included here².

According to the EU Budget 2009³ , over 40% of rural development funding (€13.6 billion) will be for environmental goals. On top of that, the LIFE+ environmental protection programme will grow by 19%, reaching €317 million. The 22% increase in the EU's innovation programme will also help EU efforts to move to a low-carbon economy by financing sustainable technologies.

The Directorate General for the Environment makes funding⁴ available through different programmes: the LIFE fund, the financial instrument for civil protection, the funding of eco-innovation projects, and operating grants to environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

LIFE

LIFE supports environmental and nature conservation projects. LIFE+, (2007-2013) has entered into force with the publication of the Regulation in the Official Journal L149 of 9 June 2007⁵ The third LIFE+ call for proposals has been published on 15 May 2009, with up to €250 million available for co-financing of projects (co-financing rates vary from 50% up to 75%).

Two headings could be considered related to SEIS: “Environment policy and governance” and “Information and communication”. The first one helps, inter alia, projects that develop environmental information sources through monitoring, including forest monitoring. The principal objective of the second one is to disseminate information and raise awareness on environmental issues and to provide support for accompanying measures, such as information, communication actions and campaigns, conferences and training.

All project proposals are to be submitted to the national competent authorities by 15 September 2009^{6 7}.

The Civil Protection Financial Instrument

The Civil Protection Financial Instrument has been established through the adoption of the Council Decision No 2007/162/EC, Euratom⁸ . One of its aims, the one closer to SEIS, is to facilitate reinforced co-operation between the Member States in the field of civil protection, mainly the aspects of prevention, preparedness and response. The financial envelope allocated to the instrument under the EU's 2007-13 financial framework amounts to €189.8 million⁹.

Types of actions that previously used to be covered by the Action Programme will now be covered through this financial instrument. More information on the annual work programme for the actions to be financed in 2009 establishing a Civil Protection Financial Instrument are included in the respective annual work programme¹⁰.

EAP is not a funding Programme but a political one.

Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme

The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)¹¹ aims to encourage the competitiveness of European enterprises. With a total budget of €3.621 billion, the programme runs from 2007 to 2013 and is divided into three programmes: Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (EIP), Information Communication Technologies Policy support Programme (ICT PSP) and Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE). Each one of these pillars has a separate annual work programme which is managed by the European Commission, assisted by a separate management committee (consisting of representatives from the Member States) for each pillar.

The first pillar, CIP-EIP¹², supports projects in eco-innovation through three initiatives: financial instruments, network of actors and pilot and market replication projects. With a budget of € 2.17 billion for the overall period of 2007-2013 the programme aims to achieve its objectives through five actions; the one that could be considered as relevant to SEIS is the “Support for policy-making” action, where a number of conferences can be organised to assemble and publicise sectoral knowledge, inform policy-makers, and make policy suggestions to increase the coherence and cooperation between European Member States. An example of such conferences is the “Industry Information Day on the GMES Sentinel Data Policy” on September 11th 2009.

The second pillar, ICT-PSP, encompasses two objectives, relevant to SEIS:

Objective 6.1: Legal aspects of Public Sector Information” whose aim is to identify and discuss legal barriers to access to and reuse of Public Sector Information (PSI) in the digital environment and suggest ways to overcome them. In 2009 one Thematic Network of legal experts will be supported to analyse the legal challenges and opportunities of PSI in a broad sense (following the OECD approach covering the sectors subject to the Public Sector Information Directive as well as the educational, scientific and cultural sectors), as well as related areas (including topics such as orphan works, out of print works and access to and use of public domain material held by public sector organisations).
Objective 6.1: Legal aspects of Public Sector Information” whose aim is to identify and discuss legal barriers to access to and reuse of Public Sector Information (PSI) in the digital environment and suggest ways to overcome them. In 2009 one Thematic Network of legal experts will be supported to analyse the legal challenges and opportunities of PSI in a broad sense (following the OECD approach covering the sectors subject to the Public Sector Information Directive as well as the educational, scientific and cultural sectors), as well as related areas (including topics such as orphan works, out of print works and access to and use of public domain material held by public sector organisations).

The third pillar named “Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE)” doesn’t include any action that could be related to SEIS.

Operating grants to European environmental NGOs

European NGOs are valuable in co-ordinating and channelling the views of national organisations and citizens as input to the decision making process. Organisations that wish to apply for funding under this programme must be non-national, non-profit making and independent environmental non-governmental organisations and should be active at a European level¹³ . Calls for proposals are published yearly and are closed for 2009. The NGOs that were selected for funding are listed here ¹⁴.

Funding for Research

The broad objectives of FP7 have been grouped into four categories: Cooperation, Ideas, People and Capacities. For each type of objective, there is a specific programme corresponding to the main areas of EU research policy ¹⁵.

In FP7, a SEIS related theme is called “Environment” within the Cooperation Programme with the Call Identifier FP7-ENV-2010 – Deadline: 05/01/2010¹⁶.

Within this theme the following activities may be considered SEIS-related:

Activity 6.3. Environmental Technologies - 3.1.7 - env.2010.3.1.7-1 technologies for automated monitoring of air pollution in cities.
Activity 6.4. Earth observation and assessment tools for Sustainable development - Sub-activity 6.4.1. Earth and ocean observation systems and monitoring methods for the environment and sustainable development (€17million).

Other Funds

The European Structural Funds and Cohesion Funds constitute the main source for EU funding. Current programmes (2007-2013) will allocate 35.7% of the total EU budget, that is, €277bn budget for Structural Funds, and €70bn for the Cohesion Funds. Thirty per cent of these funds has been allocated to environmental programmes between 2007 and 2013.

The Cohesion Fund is aimed at Member States whose Gross National Income (GNI) per inhabitant is less than 90% of the Community average. For the 2007-2013 period the Cohesion Fund concerns Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. . One of the categories financed by the Cohesion Fund is Environment that supports projects related to energy or transport, as long as they clearly present a benefit to the environment: energy efficiency, use of renewable energy, developing rail transport, supporting intermodality, strengthening public transport, etc¹⁷.

Funding from Structural Funds (ERFD) comes in the form of non-reimbursable assistance. European co-financing is made available to development projects that respond to national priorities agreed upon between the Member State and the European Commission. ERDF action is designed to reduce economic, environmental and social problems in towns and it thus finances infrastructures linked notably to research and innovation, telecommunications, environment, energy and transport.Summaries ¹⁸ of programmes (prepared by each member state) officially adopted by the European Commission as well as selected interesting examples¹⁹ are available in the Commission’s website.

Calls for tenders and grants 2009 related to SEIS²⁰ (pay attention to the deadlines)

Grants are direct financial contributions from the European Commission to finance:

either an action intended to help achieve an objective forming part of a European Union policy;
or the functioning of a body which pursues an aim of general European interest or has an objective forming part of a European Union policy.

For funding opportunities by policy area²¹ , or for public contracts²² see the Commission’s portal.

Awards and prizes

ICT – Czech Awards for Young Europeans²² – Deadline: 15/10/2009 The contest shall award prizes in four categories: ICT, Health and Quality of Life, Environment and Product and Technology Innovations, Associations, Corporations, Development NGOs, Research centres, Schools, SMEs and Universities may all apply, provided they are active at European level.

References

1: New funds, better rules – Overview of new financial rules and funding opportunities 2007-2013
2: Introduction to EU funding
3: Financial Programming and Budget
4: Funding available from the Directorate General for the Environment
5: LIFE+ Regulation
6: LIFE+ Calls for proposals
7: LIFE+ (2007-2013)
8: 2007/162/EC,Euratom: Council Decision of 5 March 2007 establishing a Civil Protection Financial Instrument
9: Civil protection financial instrument
10: Commission Decision of 18.12.2008 on the annual work programme for the actions to be financed in 2009
11: The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)
12: Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme
13: Operating grants to European environmental NGOs
14: List of NGOs 1997 - 2008
15: The main objectives of FP7: Specific programmes
16: Environment (including Climate Change) Calls: FP7-ENV-2010
17: Cohesion Fund
18: Program Summaries
19: Regional development projects
20: Calls for tender 2009
21: Grants, Funds and Programmes by EU Policy
22: Public Contracts
23: Czech Awards for Young Europeans