Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 612: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the action taken by his Department to promote the EU's Seventh Framework Programme among industry and academia; the applications made which were successful; the current and planned financial allocation for the programme here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36051/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Research Framework Programmes are the EU's main instrument for funding research in Europe and have been operating successfully since 1984. They have played a particularly important role in bringing European researchers (in academia and in industry) together in collaborative research projects, in facilitating the mobility of researchers across Europe and in supporting economic and social development. Irish participation in the Framework Programmes over the last 20 years has provided essential funding and collaborations, which have fostered the growth and development of the Irish research base.

Ireland participated actively in the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), which spanned the period 2003 to 2006 with a budget of approx €17 billion, and Irish researchers and companies have been successful in securing approximately €210 million from FP6.

The current Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) has a budget of over €50 billion, covering the seven-year period 2007 to 2013 and it has been designed to build on the achievements of its predecessor towards the creation of the European Research Area and carry it further towards the development of the knowledge economy and society in Europe.

In order to extract the maximum benefit from the opportunities available within FP7, a new National Support Network has been put in place, headed up by a National Director for FP7 who leads a team based in Enterprise Ireland. This new support structure ensures that a coordinated and coherent approach is adopted towards FP7 across all of the government departments, agencies and other organisations involved. Through this support structure, a mix of guidance, advice and financial assistance is available to encourage researchers and enterprises, where appropriate, to avail of the opportunities within the programme.

The range of financial supports available to potential participants include: Travel Support, assisting researchers to meet with potential partners, and Proposal Preparation Support for Academic Coordinators and Companies, covering all costs associated with submission of FP7 applications. To date Enterprise Ireland has provided €1.155 million in financial support to academic researchers and indigenous companies. This amount, provided in the first year of FP7, exceeds the total of such support provided in the whole of the previous programme (2002-2006) and shows a high level of FP7 activity among potential participants.

In November 2007, the Cabinet Committee on Science Technology and Innovation agreed that the total share of EU funding to be targeted by Ireland over the lifetime of FP7 should be in the region of €600 million. This target is considered to be realistic yet sufficiently challenging. It takes into account the potential for Irish participation in different parts of the programme.

As regards details on successful applications, the Commission rules prevent the release of data on the funding secured by individual participants. However, the first calls for proposals under FP7 were issued at the beginning of 2007 and the Commission has provided some preliminary statistics on success rates (the share of proposals received that have been "retained for funding"). In this regard, Irish researchers (academic and industry) are associated with 133 proposals retained for funding. The Irish success rate (133 out of 591 proposals submitted with Irish involvement or 22.5%) is ahead of the overall average for all countries (19.6%) and this is a positive indication of the prospects for Irish participation in FP7 generally.

A more complete analysis of Irish participation in the first FP7 calls will be produced later in 2008 once official statistics relating to "signed contracts" are released by the European Commission.