Call for innovative projects for Eurostars-3

Some European support programmes remain unaffected from the third country status of Switzerland with regard to Horizon Europe. Among these programmes for which Swiss start-ups can apply is Eurostars. With 37 participating countries, Eurostars is a joint programme of EUREKA and the European Union aiming to support innovative small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing products, processes, and services and bringing them to the market.

The newly launched Eurostars-3 programme will fund market-led, cross-border research, development, and innovative, collaborative projects. Eurostars focuses on innovative SMEs, including start-ups and established companies with at least one employee and enough resources to self-fund their part of a project. According to the EU definition, an SME employs less than 250 full-time-equivalent persons and has an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million.

Projects of more than CHF1 million
Switzerland has participated in the Eurostars2 programme from 2014 to 2021 and supported over 280 projects. “A regular Eurostars project in the past Program had about three partners and total costs of around 1.2 Mio Euro”, said Colette John-Grant, EUREKA National Project Coordinator at Innosuisse. The Swiss innovation agency is responsible for issuing the contracts, paying out the funding and the financial reporting in Switzerland. With a budget of CHF 7 million per call, Innosuisse will support approved projects with up to 50 per cent of their project costs.

Call for application from Switzerland
The open call for applications for Eurostars-3 for Switzerland closes on 24 March. Eligible to apply are SME-led projects from one Eurostars country. The project consortium is composed of at least two independent entities – large companies, universities and Universities of applied science, research organisations and other types of organisations if they are recognized by Innosuisse. At least one organisation in the consortium comes from an EU or Horizon Europe Associated Country. SMEs must cover at least 50 per cent of the project costs, and the project duration does not exceed 36 months. Funding rules vary per country.

The evaluation criteria include quality of the consortium and methodology, added value through cooperation, excellence in innovation, time-to-market and return on investment, contribution to sustainable development. Three months after the cut-off date, the Eureka Secretariat will inform applicants of the result of the evaluation. Projects are funded if all involved countries have the necessary financial resources to cover the cost of the parties originating from their country.

The evaluation of the applications and the reporting on the projects is carried out centrally in Brussels by the EUREKA Association Secretariat for all participating countries. Innosuisse is responsible for issuing the contracts, paying out the funding and the financial reporting in Switzerland.

Swiss participants are advised to contact Innosuisse for a formal check before submitting a project. Contact persons are Janique Siffert, Eurostars Project and Program Manager, Phone: 058 466 70 70 Email: janique.siffert@innosuisse.ch and Colette John-Grant, EUREKA National Project Coordinator Phone: 058 466 77 32 Email: colette.john@innosuisse.ch.

Finding partners through Enterprise Europe Network
The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) supports SMEs in working with other businesses in Europe and countries outside of Europe, implementing innovation and research projects and entering new markets. The network consists of more than 600 member organisation in over 60 countries, and offers free of charge services to all Swiss organizations, including R&D institutions and academia.

(RAN)