How can I participate?

Photo from the kick-off meeting between the parties working on the SESS project in Risø, January 2009. Cables/sensors. Photo: Lars Christensen.

Administration

Applications and assessment of Eurostars applications are managed by the EUREKA Secretariat in Brussels. When a project has been approved, national authorities take over the administration of the payment of subsidies, etc.

The biannual progress reports for the whole project must be submitted to the EUREKA Secretariat by the project coordinator. An approved Eurostars project automatically qualifies as a EUREKA project.

Approx. five months elapse between the application deadline and a response to the application.

For a detailed guide on the above state subsidy rules please refer to the guidelines and guide to the application form for pre-projects for Eurostars and EUREKA projects.

The project requirements in brief

Eurostars projects can be set up within all professional areas – but Eurostars projects must meet a number of minimum requirements:

• They must have a clear market-oriented profile;
• They must have a civilian purpose;
• They must have the purpose of developing a new project, process or service;
• They must have a duration of no more than three years and it must be possible to market the projects no later than two years after the project has been completed. Biotech projects must at least be ready for their clinical phase one to two years after the project has been completed;
• They must have a minimum of two participating members from two different Eurostars countries and at least 50% must be carried out by research-intensive small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs);
• Project participants must be well-balanced so that no participating party or country bears more than 75% of the investment;
• Only research-intensive SMEs can apply for Eurostars projects.

Project assessment

Eurostars applications are assessed by a joint international panel of experts. The expert panel currently consists of 600 assessors, of whom 35 are from Denmark. The experts have been selected on the basis of their research knowledge in a number of specific areas and for their knowledge of research and development activities in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Assessors evaluate project applications using three parameters:

• The project’s partners, finance and aims 
• The research and innovation level 
• Market potential and competitiveness

In the assessment of applications, emphasis is also placed on there being a sensible balance between the participating countries and project partners. National authorities contribute to the assessment with an evaluation of the project participants’ financial commitment and background and of the draft consortium agreement accompanying the application.

Photo from the kick-off meeting between the parties working on the SESS project in Risø, January 2009. Wind turbine blades with sensors. Photo: Lars Christensen.

On the basis of the expert assessment and national authority assessments, a joint assessment panel of 9 senior experts rank all assessments to ensure that the best projects achieve the highest score.

A high score is important as only the best projects can be subsidised using the funds earmarked by member countries for Eurostars.

A typical Eurostars project

A typical Eurostars project has a total budget of approx. DKK 10-15 million. Two to three member countries participate in the project and the project consortium often consists of two to three small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a knowledge institution and perhaps also a larger corporation, i.e. approx. three to five participants.

Distribution of funding

The maximum amount has to be distributed among the Danish parties.
The Danish distribution is set as follows:

• Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): Up to 50% of project costs are covered.
• Universities, public knowledge institutions and approved technical institutes (GTSes): Up to 75% if they form part of a partnership with a Danish SME and up to 40% if they are not working with Danish SMEs.
• Large corporations (i.e. with more than 250 employees): No subsidy.

Approval and payment of subsidy

If an application is approved, the participating countries are under an obligation to provide subsidies for the projects within the ear-marked budgets for the country concerned.
If the ear-marked budget in a country is exceeded, the country may increase the budget if this is possible in order for more eligible projects to be approved.