Press Release No. 22 | May 29, 2024

DFG Publishes Position Paper on the Future EU Framework Programme (FP10)

Budget should reflect the importance of research and innovation / New funding instruments proposed in order to strengthen collaborative research and facilitate calls for proposals through EU partnerships

The EU framework programmes are the world’s largest funding instrument for research and innovation. Debate is currently underway on the design of the next framework programme, FP10 for short, which is due to run from 2028 to 2034. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) has now published a position paper putting forward its own proposals.

“Excellent and well-funded research is crucial to finding European answers to tackle major societal challenges and maintain the EU’s international competitiveness. This is why the next EU framework programme needs an ambitious budget that benefits basic research, too – it is the outstanding insights produced by the latter that lay the foundation for Europe’s progress,” said DFG President Professor Dr. Katja Becker on the publication of the position paper. Under the current framework programme Horizon Europe, numerous research proposals that have been classified as excellent do not receive funding due to budget shortages. “This shows what an enormous demand there is for research and innovation in the EU,” said Becker.

“What is more, we want FP10 to explicitly support cooperation between excellent researchers on topics they choose themselves across national borders, as well as facilitate joint calls for proposals issued by national funding organisations through EU partnerships. We’re proposing two new instruments for this purpose,” explained Becker. One new instrument is to enable researchers to work on topics of their own choice in a bottom-up manner in transnational research consortia. A second instrument proposed by the DFG seeks to achieve greater flexibility in the administration of joint calls for proposals through EU partnerships.

Overall, the DFG’s position paper advocates a new framework programme that continues to focus primarily on excellence and openness. Additional proposals put forward by the DFG include a dedicated budget reserve for new priorities, a special intervention fund to support researchers at risk, and more targeted integration of adequate framework conditions for research in FP10.