The international network EUREKA, through the funding programme EUROSTARS, is funding international R&D projects led by SMEs in cooperation with large companies, universities, research centres, and others. There is no maximum funding for this call and the maximum project duration is 36 months.

Deadline: 14 March 2024

Eurostars is a funding programme that supports innovative SMEs and project partners (large companies, universities, research organisations, and other types of entities) 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. To have a successful Eurostars application you must collaborate internationally, share expertise, and develop products, processes or services that can be easily commercialised.

The Portuguese funding body is the Agência Nacional de Inovação (ANI), which funds R&D costs for universities and research organisations (including those of the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores) participating in this programme. ANI covers 85% of project costs for universities or research organisations provided the companies are not receiving State Aid indirectly. For investments located at NUT II Lisboa, the maximum co-funding rate is 40% of eligible costs.

To be eligible for this funding programme:

– Portuguese universities and research organisations must have a Portuguese SME or small mid-cap company in the consortium.

– The consortium is led by an innovative SME from a Eurostars country;

– The consortium is composed of at least two entities that are independent of one another;

– The 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 has an exclusive focus on civil applications.

– The project must fall within national or regional Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation priority areas.

General information can be found here (Eureka) and national information is available here (ANI).

A similar call will be open from 12 July to 12 September so if you do not want to apply to this current call, you can prepare yourself for the next one.