The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental policy and legislation by co-financing pilot or demonstration projects with European added value.

Boosting skills and employability. The programme will increase the quality and relevance of Europe’s education systems by providing funding for the professional development of education and training staff, as well as youth workers and for cooperation between universities, colleges, schools, enterprises, and not-for-profit organisations.

COSME is the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). It supports the competitiveness, growth and sustainability of EU's enterprises, in particular SMEs, and promoting entrepreneurship. To reach this, the programme eases SME's access to finance by providing loan guarantees and risk-capital, facilitates access to new markets inside and outside the EU and improves the framework conditions for businesses, e.g. by reducing the administrative burden on SMEs.

Supporting European cinema and the cultural and creative sector and enabling them to increase their contribution to jobs and growth. The programme will support tens of thousands of artists, cultural professionals and cultural organisations in the performing arts, fine arts, publishing, film, TV, music, interdisciplinary arts, heritage, and the video games industry, allowing them to operate across Europe, to reach new audiences and to develop the skills that are needed in the digital age. By helping European cultural works to reach new audiences in other countries, the new programme will also contribute to safeguarding and promoting Europe's cultural and linguistic diversity.

Securing Europes global competitiveness, strengthening its position in science and its industrial leadership in innovation by providing major investment in key technologies, greater access to capital and support for SMEs. The programme aims at tackling societal challenges by helping to bridge the gap between research and the market. Horizon 2020 is designed to be a different kind of EU research programme - funding the entire value creation chain from fundamental research through to market innovation, and with drastically less red tape.

European Structural Funds provide EU Member States and regions with assistance to overcome structural deficiencies and to enable them to strengthen competitiveness and increase employment. The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for Structural Funds in Scotland and has overall responsibility for supervising the implementation; ongoing management; and effectiveness of the programmes. In the period from 2014-20, Scotland will focus the Structural Funds on achieving structural reforms which facilitate sustainable economic growth. As EU Funds are deployed alongside significantly greater national resources, efforts will focus on quite specific niche investments which would not otherwise take place, or not to the same scale and timeframes, without Structural Funds. Deliberate efforts to create alignment between all EU Funds deployed in Scotland should ensure that the funds act together to support growth and jobs.

European Structural Funds provide EU Member States and regions with assistance to overcome structural deficiencies and to enable them to strengthen competitiveness and increase employment. The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for Structural Funds in Scotland and has overall responsibility for supervising the implementation; ongoing management; and effectiveness of the programmes. In the period from 2014-20, Scotland will focus the Structural Funds on achieving structural reforms which facilitate sustainable economic growth. As EU Funds are deployed alongside significantly greater national resources, efforts will focus on quite specific niche investments which would not otherwise take place, or not to the same scale and timeframes, without Structural Funds. Deliberate efforts to create alignment between all EU Funds deployed in Scotland should ensure that the funds act together to support growth and jobs.

The Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme (NPA)2014-2020 forms a cooperation between 9 programme partner countries; the Member States of Finland, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom (Scotland and Northern Ireland) in cooperation with the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and Norway. This means that the programme area encompasses the Euro-Arctic zone, parts of the Atlantic zone and parts of the Barents region, neighbouring on Canada in the West and Russia in the East.

The Cross-border Territorial Cooperation Programme for Northern Ireland, the Border Region of Ireland and Western Scotland (INTERREG Programme), is a European Territorial Cooperation programme that aims to promote greater economic, social and territorial cohesion. It seeks to address the economic and social problems which result from the existence of borders.

The Programme aims to embed greater cooperation in working practices across the North Sea Region (NSR) as a way of tackling joint challenges, pooling expertise and building lasting links between businesses and institutions throughout the NSR. The North Sea Region (NSR) comprises the whole of Norway and Denmark, the eastern parts of the United Kingdom, three provinces of the Flemish Region of Belgium, the north western regions of Germany, the northern and western parts of the Netherlands and the south western area of Sweden. All regions are on or close to the coast of the North Sea itself. The NSR covers an area of some 664,000 km2 and approximately 60 million people.

The Interreg VB North West Europe (NWE) programme is a transnational European Territorial Cooperation Programme and is one of the European Cohesion Policy instruments funded by the European Commission. It is designed to strengthen territorial cohesion within the NWE area by reducing imbalances among the regions. The NWE programme funds activities based on the cooperation of partners from eight countries: Ireland, the Untied Kingdom, Belgium, and Luxembourg, parts of France, Germany and the Netherlands as well as the non-EU member state Switzerland. The area has a population of about 180 million people living in the eligible area of 845 000 km². The ambition defined by the Member States for the NWE area is: “To be a key economic player in the world and create an attractive place to work and live, with high levels of innovation, sustainability and cohesion”

INTERREG EUROPE is one of the instruments for the implementation of the EU’s cohesion policy. With this policy, the EU pursues harmonious development across the Union by strengthening its economic, social and territorial cohesion to stimulate growth in the EU regions and Member States. The policy aims to reduce existing disparities between EU regions in terms of their economic and social development and environmental sustainability, taking into account their specific territorial features and opportunities. For the 2014-2020 funding period, cohesion policy concentrates on supporting the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy. To reinforce the effectiveness of cohesion policy, the INTERREG EUROPE programme promotes exchange of experience on thematic objectives among partners throughout the Union on the identification and dissemination of good practice with a view to its transfer principally to operational programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal but also, where relevant, to programmes under European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) goal. This will be done via the support and facilitation of policy learning, sharing of knowledge and transfer of good practices between regional and local authorities and other actors of regional relevance. The programme covers the whole territory of the European Union (EU) and Norway and Switzerland. The overall objective is defined for the INTERREG EUROPE programme: To improve the implementation of policies and programmes for regional development, principally of programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal and, where relevant, of programmes under the ETC goal, by promoting exchange of experience and policy learning among actors of regional relevance.

URBACT III will be a European Territorial Cooperation programme jointly financed by the European Union (through the European Regional Development Fund) and Member States and will be delivered across the 2014-2020 programming period. It is proposed that URBACT III will act as a European exchange and learning programme promoting sustainable urban development. It will enable European cities to work together to develop solutions to urban challenges and share good practices, lessons and solutions with all stakeholders involved in urban policy throughout Europe. The programme will cover all of the 28 Member States of the European Union as well as the two partner countries of Norway and Switzerland. It is therefore proposed that URBACT III will facilitate the sharing of knowledge and good practice between cities and other levels of government in order to promote integrated sustainable development and improve the effectiveness of regional and cohesion policy. In doing this URBACT III will contribute to the Europe 2020 goals by providing a mechanism for stakeholders involved in developing and implementing urban policy to develop their knowledge and skills. The new knowledge and skills acquired from participation in the URBACT III programme will contribute to stronger and more vibrant European cities and help tackle a range of emerging urban issues linked to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (the three Europe 2020 priorities).

The Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) channels millions of pounds into the rural economy. It will help create vibrant rural communitries, protect and enhance our environment, support rural businesses, and help the farming industry to grow and modernise. Funding is used for a diverse range of projects by individuals, businesses and groups through grant schemes.

The EMFF is the fund for the EU's maritime and fisheries policies for 2014-2020. The EMFF is one of the 5 European Structural and Investment which complement each other and seek to deliver growth and jobs based recovery in the EU. The Fund replaces the EFF and is the fund to support maritime and fisheries policies for 2014-2020.It operates through programmes administered through the Member States of the EU, though the European Commission also occasionally runs calls for EU wide projects. The EMFF is structured around 4 pillars but in addition to the four pillars, the EMFF will include accompanying measure including data collection and scientific advice, control sustainability of fisheries markets and technical assistance.

The main objective of Urban Innovative Actions is to provide urban authorities throughout Europe with space and resources to experiment new innovative answers to interconnected and complex local challenges. Through this new Initiative, urban authorities have the possibility to test how new and unproven solutions work in practice and how they respond to the complexity of real life.