Eurostars

What is Eurostars?

Eurostars is the first European funding and support programme for innovative small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) across all sectors.

The programme provides funding for market-orientated research and development produced by SMEs.  The Eurostars Programme encourages international collaborative research and innovation project by helping to ease access to support and funding.

Eurostars takes a 'bottom up' approach to project generation.  Projects can address any technological area and should be aimed at the development of a new product, process or service.

Eurostars eligibility

• A Eurostars project is collaborative, meaning it must involve at least two participants from two different Eurostars member countries
• The lead partner must be an R&D performing SME (10% of turnover or 10% of staff time dedicated to R&D activities)
• The consortium should be well balanced, which means that no participant or country will be required to invest more than 75% of the total project costs
• R&D performing SMEs have to undertake at least 50% of the total R&D project costs
• Project duration if 36 months or less
• Market introduction is foreseen within 2 years after the project has ended, with the exception of biomedical or medical projects where clinical trials must be started within two years of project completion

UK specific criteria

• Academics/universities and large companies are welcome to participate in a Eurostars project but must fund their own participation or use funds from other sources
• UK participants are eligible for up to 60% funding on eligible costs, with a maximum grant level per UK participant of €360,000
• Companies must be trading for over 12 months
• Eurostars is open for funding applications on a continuous basis, with an average of two application submission deadlines each year.

Eurostars is a joint programme between EUREKA and the European Commission, co-funded from the national budgets of 34 Eurostars Participataing States and Partner Countries and by the EU under Horizon 2020.  In the 2014-2020 period it has a total public budget of €1.14billion.