Eurostars is a European innovation program and an initiative of EUREKA and the European Commission. Eurostars provides projects with financial support through the national government of each participating country. The amount of the grant depends on the project activities, the nature of the participants and the country in which they are located. The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs makes an annual subsidy budget of approximately 18 million euros available, to be divided over 2 calls. Eurostars is intended for research performing SMEs. These are companies that use a specific part of their turnover or FTEs for applied research and experimental development. Eurostars helps (small) companies to carry out market-oriented technological development. Eurostars wants to shorten the time-to-market of these new technologies and reduce technical risks. Small companies can therefore develop and grow faster.
There are currently 34 Eurostars countries, namely the 27 EU countries, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Croatia, Israel, Turkey and South Korea.
International submission and review
Two steps are necessary to be eligible for a subsidy.
First Step
First, a full proposal must be submitted to the Eurostars secretariat in Brussels. This is done via an online application form.
Submitted project proposals are tested against the eligibility criteria below.
• The project coordinator is an R&D intensive SME from a Eurostars country
• At least 2 legal entities that are independent of one another from at least 2 Eurostars countries are involved
• There is a balanced consortium; no organization or country bears more than 75% of the costs
• The project duration is a maximum of 36 months
• Market introduction is expected within 24 months after project end
• The project has a civil application
• R&D intensive SMEs bear at least 50% of the total project costs, excluding subcontracting.
The proposals are substantively assessed and ranked by an independent international jury. Only projects that have been assessed above the threshold will be ranked. Proposals are evaluated against the following criteria:
• Project planning and quality consortium
• Market and commercialization
• Innovation and R&D
Second Step
The second step concerns the actual subsidy application in your own country. Only approved and scored proposals can be considered for funding. The national rules of the national programs apply.
Dutch registration and financing
In order to be eligible for funding in the Netherlands, a subsidy application is required at RVO.nl. This can be done via a paper form or electronically. The submission deadline is published in the Government Gazette. The right to a Dutch Eurostars subsidy expires if the application is not submitted on time. The amount of the subsidy depends on the type of activity and the type of organization. The maximum contribution per project is € 500,000 for all Dutch project partners together.
Eurostars call 15
The 15th call in Eurostars 2 was launched at the beginning of December 2020. The deadline for submitting international project proposals is Thursday 4 February 2021, 8:00 PM (CET). More information about this call can be found on the website of the Eureka secretariat.
Only internationally approved proposals can be considered for funding in the Netherlands. We expect the associated Dutch scheme to be opened in May 2021.
Eurostars-3
In addition, a follow-up program is being worked on. A first opening under the new Eurostars-3 program is not expected before the summer of 2021.
References:
https://www.rvo.nl/sites/default/files/2016/01/Factsheet%20Eurostars.pdf
https://www.rvo.nl/subsidie-en-financieringswijzer/eurostars
https://english.rvo.nl/subsidies-programmes/eurostars
https://www.eurekanetwork.org/programmes/Eurostars%20Eligibility%20Guidelines.pdf?language_id=1
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