Description

Eurostars is part of the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs. The partnership is co-funded by the European Union through Horizon Europe.

Eurostars is a funding instrument that supports innovative SMEs and project partners (large companies, universities, research organisations and other types of organisations) by funding international collaborative R&D and innovation projects. By participating, organisations can access public funding for international collaborative R&D projects in all fields.

Funding Information

The amount of funding your organisation receives when you participate in a project is managed by your national funding body. Funding rules vary from country to country and your national funding body decides:

To have a successful Eurostars application you must:

• Define your project idea.
• Collaborate internationally, sharing expertise.
• Develop products, processes or services that can be easily commercialised.

You can submit your R&D and innovation project application between 14 July 2023 and 14 September 2023 at 14:00 CEST using our project platform (myeurekaproject.org). Your project consortium must have an innovative SME in the leading role, but it can also include other types of organisations like large companies, universities, research organisations and more.

Eligibility Criteria

To apply, you must fulfil seven eligibility criteria:

• The project consortium is led by an innovative SME* from a Eurostars country.
• The project consortium is composed of at least two entities that are independent of one another.
• The project consortium is composed of entities from at least two Eurostars countries with at least one organisation coming from an EU or Horizon Europe Associated Country.
• The budget of the SMEs from the participating countries (excluding any subcontracting) is 50% or more of the total project cost.
• No single participant or country is responsible for more than 70% of the budget of the project.
• The project duration is 36 months or less.
• The project has an exclusive focus on civil applications.

Evaluation Process

Eurostars has a centralised and transparent evaluation for selecting projects to receive funding.

Independent evaluators will score your project application against three criteria and their subcriteria:

1. Quality and efficiency of the implementation: Quality of the consortium; Added value through cooperation; Realistic and clearly defined project management and planning; Reasonable cost structure.
2. Impact: Market size; Market access and risk; Competitive advantage; Clear and realistic commercialisation plans; Economic, environmental, and societal impact.
3. Excellence: Degree of innovation; New applied knowledge; Level of technical challenge; Technical achievability and risk.

Results are communicated at each step:

• Eligibility check (within one week of 14 September 2023)
• Legal and financial viability check (late October 2023)
• Expert evaluation conducted by three independent experts per project (late October 2023)
• Independent Evaluation Panel and ranking of project applications (early December 2023)
• Ethics review (early December 2023)

Applications are considered for funding if:

• They are among the best 200 projects evaluated by the remote experts which progress to the Independent Evaluation Panel and Ethics Review.
• All project partners receive a positive Legal and Financial Viability outcome.
• The Independent Evaluation Panel considered the projects to be excellent or good quality.

Learn more about our evaluation and monitoring process on our website.

We will communicate whether your project will be able to receive funding by mid-December 2023 and the objective is that agreements with your national funding body are signed between five and seven months after the submission deadline.

If your project application was rejected and you believe this was due to a procedural mistake during the eligibility check, the legal and financial viability check or the evaluation of your application, the consortium leader can submit a redress request. A redress request can only be based on procedural grounds, with clear evidence of the reasons for complaint.