The Commission’s proposals for the FP7 Capacities programme aim to enhance research and innovation capacities throughout Europe and ensure their optimal use. The Capacities programme is provided with a budget of EUR 4 097 million to operate in seven broad areas:

• Research infrastructures
• Research for the benefit of SMEs
• Regions of knowledge and support for regional research-driven clusters
• Research potential of Convergence Regions (Cordis Website)
• Science in society
• Support to the coherent development of research policies (Cordis Website)
• International cooperation

This specific programme also aims to:

• support the coherent development of policies;
• complement the Cooperation programme;
• contribute to EU policies and initiatives to improve the coherence and impact of Member States policies;
• find synergies with regional and cohesion policies, the Structural Funds, education and training programmes and the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) (Cordis Website).