- In the case of FP7 and CIP (except for the Community Financial Instruments for SMEs)
The funding in the form of grants is normally allocated through the publication of "calls for proposals", meaning that project ideas have to be submitted by a certain deadline, comply with clearly defined themes and have the required partnership structure, usually trans-national. In other words, it is not possible simply to spontaneously apply to the Commission for assistance.
After the deadline, all proposals under a call will then be examined by a panel of evaluators to check their eligibility and to assess their quality. Funding will be awarded only for the best project proposals within the limits of the total available budget. In other words, even if a proposal meets the quality requirements, it might not get funding. In addition, under FP7, your project proposal might have to be modified (e.g. regarding its budget structure, types of actions, composition of the consortium) in the course of negotiation of the grant agreement. Please note that this is also the case for Intelligent Energy Europe and will be for CIP Eco-innovation.
Even though calls for proposal are the main tool to allocate funds, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme of CIP provides an exception in this respect. Many of its measures are aimed at policy-support, for which SMEs benefit indirectly, and therefore the intervention mechanisms are not only calls for proposals but also tenders and other types of support. For the intervention mechanisms of the CIP Financial Instruments for SMEs (see Annex 2 for more detailed information).
- In the case of the Structural Funds
As the management of the Structural Funds is decentralised, each region or Member State has developed, in discussion with the Commission and all relevant private and public stakeholders, one or more operational programmes. These are tailored to the socio-economic challenges in the Member State or region, but may not use all the possible funding themes and models provided under the SF Regulations. The main point to note therefore is that, although the Checklist will indicate that most types of applicant, research/innovation activity, etc. have a positive score, not every region will be covered by an operational programme that supports the particular research or innovation activity you have in mind. You will need to check this with the Managing Authority in charge of the programme in question (see Annex 4 for the list of Managing Authorities).
Also, application procedures (e.g. ongoing applications and project selection, calls for proposals on specific topics or competitions with fixed deadlines, etc.) and types of funding (grant, service/supply contract, financial instrument) are decided by the Managing Authority for the operational programme in question, depending on what is most appropriate for the activities envisaged. Project selection criteria are agreed by each operational programme's Monitoring Committee and are published (e.g. on Managing Authority websites). Projects will be evaluated according to these criteria.
Bear in mind in addition that a research or innovation project submitted to a Structural Funds programme will be judged on its likely contribution to the economic development of the Member State or region as well as on its scientific or technological quality.
Further reading:
http://cordis.europa.eu/eu-funding-guide/finding-sources_en.html
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