EUREKA Eurostars

Eurostars is aimed at innovative small and medium-sized enterprises – those with less than 250 employees – that want to take part in collaborative research and innovation projects with partners across Europe and associated countries. Enterprise Ireland supports Irish SMEs who want to get involved.

SMEs can receive up to 50% of their costs of participating in a project, with a maximum grant of €450,000. The funding contribution is made up of both national funds (75%) and EU funds (25%).

Between 2014 and 2020, there will be two calls for proposals a year, with a total budget of €1.14 billion.

Only SMEs performing R&D are eligible for grant funding. To qualify as a research-performing SME, you must:

• Invest 10% or more of turnover into research; or,
• Have 10% of full-time equivalent staff working on research activities; or,
• Have 5 or more full-time staff working on research activities, if your business has 100 or fewer employees; or,
• Have 10 or more full-time staff working on research activities, if your business has 100 or more employees.

Academics, universities, Research and Technology Organisations, and large companies can participate in Eurostars, but they must use funds from other sources or fund their own participation.

If you qualify as a research-performing SME, you plan to develop an innovative new product, process, or service that you want to be rapidly commercialised, and you want to work in partnership with participants in other countries, Eurostars funding may be appropriate for you. The project duration must be 36 months or fewer, with market introduction within 24 months of the project's completion.

To apply for Eurostars funding, you will need to define a project and find partners.  You then need to contact the National Project Coordinator in Ireland, who will guide you through the application process, guidelines, and funding opportunities.

A typical Eurostars project has 3-4 participants from 2-3 different countries, with an average project duration of 29 months and €1.4 million in average project costs.

Eurostars is open to all projects in all technology areas and market fields. Projects must have a civilian purpose.

Preparation of a Eurostars application can take up to 300 hours of work.

You will need the right combination of people to cover the application’s key aspects: the project’s implementation, market and commercialisation, and innovation. You will need to work closely with your partners.

Eurostars applications have a two-step evaluation process:

• Applications are assessed by three independent experts. If at least two of the three experts agree that at least two of the three main criteria (‘quality and efficiency of the implementation’, ‘impact – market and commercialisation’, and ‘excellence – innovation and R&D’) are satisfactory, the application advances to the next stage of evaluation.
• In the second stage of evaluation, the results of assessments are used by the Independent Evaluation Panel (IEP) to score and rank all eligible applications. If an application is above the quality threshold and funding is available, the project is approved for funding.

The success rate for Eurostars applications is 30%.

Your Eurostars application is more likely to succeed if it:

• Shows how the project results in a real innovation and doesn’t replicate products currently on the market
• Provides a convincing company description which explains why you are more likely to succeed than a competitor
• Includes a clear and thorough description of the business opportunity, not just a description of the project.
• Demonstrates a clear understanding of the target market, including commercialisation and competitor information.

Eurostars applications are first assessed by three independent experts. These experts are matched to applications by their technological expertise, familiarity with the market applications, and SME experience.

In the second stage of evaluation, the Independent Evaluation Panel (IEP) scores and ranks all eligible applications. The IEP is led by a chairperson, and includes internationally recognised experts in their field. The IEP members cover a variety of professional sectors, and are chosen according to the profiles of the applications and the technical requirements at the time.

Approximately 4 weeks after the submission deadline, applicants are informed whether or not their application is eligible.

Approximately 14 weeks after the submission deadline, applicants are informed whether their application is above or below the quality threshold and if it is being considered for funding.

Approximately 19 weeks after the submission deadline, applicants that are ranked above the quality threshold are informed of the availability for funding.

Within 4 months of the application submission deadline, the EUREKA Secretariat announces the projects that have been approved for funding.

All funding to participants is managed by their respective funding body, according to national funding rules and procedures.

Myriad Associates have an enviable track record with R&D grant applications. Using our grant application services can give you a significant competitive advantage over other grant applicants.

Project Assessment – Our specialist consultants discuss all the relevant technical, commercial and financial details of your R&D project with you and assess your chances of success.

Workshop Session – We will take you through a workshop session so that we fully understand your project in terms of the technical problems and solution, commercial opportunities, market dynamics, project team and financial projections.

Grant Writing – We research, prepare, and write an award-winning R&D grant application for your review and approval.

Submission and Feedback – We complete the online registration process and submit the web-based grant application on your behalf. Grant assessors provide feedback on both successful and unsuccessful grant applications, and we review this feedback with you to give you on-going advice and guidance.

Compliance and Monitoring – When your grant application is approved, we help you comply with all requests from the grant body’s monitoring officers.

For more information on Eureka Eurostars grants, download our fact sheet here.