Framework 7 (FP7) is the EU's little-known, but vital, science and technology programme.
Over the past seven years, a total of £42 billion has been
awarded to international consortia to develop and bring to the market
cutting-edge solutions. The UK is the second largest benefactor, after Germany, having secured inward investment from the EU's FP7 programme of about £800,000 per annum (representing about 12.5 per cent of what we put in to the EU).
The range of research is staggering and translating research into commercial realities is a key factor in all EU programmes. Perhaps the most ubiquitous example is the mobile phone.
The EU financially supported the European Telecoms Standards Institute (ETSI) development of the mobile phone standard. Europe led the world in commercialising this technology, creating hundreds of thousands of European jobs as a result.
In medicine, there are now a number of stem cell trials that
could lead to new therapies for motor neurone disease, blindness and
other diseases – in part greatly assisted by the EU bringing the
continent's leading medical researchers together to collaborate on
tackling major causes of disease.
Collaborative research into intelligent vehicles has been
supported for decades by the EU and now we take these features in our
cars for granted.
As finance for small businesses
dries up, due to banks not lending, and the abolition of the regional
development agencies, the EU offers great opportunities for British
business to seek financial support for innovation. In fact, over one-third of the funds from FP7 went to British
companies and research institutes to support their investment into new
technologies.
To walk away from the world's only international science and technology network is utter folly.
No comments:
Post a Comment