Across all FP7 themes, support to trans-national cooperation will be implemented through:

1. Collaborative projects
   Support for research projects carried out by consortia with participants from different countries, aiming at developing new knowledge, new technology, products, demonstration activities or common resources for research. The size, scope and internal organisation of projects can vary from field to field and from topic to topic. Projects can range from small or medium-scale focused research actions to large scale integrating projects for achieving a defined objective. Projects should also target special groups such as SMEs and other smaller actors.
   
   
2. Networks of Excellence
   Support for a Joint Programme of Activities implemented by a number of research organisations integrating their activities in a given field, carried out by research teams in the framework of longer term cooperation. The implementation of this Joint Programme of Activities will require a formal commitment of the organisations integrating part of their resources and their activities.
   
   
3. Coordination and support actions
   Support for activities aimed at coordinating or supporting research activities and policies (networking, exchanges, trans-national access to research infrastructures, studies, conferences, etc.). These actions may also be implemented by means other than calls for proposals.
   
   
4. Individual projects: Support for “frontier” research
   Support for projects carried out by individual national or transnational research teams. This scheme will be used to support investigator-driven "frontier" research projects funded in the framework of the European Research Council
• ERC Starting Grant
• Call Advanced Grant
  
  
5. Support for training and career development of researchers
   Support for training and career development of researchers, mainly to be used for the implementation of Marie Curie actions.
   Initial training
• Marie Curie Research Training Networks
• Marie Curie Host Fellowships for Early Stage Research Training
• Marie Curie actions-Large conferences
• Marie Curie actions-Series of events
• Marie Curie Chairs
Industry-academia
• Marie Curie Host Fellowships for the Transfer of Knowledge
Life-long training
• Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships
• Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships
• Marie Curie European Reintegration Grants
International dimension
• Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowships
• Marie Curie Incoming International Fellowships
• Marie Curie International Reintegration Grants
Specific actions
• Marie Curie Excellence Awards



6. Research for the benefit of specific groups (in particular SMEs)
   Support for research projects where the bulk of the research and technological development is carried out by universities, research centres or other legal entities, for the benefit of specific groups, in particular SMEs or associations of SMEs. Efforts will be made to mobilise additional financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and other financial organisations
   
   These schemes will be used, either alone or in combination, to fund actions implemented throughout the Framework Programme.
   Where different funding schemes can be used, the work programmes may specify the funding scheme to be used for the topic on which proposals are invited.