To participate in an activity deployed under the Seventh European Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7), applicants must reply to a call for project proposals. Each call specifies the activities to be funded, the partnership rules, the themes, the participation rules and the selection criteria.

The specific programmes of FP7 regularly publish calls for project proposals. Calls to be issued in any given year are outlined in the annual work programmes, which are available on the CORDIS website.

The European Commission usually issues one or two FP7 calls per year. These calls are published in the Official Journal of the European Union and on the CORDIS website. All open calls are announced in the Calls for project proposals section of this portal.

Applicants can reply to a call from the day of its official publication until the day it closes. This reply takes the form of a project proposal. Project proposals must be submitted electronically, through the Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS) available through the Participant Portal of FP7.

Support for applicants preparing project proposals is available from a range of services:

• The CORDIS website offers complete information on all calls as well as practical guidelines explaining the procedures.
• The National Contact Points (NCPs), which exist in all Member States of the European Union, offer personalised guidance: information, identification of potential partners, assistance and follow-up. The National Contact Point for Luxembourg is Luxinnovation.
• Private consultants can assist with the preparation of a research project in the FP7 framework and can help with the search for project partners. The costs associated with the preparation of a European project by businesses can be co-financed through the Fit4Europe measure of the Ministry of the Economy and Foreign Trade.

Once the call has closed, all project proposals are evaluated by independent experts based on the participation criteria specified in the call.