Eureka, the European programme for technological cooperation in R+D

The Eureka programme is a back-up to cooperative R+D at European level targeted on the market. Its aim is to boost competitiveness of the European industry by encouraging international technological projects, directed towards developing products, processes or services of commercial interest in the international market and based on new technologies.
Eureka is directed at any company or Spanish research centre able to conduct an applied R+D project, in collaboration with at least one company and/or research centre of another country involved in Eureka. This programme is ideal for SMEs.
Advantages include the prestige conferred by the Eureka label, providing the company with a technological quality seal and widening its potential market.
Companies interested in developing a Eureka project should contact the Spanish NPC and present, in English, the “Project Form”, which summarises the project and can be found in the web preliminary information on the Spanish companies or research centres forming part of the project, will also be presented.
Technicians of the Eureka programme make an appraisal of the company or research centre with regard to feasibility of the project and how they can access external finance sources. If the company requires, help in contacting potential overseas partners is provided.
The company or research centre then has to reach an association agreement with the appropriate partners, organise the financing of the project with them and plan how it is to be carried out. All these steps are documented in Eureka forms, which are filled in with the on-going backing of the CDTI and its technicians in the Eureka Programme.
The company or research centre presents the project proposal to the CDTI. The contents are disclosed throughout the Eureka net, so that information on the project reaches the companies or research centres with a potential interest in joining the project, through all the countries of the organisation.
Projects are approved at the meetings of the High Level Group – for which it must have the backing of at least two member countries. They are officially announced at the Ministerial Conference of Eureka, which meets once a year.
Once the project is approved, the usual steps of CDTI projects will be taken, to access the privileged financing programme of the CDTI and the Technical Research Development Programme (PROFIT).