The "Marie Curie Actions" have long been one of the most popular and appreciated features of the Community Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development. They have developed significantly in orientation over time, from a pure mobility fellowships programme to a programme dedicated to stimulating researchers’ career development.
The "Marie Curie Actions" under the Sixth Framework Programme were part of the Specific Programme dedicated to structuring the European Research Area. In the Seventh Framework Programme, the "Marie Curie Actions" have been regrouped and reinforced in the Specific Programme "People". Entirely dedicated to human resources in research, this Specific Programme has a significant overall budget of more than 4,7 billion Euros over a seven year period until 2013, which represents a 50% rise on average as compared FP6.
The "People" Specific Programme acknowledges that one of the main competitive edges in science and technology is the quantity and quality of its human resources. To support the further development and consolidation of the European Research Area, this Specific Programme's overall strategic objective is to make Europe more attractive for the best researchers.

The "People" Specific Programme will be implemented through actions under five headings:

'Initial training of researchers' to improve mostly young researchers' career perspectives in both public and private sectors, by broadening their scientific and generic skills, including those related to technology transfer and entrepreneurship.

'Life-long training and career development' to support experienced researchers in complementing or acquiring new skills and competencies or in enhancing inter/multidisciplinarity and/or inter-sectoral mobility, in resuming a research career after a break and in (re)integrating into a longer term research position in Europe after a trans-national mobility experience.

'Industry-academia pathways and partnerships' to stimulate intersectoral mobility and increase knowledge sharing through joint research partnerships in longer term co-operation programmes between organisations from academia and industry, in particular SMEs and including traditional manufacturing industries.

'International dimension', to contribute to the life-long training and career development of EU-researchers, to attract research talent from outside Europe and to foster mutually beneficial research collaboration with research actors from outside Europe.

'Specific actions' to support removing obstacles to mobility and enhancing the career perspectives of researchers in Europe.