1. Introduction

Are you interested in European socio-economic research activities?
Now you have a second opportunity!

The 2nd deadline for research proposal submission under FP7-SSH is closing:
29 November 2007.

For more information on current opportunities read on

If you need any assistance, contact the PLATON partners.

2. Project information

• PLATON results for the 1st call
  All the PLATON project services aim at supporting mainly SMEs and SME groupings, but also research teams, in participating in socio-economic research projects within the European Framework programme. During this year PLATON partners have performed a broad spectrum of activities to attract European organisations and increase participation in SSH research projects. Read more...

• PLATON e-Services for European organisations
  To facilitate consortium building, namely the identification of suitable partners to collaborate in future proposals, a wide range of web based services (e-Services) has been developed by PLATON partners available to any interested in European socio-economic research organization. Read the full story...

3. European News and Opportunities

• Results from the first Call of FP7-SS
  The first Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities Call for proposals closed on the 10th  of May 2007: the response, interest and participation has been higher than the expectations! The Commission received more than 500 proposals from all over Europe. The Topics addressed by the first deadline were a total of 21 covering all 8 Activities of the work programme. The budget available for funding was about 80 Million Euro and the request from applicants raised up to 300 Million Euro! Read more...

• New Early-warning system for SMEs
  In order to detect new challenges as soon as possible, members of the European initiative EQUAL compiled a toolbox with early-warning systems especially for SMEs. The box contains a concomitant booklet with instructions on the tools and a cd with continuative materials. Read more on...

• New internet portal WorldWideScience online
  A new web portal WorldWidescience has been launched by the United States Department of Energy (DEO) and the British Library. The site pro-vides a single entry point to several national and international scientific databases. The gateway crosslinks 15 national portals in 9 countries. Read more on...
  The portal can be found on: http://worldwidescience.org

4. PLATON News and Events

• PLATON Presents First Results at ESSHRA Conference
  UAcitivities and results of the PLATON project to date have been presented at the international conference "Towards a Knowledge Society: Is Knowledge a Public Good? "taking place in Bern on 12 and 13 June 2007. The reason for giving a first survey at that point of time was the deadline of the first call for proposals for research projects in the and Social Sciences and Humanities within the 7th Framework Programme shortly before. PLATON has brought scientists and SMEs together to submit joint research projects. View the First Results...

• PLATON events Sept.-Nov. 2007
  As the second deadline for the FP7-SSH proposal submission is approaching, from September till November 2007 all PLATON project partners organize several events aiming at providing general information and more detailed and practical tips for research proposal elaboration. These events are also the great opportunity for their participants to present and discuss their research ideas and to find the partners for future collaboration. View the full list of events.

5. Highlights

• SERVICE-FUTURE proposal : A GOLDEN RESULT OF PLATON ACTIVITIES
  SERVICE-FUTURE is a medium-scale collaborative research project proposal submitted on 10 May 2007 under FP7-SSH call 1. It outlines the critical role of PLATON project (namely its partners and infrastructure) in the proposal elaboration. Read the full text

• CORDIS provides new service on the co-ordination of FP7 activities
  CORDIS has a new service which focuses on some of the FP7 activities that operate at a more strategic level such as ERA-NETs, Article 169, Joint Technology Initiatives and Grants to named recipients. The new service responds to feedback from stakeholders during the FP7 consultation that such activities should be more transparent. Each type of activity now receives more detailed focus, including enquiry services and sets of 'frequently asked questions'. The site will also be updated with documents to form a library to provide updates on ERA-Watch and Technology Platforms.
  The service can be accessed at...