EUREKA, the European network for innovation is calling for projects to fund
EUREKA instruments are often taken as a best-practice example of how to put together a project without burying the whole idea under red tape. A multi-lateral call for projects involving eleven European countries will support the realisation of international research projects; through the call, EUREKA, the network of national innovation funding agencies takes a step further by putting its know-how and staff at the service of innovative companies and research organisations. All projects submitted during the call will be checked by EUREKA National Project Coordinators (NPC), the locally-based contacts for any company or research organisation wishing to participate in a EUREKA project. Established within national agencies and ministries all around Europe, EUREKA NPCs help potential project participants and address them in their own language. Services offered range from the choice of the right EUREKA instrument to finding suitable partners for the project and the preparation of the application for funding. The application process is particularly easy, a single application form for EUREKA is available online, which is to be sent to National Project Coordinators in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, The Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey, depending on the applicant’s location. As a non-European associated country to EUREKA, Canada and South Korea will also participate in the call. Innovative companies and universities from EUREKA member countries which are not taking part this call and countries outside of the EUREKA Network may also participate on the agreement their own national innovation agency. EUREKA instruments are of several kinds, and their choice depends mainly on the type of research project to be developed. Those instruments all share the particularity of being ‘bottom-up’. This means that any organisation can participate and develop a project in any technological area. Jan Reichelt, CEO of the up-and-coming start-up Mendeley recently stated: ‘We did not have to adapt our project when we applied for funding in order to fit in some kind of framework. We could just present our idea as it was.’ Mendeley, based in the United Kingdom, participated in a EUREKA project together with partners from Austria and Estonia. Like hundreds of projects every year, it received funding on the sole basis of a great idea and an even better business plan. There are fundamental rules to take part in a EUREKA project. First, a project needs to be transnational and involve at least one company, university or research institute from a EUREKA member country and another in a member or associated country. Secondly, the project has to develop high-tech consumer products: future electronic tablets and smartphone technologies are the kind of products companies taking part in EUREKA aim at. EUREKA was created in 1985 with the aim to combine national research funding in Europe to support transnational research projects, more than 4,500 have been completed over the past twenty-seven years. Will yours be the next? For more information please do not hesitate to contact EUREKA at jointrdcall@eurekanetwork.org.
Countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Switzerland, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Türkiye, United Kingdom