The Eurostars programme, organised by Eureka, supports innovative SMEs and their partners (other SMEs, large companies, academic institutions, research institutes, and any other types of organisations) by funding international collaborative R&D and innovation projects.
In a Eurostars project, a minimum of 2 partners from different Eureka member states work jointly to develop innovative products, processes, or services. The programme targets SME-driven projects having high market potential and real technical barriers. Calls are open to all technological fields.
Funding applications can be targeted at the development of innovative products, processes, or services that can be commercialised in European and global markets. Commercialisation should be planned to start rapidly after the end of the project. For biotechnology, biomedical, and medical projects, commercialisation, or clinical trials should be planned to start rapidly after the end of the project.
No formal limits are imposed on overall grant sizes but because Eurostars works as a joint programme, national rules apply to participants from a given member state.
To give an example, Danish SMEs may obtain a funding rate of between 60-75%, with a maximum requested contribution for Danish partners in a given project of €300k, or a total of €500k if more than one Danish partner participates.
Maximum duration of a Eurostars project is 3 years.
In Eurostars proposals, at least 2 partners from 2 different Eurostars countries need to participate, whereof at least 1 should be an innovative SME. Key evaluation criteria include:
