A partnership event at right timing

The organization of the Conference in 2007 is a good and a strategic choice due to the start of two major financing programs - CIP and 7FP. The development of new partnerships during the Conference can be the begining of new innovative projects, which can be submited to these programs for funding.

Funding programs

CIP - Competitiveness and Innovation framework Programme - The first CIP is a coherent and integrated response to the goals of the renewed Lisbon strategy. Running from 2007 to 2013, it has a budget of approximately EUR 3.6 billion. It represents a 60 % increase in annual spending on actions related to competitiveness and innovation by 2013 compared to 2006. The three specific programmes in the CIP framework are:

- Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme;
- ICT Policy Support Programme;
- Intelligent Energy-Europe Programme;

FP7 - Seventh Framework Programme

The FP7 is the current (2007-2013) Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development set up by the European Union in order to fund and promote European research and technological development. The total budget for FP7 is €50.521 billion. FP7 will be implemented through four specific programmes:

- Cooperation - collaborative research;
- Ideas - the establishment of a European Research Council (ERC) to support frontier research;
- People - human resources;
- Capacities - research infrastructure and potential research capacity.