€53K available 2 apply 4 EU grants; wanna travel?

From Business Plus Online :

07/03/07: The EU has launched a new research fund that Enterprise Ireland said will allow Irish researchers and SMEs to reap the benefits from the new financial supports

As part of the funding, EI has announced financial supports for researchers employed in Ireland's private and public sectors taking part in the largest ever EU research programme, the Seventh EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7). The FP7 fund of €50 billion will run until 2013 and offers significant opportunities to researchers to carry out their work on an international platform.

'Ireland's research community has already proved its ability to compete at European level, accessing over €200m in the previous round of EU research funding'

Industry based researchers in Ireland won almost €40m in funding under the last EU research programme (FP6 2002-2006), with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) accounting for two-thirds of this figure. The supports are designed to help researchers cover the upfront costs incurred in writing research proposals and travel expenses.

Ireland's research community has already proved its ability to compete at European level, accessing over €200m in the previous round of EU research funding (FP6 2002-2006), according to Dr Imelda Lambkin, director of the Irish National Support Network for FP7.

"Irish participation in FP7 will be a critical component in delivering the targets set out in the Government Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation which covers the same timeframe,"

she said.

'The FP7 financial supports will be a great help to SMEs'

Dr Jimmie Parkes, managing director of Inter-Euro Technology, said he believed the

“FP7 financial supports will be a great help”

to SMEs.

"These new supports will relieve some of the financial burden of contacting and meeting prospective FP7 partners. EU research can be very exciting and profitable not only in money but also in contacts throughout Europe and the build up of knowledge and IP transfer from European technology leaders,"

said Parkes.

The new supports will also benefit researchers based in higher education institutions who accounted for 70% of the FP6 funding to Ireland. Larger travel grants to visit potential research partners in other countries and grants to aid proposal preparation by project coordinators have been extended to include all research projects. Eligibility for these grants has been expanded to include researchers in publicly funded organisations and all research areas including the socioeconomic sciences and humanities.

Researchers based in Irish companies and public research bodies who want to participate in FP7 can now avail of the following financial supports:

• Proposal Preparation Support for Companies

The maximum grant for this support has been increased to €25,000 (at 50% grant rate i.e. €25,000 based on a total expenditure by the company of €50,000). Eligibility has been expanded to include all research projects.

• Proposal Preparation Support for Academic Coordinators

The maximum grant under this support is €25,000 and all research projects are eligible. Eligibility has been expanded to include researchers in publicly funded institutions.

• Travel Support for Researchers

Researchers based in higher education institutions can apply for a maximum grant of €3,000 to facilitate multiple visits to research partners. Eligibility has been expanded to include researchers in publicly funded institutions.

For more information on FP7

Lal