On December 22, 2006, the European Commission issued the first call for proposals for the seventh edition of the Framework Programme, the system through which the EU funnels money destined for research and innovation. Earlier in the month, the European Parliament and the European Council had agreed on a compromise 55 ($73) billion budget spread out over seven years.
The new program will stand on four pillars. The biggest one, called ‘Co-operation’, supports industry-driven public-private partnerships of universities, companies, research centers and public authorities. The subprogram contains 60% of the funds and includes research priorities such as health, food, agriculture, biotech, nanoscience, materials energy, environment and security.
During discussions, the European Parliament secured 15% of the total budget for small and medium-sized enterprises and excluded EU funding for human reproductive cloning, modifying human genetic heritage and research into creating human embryos solely for the purpose of research or stem cell procurement. Research on stem cells, both adult and embryonic, still may receive EU funding; however, the European Commission promised to refrain from funding the act of destroying human embryos, including for the procurement of stem cells.
The new Framework Programme amounts to an increase of about 40% of yearly research funding through EU channels, less than the doubling originally proposed by the European Commission. The Programme constitutes less than 10% of all research funding in the EU.