European Partnership on Innovative SMEs/Eurostars: joint transnational call for proposals (CALL 12 of Eurostars-3)

CALL 12 OF EUROSTARS-3 FROM 17 December 2026 TO 04 March 2027 14:00 (Brussels time)

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 internationally, sharing expertise,
• Develop products, processes or services that can be easily commercialised.

You can submit your R&D and innovation project application between 17 December 2026 and 04 March 2027 14:00 (Brussels time) 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.

Programme/instrument: European Partnership on Innovative SMEs/Eurostars-3.

Funding information

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:

• which organisations can receive funding,
• which project activities can be funded and
• funding rates.

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 (https://eurekanetwork.org/contact-us/). 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.

Eligibility

To apply, you must fulfil seven international eligibility criteria:

• The project consortium is led by an innovative SME* from a Eurostars country**.
• The project consortium is composed of at least two entities that are independent of one another.*****
• The project consortium is composed of entities from at least two Eurostars countries with at least one organisation coming from an EU or Horizon Europe Associated Country ***.
• The budget of the SMEs from a Eurostars country (excluding any subcontracting) is 50% or more of the total project cost.
• No single participant or country is responsible for more than 70% of the budget of the project.
• The project duration is 36 months or less****.
• The project has an exclusive focus on civil applications.

*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 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.

Applying

Applying to Eurostars is designed to be quick and simple. In your application, you can tell us more about your organisation and the innovative new product, process, or service you plan to develop.

1. Contact your national or regional funding body using the form available on the Eureka website (https://eurekanetwork.org/contact-us/) to discuss your project idea, funding in your country, legal and financial viability and eligibility.

2. Create an account on our project platform (myeurekaproject.org) to open a new application. The innovative SME leading your consortium must open your application and invite the other partners to collaborate on the online application form.

3. On the platform, complete the application form (in English) and submit it electronically. The portal allows you to save, revisit and edit your application form before you submit it, giving you time to confirm all information is correct.

4. Upload annexes by attaching them to your online application form. You must complete and upload:

• a signed commitment and signature form,
• (if you are an SME) an SME declaration.

Depending on what country you are based in, you may need to add a financial annex:

• financial reports,
• (if you are a start-up) a business plan,
• other.

Contact your national funding body to discuss which documents you need to provide. If you are an organisation that is 100% publicly funded, you will not have to provide a financial annex.

If you are not eligible to receive public funding or do not request public funding, you must add:

• a self-funding declaration.

You can also include annexes to support your project application:

• a technical annex (related to the project),
• a Gantt chart.

5. Submit your completed application form before the deadline.

For detailed information about applying to our Eurostars programme, read our guidelines.

Please note: Your national or regional funding body may need you to complete additional steps to apply to Eurostars. If you do not provide the information required by your national or regional funding body, you may render yourself ineligible to receive public funding.

Evaluation and results

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 sub-criteria:

Quality and efficiency of the implementation:

• Quality of the consortium.
• Added value through cooperation.
• Realistic and clearly defined project management and planning.
• Reasonable cost structure.

Impact:

• Market size.
• Market access and risk.
• Competitive advantage.
• Clear and realistic commercialisation plans.
• Economic, environmental, and societal impact.

Excellence:

• Degree of innovation.
• New applied knowledge.
• Level of technical challenge.
• Technical achievability and risk.

Results are communicated at each step:

• Eligibility check (within one week of 04 March 2027)
• Legal and financial viability check (mid-April 2027)
• Expert evaluation conducted by three independent experts per project (mid-April 2027)
• Independent Evaluation Panel and ranking of project applications (end of May 2027)
• Ethics review (end of May 2027)

Applications are considered for funding if:

• They are among the best 200 projects evaluated by the remote experts which progress to the Independent Evaluation Panel.
• All project partners receive a positive Legal and Financial Viability outcome.
• The Independent Evaluation Panel considered the projects to be excellent or good quality.

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-June 2027 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.