Research Fund for Coal and Steel
	EU Research Framework Programme
	Society for Promoting Iron Research (VDEh-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Eisenforschung mbH) (AiF member)
	Stiftung Stahlanwendungsforschung
	Research Association for Steel Application (Forschungsvereinigung Stahlanwendung e. V., FOSTA)
	Other national promotional programmes and project promoters
	European Steel Technology Platform

Forschungs

Research Fund for Coal and Steel
The Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) expired on 23 July 2002. The reserves of the ECSC formed from the levies paid by the coal and steel industry have been transferred to the European Community. The income from the reserves will be used from 2003 for the Research Fund for Coal and Steel. A total of some 60 mill. ˆ are available for 2004, of which 72.8 % will be for steel research and 27.2 % for coal research.

Priority thematic areas of steel research include:

• New and improved steel making and processing techniques
• Development and use of steels
• Conservation of resources and improvement of working conditions

Applications are assessed according to the following criteria:

• Scientific and technical demands
• Innovative content
• Industrial interest
• Economic relevance and contribution towards the political goals of the EU
• Quality of the partnerships, management and input resources

The applications should, where possible, include partners from more than one EU member state, which is not always practical in case of pilot or demonstration projects.

Once approved, research projects are awarded 60 % and pilot and demonstration projects 40 % funding.

The cut-off date for the submission of applications to the European Commission, Directorate General Research, is 15 September of each year. Details concerning the submission of applications, application forms and financial and technical organisation of the projects can be inferred from the  Internet homepage of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel.

EU Research Framework Programme
At the end of 2002 the 5th Research Framework Programme of the EU was superseded by the 6^th Framework Programme (FP6) for the period until 2006. A total of 17.5 billion ˆ is available for FP6. 

Of the 7 mentioned priority thematic areas, the following are of particular interest for steel research:

• Nanotechnologies and nanosciences, knowledge-based multifunctional materials and new production processes,
• Sustainable development, global changes and ecosystems

The research applications are structured according to the "instruments“ that should be used for the special submission of applications:

• Priority thematic areas
• Handling in large “Integrated Projects” (IP)
• Collaboration in Networks of Excellence
• Specific Targeted Research or Innovation Projects (specific activities)
• Accumulation of new knowledge for the development of products, processes or services
• Projects to demonstrate the usefulness of new technologies

Particularly small and medium enterprises (SME) are addressed in these respects.

A detailed description of FP6 can be found here.

For further information on projects in the fields of materials and sustainable development, contact the Jülich-based project promoter (PTJ)

and, for production processes and manufacturing technologies, contact the Karlsruhe-based project promoter (www.fzk.de/pft)

Society for Promoting Iron Research (VDEh-Gesellschaft z. Förderung der Eisenforschung mbH) (AiF member)

Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen "Otto von Guericke" e.V. (AiF) promotes research and development for the benefit of small and medium enterprises (SME). At the same time it is the umbrella for an innovation network linking together business, science and the public sector and offers practical advice on matters of innovation. As a promoter of industrial cooperative research and other promotional programmes in Germany at national and regional level, the AiF seeks to further the achievement potential of small- and medium-sized businesses. For this purpose the AiF has built up an infrastructure consisting of an industrially supported innovation network that encompasses over 100 industrial research associations representing some 50,000 SME, around 800 affiliated research establishments, and two offices in Cologne and Berlin. These research associations also include Society for Promoting Iron Research (VDEh-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Eisenforschung mbH), which as a nonprofit organisation arranges the public funding of research projects. The funds procured by this organisation, above all research funds of the AiF deriving from the budget of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour, serve particularly to finance research projects at universities, colleges and other scientific institutes. The activity of the organisation is geared essentially to administrating the funding of research and training. This includes examining applications, settling invoices, monitoring compliance with approval conditions, submitting applications and providing support for publicly funded research work. The Research Committee of the Steel Institute VDEh acts as a panel of experts to assess submitted applications.

Address
VDEh-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Eisenforschung mbH
Postfach 10 51 45
40042 Düsseldorf
Telefon: +49 (0)211 6707 482
Telefax: +49 (0) 211 6707 671
e-mail: eisenforschung@stahl-zentrum.de

Contact
Mr Wolfgang Saul
Dr.-Ing. Ralph Sievering
Dipl.-Kfm. Rudolf Poss

Stiftung Stahlanwendungsforschung

Stiftung Stahlanwendungsforschung took up its work as an independent foundation within Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft in 1986. Its assets originate from the surplus of the Settlement Agency for the Regional Price Equalisation Fund for Regions beyond the Ruhr District. This civil-law foundation has legal capacity, its registered office is located in Essen, Germany.

Purpose of the foundation:

The foundation is active, exclusively and directly, for public-benefit purposes, as defined under the section on "Tax-favoured Purposes“ of the German Fiscal Code.

Its purpose is the promotion of scientific and technical research in the field of steel processing and application. This purpose is achieved especially through

• procurement of funding to realise the tax-favoured purposes of other tax-favoured corporate bodies or public bodies, 
• promotion of training (e.g. through the award of scholarships)
• information of the public.

The foundation funds are awarded for the mentioned purposes in equal shares to corporate bodies or persons from the field of steel processing or steel making.

The foundation executives decide on the award of funding after assessment by, and on the recommendation of, a panel of experts. Applications for the award of funding are submitted exclusively through Research Association for Steel Application (Forschungsvereinigung Stahlanwendung e.V., FOSTA) or through  Forschungsvereinigung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Eisen und Metall verarbeitenden Industrie e.V. (AVIF), Ratingen.

Research Association for Steel Application (Forschungsvereinigung Stahlanwendung e.V., FOSTA) (AiF member)
Research Association for Steel Application, established in 1968 as a non-profit, registered association by German steel producers, promotes the applied research and development of steel materials.

Other national promotional programmes and project promoters Promotion database of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour

Through the Promotion database of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour on the Internet, the Federal Government provides a complete and up-to-date overview of the promotional programmes offered at national and regional level and by the European Union. The promotion activities are classed according to uniform criteria and in a consistent representative manner, irrespective of the level of promotion or promoter. The connections between the individual programmes of relevance for efficient use of government funding are also indicated.

The programmes of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour (BMWA) are organised through project promoters. The programmes currently most important for steel research are supported by the following project promoters.

The Jülich-based project promoter (PTJ) at Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH (FZJ) has as its main function the technical and administrative support of projects funded within the scope of research and technology programmes of the BMBF and BMWA. They include the MaTech materials research programme and the field of energy research.

The Karlsruhe-based promoter of production and manufacturing technologies projects (PFT) at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH promotes, on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the framework concepts of "Research for the production of tomorrow" and "Production 2000".

The Environmental research and technology project promoter of the BMBF is responsible for the thematic areas of "economics-related sustainability and integrated environmental technology“, research on global change, and regional environmental research.

The information technology project promoter of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) at Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Germany's aerospace centre, has been commissioned by the BMBF, since 1988, to give support to German applicants for the EU information and communication technology research programmes through its "EU Programmes" organisation unit.

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is science's central self-governing body for the promotion of research at universities and publicly funded research institutes in Germany. It serves science in all its branches through financial support of research projects and promotion of cooperation among researchers.