The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also referred to as Framework Programmes abbreviated to FP1 through FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union to support and encourage research in the European Research Area (ERA). Beginning in 2014, these funding programmes were called Horizon. These funding programmes started in 1984 and continue to this day. The most recent FP, Horizon 2020, had a budget of €77 billion distributed over the course of 7 years. Here are some of the most prominent FP funded programmes.
IMPETUS
The Information Management Portal to Enable the inTegration of Unmanned Systems (IMPETUS) addresses the scientific analysis of information management needs for safe and efficient integration of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) at very low-level airspace. Because of this, commercially and technologically feasible service solutions can now be effectively researched and deployed in an experimental testing environment. The expected elaboration of future UAS movements in rural and urban areas shows the need for traffic management solutions, making sure that a normal course of trouble-free operations of manned and unmanned aviation takes place. IMPETUS contributes by investigating potential microservices which serve the airspace user’s requirements in every phase of its operation life cycle, from strategic planning over preflight, in-flight and post-flight data provisions. Information management, being the infrastructural requirement of future unmanned traffic systems, supports the EU’s goal of gaining prosperity by improving the job and business opportunities of an increasingly popular drone service market.
OpenAIRE
OpenAIRE is a network of Open Access archives, journals and repositories which support and promote Open Access policies. The OpenAIRE Consortium is an FP8 Horizon 2020 project, aimed at supporting the implementation of the ERC and EC Open Access policies. The successor to this, the OpenAIRE+, is aimed at linking the accumulated research publications to the related research and project information, author information and datasets.
Open access to peer-reviewed scientific publications has evolved from a small pilot project with narrow scope in FP7 to be an underlying principle in the Horizon 2020 funding scheme, mandatory for all Horizon 2020 funded projects. This project aims to make as much Europe funded research outputs as possible available around the world through the OpenAIRE portal.
Criticisms Of The Framework Programme
The Framework Programme has been criticized on various occasions on several grounds, like actually diminishing the industrial competitiveness in Europe and failing to bring absolute excellence and global competitiveness to the academic sector. The Austrian Research Promotion Agency in 2010 launched a petition demanding a simplification of administrative procedures, which got over 13,000 signatures. The various other criticisms of the petitioners were distilled into a green paper later on. These were considered in Horizon 2020, and significant simplifications were made. E.g. fewer funding rates while increasing large companies’ funding rates, less auditing, less reporting, shorter time from proposal to project kick-off.
Conclusion
Horizon 2020 has improved on the previous FP7 regulations. In fact, Horizon 2020 is praised for being less bureaucratic than previous framework programmes.