Key Features
Eurostars is part of the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs. The partnership is co-funded by the European Union through Horizon Europe.
Programme: Horizon Europe
Award: Share of up to Euro 360,000
Opens: 4th Jul 2025
Closes: 4th Sep 2025
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.
To have a successful Eurostars application you must define your project idea, collaborate internationall sharing expertise and develop products, processes or services that can be easily commercialised.
You can submit your R&D and innovation project application between 4 July 2025 and 4 September 2025 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.
To apply, you must fulfil seven international eligibility criteria:
*We define an innovative SME as any SMEs with the ambition to collaborate on R&D and innovation with international partners to develop new products, processes, and services for European and global markets. Innovative SMEs do not need to have a proven track record of R&D activities.
R&D: “Research and experimental development (R&D) comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge of humankind, culture and society – and to devise new applications of available knowledge.” (OECD Frascati Manual 2015, p. 44) Innovation: “a new or improved product or process (or combination thereof) that differs significantly from the unit’s previous products or processes and that has been made available to potential users (product) or brought into use by the unit (process).” (OECD Oslo Manual 2018, p. 20).
**Eurostars countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom.
***Eurostars countries which are not an EU member state or a Horizon Europe Associated Country are: Canada, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa.
As from 1st January 2025, entities established in the Switzerland are considered to be established in a Horizon Europe Associated Country.
****If justified, you may be permitted an extension after your project has started. This request will undergo an evaluation to determine whether the extension of the project is duly justified by the participants. It must be approved by the Eureka Secretariat and the relevant national funding bodies.
*****Meaning that neither is under the direct or indirect control of the other or under the same direct or indirect control as the other. For the full definition, please read the guidelines “Eurostars eligibility guidelines”
Please read all our guidelines before submitting a project application. If you do not meet all our international eligibility criteria, your application will be rejected. Additionally, you might need to fulfil national or regional eligibility criteria. Please check with your national or regional funding body.
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:
2. Impact:
3. Excellence:
Results are communicated at each step:
Applications are considered for funding if:
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 2025 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.
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:
If you are from a Eurostars country, you can discover what funding is available for your organisation on our country-specific pages at www.eurekanetwork.org and by contacting your national or regional funding body using our contact form. Your national funding body may have maximum funding amount per project or project partner.
Organisations from non-Eurostars countries can participate by self-funding their project costs.