Conduct or participate in an international collaborative research project - Eurostars

Summary

The Eurostars programme, a partnership between the intergovernmental Eureka initiative and the European Commission, is intended to support SMEs that are heavily involved in research and innovation, are "market-oriented”, have significant potential for growth that wish to conduct a research project within the framework of an international collaboration.

This programme targets projects that are carried out by SMEs heavily involved in research, that is, SMEs that invest at least 10 % of their turnover or jobs in R&D. This is what sets these projects apart from Eureka projects (in addition to an integrated evaluation system). Projects are bottom-up; they can be submitted in any sector, but must be very clearly market-oriented.

A consortium of at least two partners from two Eurostars member countries can submit a proposal and as many partners as necessary may be involved. The main partner must be an SME that is heavily involved in research and over 50 % of the research must be carried out by an SME of this kind.

Key points

In addition to submitting the project to the Eurostars programme, applicants must submit an application for funding with FPS Research via the ONTIME portal, under penalty of being deemed ineligible.  This application must be written in French and submitted via the ONTIME portal when the Eurostars call closes.

The Eurostars programme wants to ensure that project partners have not been convicted for fraudulent behaviour, other financial irregularities or illegal business practices.  To this end, FPS Research asks each Walloon partner (legal entities) to upload an extract from their criminal record when submitting their proposal via ONTIME at the latest.

All organization participating in Eurostars-3 projects must provide their PIC number in the registration form, which is mandating for completing and submitting applications. To obtain a PIC number, organisations must submit a request through the European Commission's Funding and Tenders Portail, allowing sufficient time before rhe submissions deadline (more details to be found in the Eurostars' guidelines for applicants).

 
In detail
Target audience - details

The types of eligible partners include:

  • Businesses
Benefits

The aid is granted in the form of a subsidy or a recoverable advance, with a financing rate ranging from 40% to 80% of the budget of each partner in Wallonia, depending on the size of the company and the qualification of the research.

Recoverable advances and subsidies are intended to cover all of the costs related to conducting the research.  They cover:

  • staffing costs for researchers, technicians, administrators and managers;
  • operating costs;
  • general costs;
  • cost of equipment used;
  • subcontracting costs.

The agreement will last for a maximum of three years.

Procedure

Preferably, an information meeting will be organised between the Walloon partners in the project and the representatives responsible for the programme within PSW Research prior to the submission of any proposal.

Projects are submitted via the ONTIME platform at the same time as they are submitted via the Eurostars platform. The Eurostars Programme opens two calls per year (in March and September).

 

Conditions

Target audience – Eligibility criteria

A proposal is eligible if the following elements are all answered in the affirmative:

    • The partnership must be formed by at least two independent organisations from two different Eurostars member countries and 50% of the research must be carried out by an SME(s) that is heavily involved in research sub-contracting. Furthermore, the research budget for the partner(s) from a given countries may not exceed 70% of the total budget of the project.
    • In addition to submitting the project to the Eurostars programme, applicants must submit an application for funding with FPS Research via the ONTIME portal, under penalty of being deemed ineligible.  This application must be written in French and submitted via the ONTIME portal when the Eurostars call closes.
    • The research budget for any country or partner may not exceed 70% of the total budget for the project.
    • Walloon partners must be in good financial standing. 
      At the time of submitting the application, the companies cannot be experiencing difficulties, in accordance with the guidelines from the European Union concerning State aid and the rescue and restructuring of companies in difficulty.
    • Walloon participants must have a business unit in Wallonia.
    • The project cannot have already received public funding.
    • The portion of the budget for research activities subcontracted to approved research centres, university research departments or college research departments and associated research centres participating in the project if  necessary may not exceed 20%. 
    • A project cannot last for more than three years.
    • The EUROSTARS programme wants to ensure that project partners have not been convicted for fraudulent behaviour, other financial irregularities or illegal business practices.  To this end, FPS Research asks each Walloon partner to upload an extract from their criminal record when submitting their proposal via ONTIME at the latest.
    • All organization participating in Eurostars-3 projects must provide their PIC number in the registration form, which is mandating for completing and submitting applications. To obtain a PIC number, organisations must submit a request through the European Commission's Funding and Tenders Portail, allowing sufficient time before rhe submissions deadline (more details to be found in the Eurostars' guidelines for applicants).

Assessment criteria and project selection

You are guaranteed to receive a notice after acceptance of the project ranking, which will take place a maximum of four months after the call is closed.

The assessment and selection procedure for projects comprises several stages:

  • Stage 1: The potential added value for Wallonia will be assessed by an expert from FPS Research.
  • Stage 2: The proposal is assessed based on three criteria (quality of the proposal, technological quality and added value) by three independent experts, who have been appointed by the Eurostars programme.
  • Stage 3: All of the proposals are presented to a selected committee appointed by the Eurostars programme, which establishes the ranking for the fundable proposals.
  • Stage 4: The project leaders of the selected proposals are notified by the Eurostars programme.
  • Stage 5: The selected proposals are funded to the extent that there is budget available from each of the involved funding bodies.
Contacts
Updated on :
Process n° : 2018 (nostraId = 146228)
Back to processes