Annual report
2019
Annual report 2019 We are the world’s biggest public network for international cooperation in R&D and innovation, present in over 45 countries. Our network consists of national funding bodies and the European Commission, who provide funding and support to organisations collaborating on international R&D projects or wanting to explore international markets. Since 1985, we have supported the R&D and innovation of thousands of ground-breaking commercialised products, processes or services that have positively impacted society and helped economies grow.
www.eurekanetwork.org Eureka Network
2
Table of Contents Foreword
4
Eureka overview 2019
6
Network activity
7
Eurostars
8
Clusters
10
Network projects
12
Globalstars and global strategy
14
INNOWWIDE
16
InvestHorizon
17
Expert community
18
PRO-Ethics
18
Eureka governance
19
Financial report
21
Our network
22
Š 2020 Eureka Association AISBL
3
Foreword
“Eureka holds a singular position within a changing and challenging R&D context, and its core mission (to be an open, bottom-up platform for international R&D and innovation collaborations) has never been more relevant. Eureka specialises in collaborative close-to-market R&D and innovation. Our principles enable individual project participants to react to societal challenges (and their own economic goals), share expertise across disciplines and borders and discover what joint solutions emerge at the crossroads of the public and private sectors. As a result, Eureka produces sustainable innovations by balancing the needs of society, the vision of innovators and economic development. We still have so much more to contribute to driving collaborations; between actors of various types and sizes and across continents. Our ambitious vision for social and economic prosperity requires a pragmatic framework of powerful and connected instruments. Eureka is a well-organised community (of 45+ leading place-based innovation agencies and national funding bodies) who continually strive to improve our operational efficiency, productivity and impact. Eureka’s decentralised structure also makes us agile, with offices at national (and sometimes regional) level being able to easily activate our ecosystem’s actors and funds and serve end-users. These agencies are champions of innovation policy and provide participants with a high level of expertise. In 2019, we continued to invest resources in Eurostars 2, our SME-flagship programme, but also in preparing Eurostars 3: the next generation of what is one of the biggest and most successful international SME-driven collaborative innovation programmes. There are very few initiatives with Eurostars’ characteristics or of its dimension, so it is crucial that we continue to mobilise both national and European Union financial resources to build on this success.
The dialogue between Eureka and the EU has never been so intense, which has helped identify how we can complement each other rather than mimic or overlap. Besides Eurostars, an example of where we have succeeded in this is with InvestHorizon: a joint programme that has maximised the complementarity and synergy between Eureka and the EU in the area of investment readiness and corporate venturing with an international perspective. In 2019, we demonstrated that beside our flagship programmes, simple fast-track accompanying models like INNOWWIDE can achieve great results and leverage effects for business growth and innovation development. We have also reaffirmed our capability to run our core programmes by committing to the network’s own resources. There is renewed interest in Network projects, and our updated globalisation approach has resulted in further success for our Globalstars initiative. More and more, the Clusters are collaborating on joint calls and a new Clusters organisation model is being designed. Finally, we worked hard to improve the efficiency and robustness of the Eureka Secretariat for providing support to the network and its activities. In 2019, the Secretariat inaugurated its new offices in Brussels. As Eureka approaches its 35th year, we are reflecting on accumulated experience of enacting our core values, principles and mission. These remain more valid than ever in the rapidly changing R&D landscape and in public-private innovation ecosystems, but Eureka is constantly adapting and reinventing; reinforcing our values, strengthening our operational capacity and increasing our agility. We will continue to improve and provide impactful and sustainable responses to societal and economic challenges.”
Philippe Vanrie Head of the Eureka Association
JANUARY Eurostars Roadshows in Spain MARCH Eureka network APRIL Eureka fact-finding mission to Argentina MAY Eureka Korea Argentina signs Association Agreement, becoming 45th Eureka country £ PO Days in Amsterdam, the Netherlands OCTOBER Eureka at BIG in 4
“During the UK Chairmanship, we aimed to make the network fit for the future by increasing our global reach, raising our profile as a leading and valued platform for global R&D and innovation collaboration and ensuring that Eureka operates in an agile and responsive way. By strengthening relationships with Singapore, Japan, and India, welcoming Argentina to the network as an associated country and developing Eureka’s global strategy and implementation plan, we steered the network towards increasing global collaboration - a direction of travel we hope will continue. Great communications are central to the way in which our international network operates - we developed a new communications strategy to address this and started work on a new public website. We also engaged with our colleagues in member countries by providing information on using structural funds for Eureka projects. We continued to develop the agility of Eureka programmes: we celebrated 10 years of the Eurostars programme, began work on Eurostars 3 and completed a review of the Clusters. Working closely with colleagues in the network, including the European Commission, we were pleased to agree the Eureka-Commission ‘Joint Conclusions of Eureka in the Innovation Landscape’. During the year, 332 projects were funded under Eureka, enabling collaboration between participants from all over the world. We were also delighted to host over 1,800 people at the Eureka Global Innovation Summit in Manchester; an exciting and inspiring event with participants from 65 countries.
“The Netherlands assumed the role of Eureka Chair in July 2019 - our third since Eureka began. Our network needs more than ever to be agile by responding rapidly to a changing innovation landscape, but without altering its DNA. This DNA is reflected in the theme of our Chairmanship connect, innovate and grow. During our mandate, we intend to build on Eureka’s leading role as a platform for international R&D and innovation collaboration. We have defined priority areas on which our Chairmanship will focus: the preparation of an ambitious Eurostars 3 programme and the revitalisation of the Clusters. There are also ongoing topics of importance, such as the new Strategic Roadmap 2021-2027; the definition of a future-proof corporate strategy and increasing Eureka’s visibility and partnerships worldwide by improving the exchange of information within and beyond the network with the realisation of a robust IT platform and a new website. I am convinced that our network will remain active and will play an important role in post-COVID-19 economic recovery. I look forward to informing you of the positive outcomes of our Chairmanship this time next year!”
We would like to thank all network colleagues, the Eureka Secretariat and project participants for their contributions to our progress this year.” Odilia Knap 2019/2020 Chairperson of Eureka Tim Bestwick 2018/2019 Chairperson of Eureka
meeting in Oxford, UK, with focus on future mobility £ Eureka at B2B Software Days in Vienna, Austria Day and Eureka Global Innovation Summit in Manchester, UK JUNE Eureka network meeting in London £ Estonia announces its participation in Eurostars SEPTEMBER Eureka Stakeholder Conference and ITEA Paris, France £ Eureka at EBN Congress in Rome, Italy NOVEMBER Eureka at EFECS in Helsinki, Finland 5
Eureka overview 2019 Eureka has continued to support and fund innovative organisations throughout 2019 in its role as a leading network for international R&D and innovation with a unique global reach. Our bottom-up funding programmes are our strength and we see successes year after year; in the number of project applications we receive, the amount of public and private investment mobilised and in the resulting economic and networking benefits for participating organisations (e.g. annual turnover growth, access to new markets, employment growth and new business relationships being formed). In 2019, we have focused on improving conditions for researchers and innovators by optimising our programmes, making them faster and increasingly flexible and agile. By assessing the needs of both national funding bodies (NFBs) and participating SMEs, large companies, research organisations and universities, we have worked towards synchronising our processes in a way that still maintains the diversity that is so important within our international framework. Eureka has also become more versatile with the recent inclusion of additional programmes in cooperation with the European Union: INNOWWIDE and InvestHorizon. In coming years, we intend to continue connecting innovative organisations to further increase the socioeconomic benefits of R&D collaborations for our 45 member countries.
332
582M€
PROJECTS FUNDED IN 2019
PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN 2019
40
37
COUNTRIES INVOLVED IN EUREKA PROJECTS
CALLS FOR PROJECTS LAUNCHED IN 2019
Public/ private investment by technology sector
222.3M€ 39%
ICT
147.7M€ 26% 138.7M€ 24%
Industrial Biotech
39.2M€ 7% 27.2M€ 5%
Environment Energy
0 6
50
100
150
200
250
Network activity
Number of projects per country in 2019 Argentina Austria Belgium Bulgaria Canada Chile Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Latvia
4 30 26 4 16 6 3 2 17 35 13 50 98 12 1 5 5 11 3
Lithuania Luxembourg Montenegro The Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain South Africa South Korea Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom
4 1 3 71 21 13 14 9 5 6 7 79 2 19 41 57 24 43
There is country-specific data customisable on our website. Visit the interactive dashboard on eurekanetwork.org.
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Eurostars Eurostars is a unique joint programme between Eureka and the European Commission for SME-driven international R&D projects. The programme was initiated to enhance the growth of R&D-performing SMEs through its support of projects whose results can be introduced into the market within two years of completion. Over the last 12 years, it has become one of the most successful international SME funding programmes and one of only a few close-to-market collaborative R&D programmes that spotlights SMEs. In 2019, 36 participating countries and the European Commission allocated 158.4 million euro (triple the programme’s original annual budget) for two Eurostars calls for projects: the largest cooperative initiative amongst NFBs. 2019 saw 796 applications from 2586 collaborating organisations and the highest number of applications ever received for a single Eurostars 2 call (425). Of the total 796 applications, 315 were ranked above the quality threshold and 211 were funded.
211
315M€
PROJECTS FUNDED IN 2019
PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN 2019
463
1.5M€
SMEs FUNDED IN 2019
AVERAGE PROJECT COST
Eurostars has a centralised application, evaluation and monitoring process coordinated by the Eureka Secretariat in Brussels, which includes eligibility and ethics checks and two evaluation steps (conducted by remote experts and a panel of independent experts). The evaluation is stringent and ensures the harmonisation and synchronisation of the NFBs’ processes. Moreover, the feedback given helps organisations (particularly SMEs) improve their R&D processes and management.
Eurostars is a programme co-funded by Eureka national funding bodies and the European Union Horizon 2020 framework programme.
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Eurostars in the future We are currently preparing Eurostars for its third evolution by strengthening the partnership with the European Union at the end of Horizon 2020 for the subsequent launch of Horizon Europe. The excellent results of Eurostars 2 (and its unique place within the R&D funding landscape) has resulted in all 36 participating countries fully committing to the continuation of the programme. We are also optimistic that more countries will see the value of participating in Eurostars and allocate funds proportional to the needs of their SMEs. “In the summer of 2019, Estonia allocated 2.5 million euro of national funding for the remaining three Eurostars 2 calls. Enterprise Estonia has been in the process of shifting its focus towards innovation, which has made it possible to reopen funding programmes to Estonian companies. In 2019, we organised two training sessions (with the help of the Eureka Secretariat) to raise awareness about the programme.�
Newcomers in 2019, Enterprise Estonia highlight their motivation for participating in our Eurostars programme:
Tiiu Treier (National Project Coordinator for Enterprise Estonia) The new Eurostars model will expand its target group from R&D-performing SMEs to innovative SMEs, encompassing companies who do not necessarily have previous intensive or extensive R&D experience, but prove to evaluators in their application that their methodology will achieve excellent technical, commercial and societal results. This will provide a boost to those high-potential SMEs and widen the scope of R&D and innovation ecosystems in the participating countries. Eurostars 3 will impact participating organisations in a way that ensures their growth is sustainable and they continue to generate employment. Within Eureka, the programme will complement others by allowing for a smooth transition from one support programme to the next; companies can build their expertise and capacity, develop necessary skills and thus, increase the likelihood of commercialising their R&D results. Targeted market sectors Targeted
100
market sectors
31% 89
Number of projects
80
4% 11
2% 6
2% 5 Construction and building products
4% 13
Communications
5% 14
Biotechnology / molecular biology
5% 16
Services
6% 18
Energy
7% 20
Computer related
7% 20
Consumer related
Industrial products / manufacturing
0
Medical / health related
20
Transportation
9% 25
Agriculture, forestry and ďŹ shing
40
Other electronics related
19% 54
60
54% of past participants reported employment growth and 62% of past participants confirmed that they successfully commercialised at least one of their products, processes or services within one year of completing a Eurostars project (based on market impact reports).
We are also planning further operational and administrative optimisation with existing common methodologies being reviewed. We have succeeded in shortening the time from application to funding contract to seven months and aim to make the process quicker and even more efficient for Eurostars 3.
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Clusters The Clusters programme facilitates funding for industry-led mid- to long-term R&D projects that can include organisations along a whole value chain. Each of the Clusters supports thematic communities comprised of industry experts, large companies, SMEs, research organisations, universities and end-users. Because of their scale and the range of organisations participating, Cluster projects often develop highly advanced technologies and receive significant public-private investment. The Clusters are continuing to develop alongside the industries they reflect. In 2019, the Clusters launched seven calls for projects, and in 2020 they will take up new topics in the form of joint calls (e.g. an AI call is in preparation for March 2020) with the intention of encouraging industry-wide collaboration and forming new innovation ecosystems.
343
PARTICIPANTS IN 2019
170M€
PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT FOR PROJECTS STARTED IN 2019
A statement from Peter Connock (inter-Cluster spokesperson July 2018-July 2019): “2019 was a key year for the Clusters that saw exciting new projects (with high levels of impact) amongst our communities. At the same time, it was also a critical year for working with the UK and Dutch Chairs to understand the specific needs of public authorities (in terms of national investment) and industries (in terms of required support). This will allow us to develop the best possible programme for the future that will serve both parties and satisfy economic and societal needs as the new digital economy develops. In the first part of 2019, we performed a detailed SWOT analysis to reflect on successes and identify areas for improvement in order to shape how the Clusters programme will transform in the future. The second part of 2019 saw an exploration of ways to work together to address the changing environment and to see how to practically implement a shift in organisation. For example, PENTA/ EURIPIDES² and CELTIC-NEXT/ EUROGIA successfully launched synchronised and joint calls for projects to understand how best to provide an integrated service to public authorities and companies. As we transition into a digital world whereby electronics underpins almost everything in society and the economy, it is important that the Clusters continue to offer a programme that suits the needs of participating organisations. One of the characteristics of this new digital society is that every element of the value chain must work together increasingly closely, and there is huge potential for the Clusters to bring together all elements of these ecosystems in projects that can rapidly enhance technology in these important areas.”
10
CELTIC-NEXT
Next-generation communications
Supports projects in the information and communications technology (ICT) domain and in vertical sectors. For developing high-performance communications networks to improve data-rich applications and advanced services. EURIPIDES²
Smart electronic systems
Drives projects related to smart electronic systems integration embracing the electronic components and systems (ECS) sectors. Organisations input expertise into the development of materials, equipment, technologies, components and embedded and integrated systems. EUROGIA2020
Sustainable energy solutions
For projects wanting to develop clean, energy efficient technologies and low carbon solutions for energy generation, distribution and storage. Striving to develop an inclusive and sustainable energy transition. ITEA 3
Software innovation
Enabling software innovation projects in the smart mobility, smart cities, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, engineering and safety and security sectors. Projects push the boundaries of technology fields like AI, big data, simulation and highperformance computing into applications. PENTA
Micro and nanoelectronics
Projects develop micro- and nanoelectronicsenabled systems and applications along the electronic components and systems (ECS) value chain. The projects help to enable the digital economy. SMART
Advanced manufacturing
Projects support the adoption, integration and upskilling of advanced and discrete manufacturing technologies. Organisations help production companies navigate the global shift to advanced manufacturing.
11 129.3M€
1
7.8M€
PROJECTS LABELLED IN 2019
PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT FOR PROJECTS LABELLED IN 2019
PROJECT STARTED IN 2019
PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT FOR PROJECTS STARTED IN 2019
4
24M€
5
8.7M€
PROJECTS LABELLED IN 2019
5 PROJECTS LABELLED IN 2019
17 PROJECTS LABELLED IN 2019
8 PROJECTS LABELLED IN 2019
7 PROJECTS LABELLED IN 2019
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PROJECTS PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT STARTED INVESTMENT FOR PROJECTS IN 2019 FOR PROJECTS LABELLED IN 2019 STARTED IN 2019
9.1M€
4
6.7M€
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PROJECTS PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT STARTED INVESTMENT FOR PROJECTS IN 2019 FOR PROJECTS LABELLED IN 2019 STARTED IN 2019
298M€
8
63M€
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PROJECTS PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT STARTED INVESTMENT FOR PROJECTS IN 2019 FOR PROJECTS LABELLED IN 2019 STARTED IN 2019
71.3M€
4
55.2M€
15
28.5M€
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PROJECTS PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT INVESTMENT STARTED FOR PROJECTS FOR PROJECTS IN 2019 LABELLED IN 2019 STARTED IN 2019
14.9M€
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PROJECTS PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT STARTED INVESTMENT FOR PROJECTS IN 2019 FOR PROJECTS LABELLED IN 2019 STARTED IN 2019
Labelled projects are high quality projects that have received a positive evaluation and are awaiting funding decisions.
11
Network projects 2019 has seen a revival of interest in Network projects: Eureka’s original, flexible, bottom-up funding programme. Participants are free to decide their technological focus and apply all year round, but the programme model is also being increasingly used as an efficient platform for NFBs to cooperate and launch bilateral and multilateral calls for projects (sometimes thematic or based on a specific technology or market area) with dedicated funds. In 2019, four large thematic calls for projects on AI and quantum technologies, photonics, sustainability and climate change and disruptive technologies were launched involving a total of 16 Eureka countries. Increased participation in the programme is a positive indicator for future international R&D collaborations.
74
81.5M€
PROJECTS FUNDED IN 2019
PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN 2019
19
25
CALLS LAUNCHED IN 2019
COUNTRIES PARTICIPATED IN 2019
Network projects has a simple mechanism and evaluation methodology that eases international collaboration for both participating NFBs and the companies, universities and research organisations applying for funding. NFBs can initiate or opt into calls for projects according to national priorities and budget, and the programme allows for any additional rules and eligibility and evaluation assessments. In the coming years, we hope to further streamline the mechanism and shorten the time between organisations applying for and receiving funding.
12
NFBs who participated in Network projects calls in 2019 state the benefits of the programme for R&D and innovation collaboration in their country: “One of the main strengths of Network projects is its flexible framework for international cooperation. This makes it easy for NFBs to cooperate, as projects can be submitted at any time and we benefit from direct and simple exchanges of information between the network. In 2019, nine Austrian partners participated in Network projects (some having responded to the multilateral photonics and AI and quantum computing calls). The upcoming Austrian Chairmanship (starting July 2020) will certainly have a strengthening effect on awareness of Eureka in Austria, and since there are no budgetary restrictions for Network projects in Austria, we expect an appreciable increase in the number of consultations with Austrian organisations and submitted projects with Austrian participants.” Ines Marinkovic (National Project Coordinator for the Austrian Research Promotion Agency - Austria) “Network projects is valuable for NFBs working together on launching and promoting calls, partner search and selecting eligible projects. The programme allows us to collaborate without having to modify eligibility criteria, evaluation processes and funding contracts to any great extent, avoiding delays. One great advantage of Eureka is in enlisting the help of other NFBs in validating the legitimacy and preparedness of project candidates, which reduces the risk of investment in the proposed project. Our experience of the multilateral AI/ quantum call in 2019 was positive and led to three funded Canadian collaborative projects. We have refined and adapted our processes for further partnerships with countries in 2020 (e.g. on advanced materials and healthy ageing).” Eric Holdrinet (National Project Coordinator for the National Research Centre of Canada - Canada) “In 2019, Poland participated in a call for projects that had a unique effect: Poland’s first ever bilateral Eureka project with Ukraine. The project concerns the use of biomass as a biofuel. As biowaste applications in agriculture and industry gain popularity in Poland, we hope the project stands a chance of success and will pave the way for other Eureka endeavours with our Eastern neighbours. This example illustrates why Network projects is a proven mechanism for pan-European collaboration in innovative business and academia that results in many profitable public-private partnerships. Eureka has an unswerving readiness to support small projects and large undertakings alike.” Andrzej Wajs (National Project Coordinator for the National Centre for Research and Development - Poland) “Network projects allows CDTI to implement funding tools for Spanish companies on an international scale. It is easy to accommodate Eureka projects because they reflect national projects’ duration and technology readiness level. The open call option is flexible, fast and reliable, so we use this to receive proposals. However, we also launch bilateral calls with countries Spanish companies regularly collaborate with, with the goal of optimising deadlines. We do not prioritise technologies or market areas but may identify sectors to make more targeted promotions with countries where there are increased chances of generating successful proposals. The AI multilateral call in 2019 was a good experience, and we will participate in similar calls in 2020 (focusing on areas like advanced materials and healthy ageing).” Óscar Fernandez Moyano (National Project Coordinator for the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology - Spain)
13
Globalstars and global strategy Based on the simple, optimised mechanism of the Network projects programme, the Globalstars initiative has proven to be an efficient system for global cooperation. Globalstars calls enable NFBs to coordinate and dedicate funds for bilateral or multilateral calls for projects with countries outside the Eureka network. In 2019, a successful call was launched with Singapore and further calls with Japan and India are anticipated for 2020. Since its conception in 2016, Globalstars has mobilised 17.4 million euro of public-private investment and organisations from 20 countries have participated. Globalstars ensures Eureka’s valuable engagement with active R&D markets by providing a means of building sustainable relationships with non-Eureka countries whose companies and organisations have skills and strengths that complement those of Eureka country organisations. Globalstars is part of Eureka’s multi-track approach for internationalisation and can be an entry point for countries’ increased involvement with Eureka (in the form of membership as either an associated, partner or full member country).
31
9M€
ORGANISATIONS RECEIVED FUNDING IN 2019
PUBLIC-PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN 2019
10
9
PROJECTS FUNDED IN 2019
COUNTRIES PARTICIPATED IN 2019
The 2019 call for projects with Singapore: £ 36 project applications received £ 87 organisations from 7 countries applied for funding 2019 saw proposals for projects between Singapore and: £ Belgium £ Denmark £ The Netherlands £ Spain £ Turkey £ United Kingdom
14
Global strategy Eureka wishes to be recognised by organisations as the most efficient platform for global R&D and innovation cooperation: we have the biggest diversity within any international R&D framework. Programmes like Globalstars and INNOWWIDE have helped Eureka adapt to expanding innovation ecosystems, which have grown far beyond Europe to include a variety of other emerging and large economies. By expanding Eureka’s international collaboration and growth opportunities, participating organisations will increase their involvement, ultimately leading to economic and societal benefits. Since the first associated status was established in 2009, there are now five associated and partner countries in the network located outside of Europe (South Korea, Canada, South Africa, Chile and Argentina). In June 2019, following successful Globalstars calls, Argentina joined the network as an associated country, foreseeing a strengthening of their economy through international R&D and innovation collaboration and the mutual acquisition of new R&D capabilities and markets. Argentina is the second South American country to join Eureka (after Chile in 2018). The Chair country is instrumental in establishing and developing relations with non-Eureka countries. In 2019, the UK Chair hosted the Eureka Global Innovation Summit in Manchester with over 1,800 attendees from 65 countries. An EU Korea Day was timed to coincide with this major event, attracting much interest in collaboration with Eureka’s only East Asian partner country. The work done by the UK and Dutch Chairs has also resulted in confirmed interest from Singapore to join the Eureka network in 2020. As one of the founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Singapore’s involvement in Eureka should strengthen our alliances with other Asian countries that share our values of global collaboration.
“The UK Chairmanship aimed to make Eureka a more globally active platform by deepening existing relationships and broadening its reach for a greater sharing of knowledge (for both businesses and NFBs). As a part of Eureka’s global strategy and implementation plan, we identified priority countries where network members most want to collaborate, whilst also ensuring maximum flexibility. In 2019, we progressed relations with Japan, Singapore, India and Australia on behalf of the network, and Globalstars calls with Singapore and India were launched: both firsts for Eureka. The UK Chairmanship term concluded with Argentina’s confirmed association status with Eureka. It has been a 10-year journey for Argentina to become a member of the network and we are delighted to welcome them to Eureka.” David Golding (2018/2019 Deputy Chairperson of Eureka)
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INNOWWIDE In 2019, the Eureka Secretariat supported INNOWWIDE: a Horizon 2020 programme that funds highly innovative European SMEs to assess the viability of their commercial or research ambitions for internationalisation. SMEs conduct feasibility studies for their innovative solutions over a six-month period, working with local experts from countries with large developed, emerging and developing markets (a new target group for Eureka) like Brazil, India, Kenya and Morocco. The programme has a budget of 7.2 million euro for offering grants of 60,000 euro to 120 SMEs. This amount is split over two centralised calls for applications: the first was launched successfully in April 2019, with the second planned to launch in January 2020.
379
SMES APPLIED IN 2019
50
PROJECTS FUNDED IN 2019
The number of applications received in INNOWWIDE’s 2019 call (379) indicates significant interest in the pilot programme. We expect this number to be even higher in the 2020 call, as INNOWWIDE gains more visibility. SMEs from 19 countries were funded for viability assessment projects (VAPs) to be carried out in 23 target countries outside of Europe, underlining the potential INNOWWIDE has for supporting the development of new global value chains. INNOWWIDE has improved the visibility of Eureka’s programmes for organisations around the world and we expect it will increase involvement from non-Eureka countries’ (e.g. Brazil and India) participation in Globalstars. SMEs can conduct a viability assessment with INNOWWIDE at two stages of their technology readiness level: on developing an R&D project proposal before applying for funding from programmes like Eurostars, or after a successful R&D project to understand whether their new product, process or service might be commercialised in targeted global markets. This flexibility has allowed Eureka to maintain support for innovative SMEs throughout their growth and internationalisation process.
INNOWWIDE is funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 framework programme. It is coordinated by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).
16
InvestHorizon InvestHorizon is an investment-readiness programme for deep-tech SMEs funded by the European Commission in association with Eureka. It was officially launched in May 2019 as a merger of Eureka’s E!nnoVest and the EC’s programme, InvestHorizon: a cooperation with the goal of pooling expertise and complementary resources. The programme supports collaboration between highly innovative SMEs, investors and large companies (through both non-financial and financial partnerships). It has the capacity to support 500 SMEs seeking Series A investment over six calls for projects before the end of 2021.
75
SMES SUPPORTED IN 2019 CALL
22
NATIONALITIES PARTICIPATED
The EC element of the programme (managed by Tech Tour) offers SMEs free online webinars and courses, bootcamps, peer reviews, workshops, coaching academies and pitching opportunities. In 2019, Eureka began to finalise its additional InvestHorizon activities, with a focus on internationalisation and corporate venturing. 14 countries (Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) committed to financially contributing to the programme, resulting in a total budget of 525,000 euro for add-on services targeting SMEs based in those countries. Eureka advertised a request for tender for a senior technical expert whose role it is to design and organise two international events and four thematic hackathons in Brussels. These will include workshops, matchmaking opportunities and corporate challenges for finding innovative solutions for multinationals. InvestHorizon has highlighted the complementarity of Eureka and Tech Tour’s expertise, whereby Tech Tour has used its business experience to set up in depth trainings and Eureka has harnessed its large network of international companies and industry experts.
InvestHorizon is funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 framework programme in association with Eureka. It is coordinated by Tech Tour.
17
Expert community Eureka maintains a network of remote independent experts who conduct objective evaluations of programme applications; assessing projects and applicants according to set criteria. Our ever-expanding database contains over 3,600 technical experts (specialising in e.g. electronics, industrial manufacturing, energy and biological technologies) and market experts (specialising in sectors such as medical, energy, transportation and communications) from more than 50 countries. The experts are an added value to our network and are eager to promote their work with Eureka, giving us increased visibility in the R&D and innovation world. Because of the success of expert evaluations conducted for Eureka’s international programmes, we are now able to offer our service to funding bodies for their national programmes. Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD) has successfully used the database since 2015 and has taken out another yearly contract with Eureka for 2020. The German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and Research Council of Norway have also expressed interest. The customisability of the database makes it an incredibly flexible tool for programme evaluations. Using the system, the evaluation coordinator(s) can specify the technical and market expertise of, and languages spoken by the experts. The service is also scalable, with the possibility of commissioning any number of experts per evaluation, and within two days of contacting all the experts to evaluate programme proposals, over 1,800 on average confirm their availability for the requested dates. Before selecting the experts, the coordinator(s) can decide an evaluation methodology and set a fixed fee per evaluation. Access to our expert community significantly eases and accelerates operational processes. All invoicing is done by the Eureka Secretariat, simplifying administration for funding bodies using the database for national programmes. There is no restriction on the number of evaluations experts can conduct per year and we intend to maintain engagement with further assignments by expanding the service to more clients.
PRO-Ethics Eureka is a partner in PRO-Ethics: a project that will explore international and national programmes’ ethics framework principles to optimise guidelines, assessment criteria, good practices and proposals to reflect the R&D needs of citizens, public and semi-public caretakers, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, etc. Eureka is well-positioned to understand existing ethics frameworks and the role of ethics in innovation: we have access to methodologies used in our network and our Eurostars 2 programme is a crucial case study for the development of an effective ethics appraisal procedure through consulting participants and experts. By extracting information on the characteristics of Eurostars 2 projects, conducting a stakeholder mapping and workshops, we aim to find a balance between ensuring ethics principles of fairness, transparency, gender, privacy and sustainability, and organisations producing exciting R&D and innovation results for commercialisation. The results of the project could help streamline processes for those designing funding programmes.
PRO-Ethics is funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 framework programme. It is coordinated by the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI).
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Eureka governance The Netherlands currently holds the annual Eureka Chairmanship, having taken over from the United Kingdom in July 2019. They will be succeeded by Austria in July 2020. The Chair proposes initiatives, sustains the momentum of Eureka and organises network meetings following an annual work plan. The objectives of the Dutch Chairmanship are to allow Eureka to adapt to changing R&D and innovation landscapes and improve the reach and operations of existing programmes (in the form of developing Eurostars 3 blueprints and guidelines and revitalising the Clusters), and thus increase continued participation from R&D-performing organisations and NFBs. The strategy of the Netherlands continues to follow Eureka’s long-term vision, but they will also develop a 2021-2027 Strategic Roadmap. To implement this strategy and manage the operations of the Eureka network, the member countries of Eureka are represented by a centralised Secretariat, incorporated in the Eureka Association AISBL who are based in Brussels, Belgium. The Eureka Association is governed by the General Assembly (its highest decision-making body composed of High-level Representatives from each Eureka member country) and is managed by the Executive Board. The day-to-day activities of the Eureka Association are managed by the Head of the Association and executed by an international team of some 40 staff members who are highly specialised in their respective fields (legal, finance, IT, HR, marketing and communications, strategy, advocacy, programme management, etc.). Philippe Vanrie became Head of the Eureka Association in February 2017. The governance of Eureka is regulated by the Eureka Regulatory Corpus, which includes the Statutes of the Eureka Association.
Executive Board The Executive Board meets at regular intervals throughout the year and oversees Eureka’s activities. Its main responsibility is to implement decisions taken by the General Assembly and to manage the Eureka Association (the latter of these tasks it delegates to the Head of the Association for day-to-day operations). For the July 2019 to June 2020 period, the Executive Board is composed of: £ Tim Bestwick – Chairperson from July 2018 to June 2019
UK Research and Innovation (UK RI)
£ Odilia Knap – Chairperson from July 2019 to June 2020
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy
£ Nataša Vrhovec – Slovenia
Ministry of Economic Development and Technology
£ Szonja Csuzdi – Hungary
National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NRDI Office)
£ Chris North – United Kingdom
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial strategy
£ Ulrich Schuh – Austria
The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)
£ Frans Verkaart – The Netherlands
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy
£ Dominique-Paul Warnier – France
Ministry of Economy, Industry and Employment (General Directorate for Competitiveness, Industry and Services)
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Risk and Audit Committee Since October 2016, the Risk and Audit Committee has been supporting the Executive Board with finance, internal control, risk management and audit. The Committee met seven times in 2019 and is composed of: £ Patrick Jarvis – Chairperson
Innovate UK
£ Theo Bonten – The Netherlands
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy
£ Hector Gonzalez Menendez – Spain
Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI)
In 2019, the Risk and Audit Committee focused on: £ Reviewing outcomes of statutory audit work £ Participating in the selection process of the internal auditor £ Reviewing and discussing financial statements and budget £ Reviewing risk management activities £ Reviewing the control environment of the Eurostars programme
Risk management Risk management is an ongoing practice within the Eureka Association, involving all risk owners by sector or activity. A comprehensive refreshed version of the risk register with a summary of the top risks is regularly reported to the Risk and Audit Committee and the Executive Board. All the risks inherent to Eureka activities are identified and evaluated in terms of impact and likelihood of regularly appearing in the risk register. All risks mentioned in the risk register are under control with mitigation actions planned or being undertaken.
Statutory and internal audit The Eureka Association is subject to an annual statutory audit (conducted by Ernst & Young auditor Assurance service). The audit report concludes an unqualified (clean) opinion of the 2019 financial statements, meaning the accounts give a true and fair view of the financial situation of the Eureka Association. An independent internal audit function is in place and reinforced by an external audit firm. It supports Eureka in several domains of activity according to a yearly revised internal audit plan.
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Financial report Balance sheet (amounts in euro) Assets 2019
2018
591,575
101,188
6,014,546
4,250,600
7,866
66,695,917
Cash in bank
2,745,219
1,991,169
Deferred charges/ accrued income
1,269,563
605,292
10,628,769
73,644,166
2019
2018
648,555
1,104,362
24,802
22,396
872,641
997,127
Other payables
5,716,646
68,302,015
Accrued charges/ deferred income
3,366,125
3,218,266
10,628,769
73,644,166
Fixed assets Operating debtors Other debtors
Liabilities
Equity Accruals risk &Â charges Operating dets/ taxes
The annual certified accounts can be consulted at the Banque Nationale de Belgique: Centrale des bilans (BNB).
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Our network
(national or regional funding bodies) £ Argentina – Secretariat of Government for Science, Technology and Productive Innovation (SGCTeIP) £ Austria – Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) £ Belgium (Brussels) – Innoviris £ Belgium (Flanders) – Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) £ Belgium (Wallonia) – Service Public de Wallonie (SPW) - Research £ Bulgaria – Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA) £ Canada – National Research Council of Canada (NRC) £ Chile – Production Development Corporation (CORFO) £ Croatia – Croatian Agency for SMEs, Innovations and Investments (HAMAG-BICRO) £ Cyprus – Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) £ Czech Republic – Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) £ Denmark – Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD) £ Estonia – Enterprise Estonia (EAS) £ Finland – Business Finland £ France – Bpifrance £ Germany – Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Project Management Agency (DLR) £ Greece – General Secretariat for Research and Technology £ Hungary – National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NRDI) £ Iceland – Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannìs) £ Ireland – Enterprise Ireland £ Israel – Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) £ Italy – Ministry for Education, University and Research (MIUR) £ Latvia – State Education Development Agency (SEDA/ VIAA) £ Lithuania – Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (MITA) £ Luxembourg – Ministry of Economy and the National Research Fund and Luxinnovation £ Malta – Malta Enterprise £ Monaco – Direction de l’Expansion Economique £ Montenegro – Ministry of Science (Directorate for Innovation and Infrastructure) £ The Netherlands – Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) £ North Macedonia – Ministry of Education and Science £ Norway – Norwegian Research Council (RCN) £ Poland – National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR)
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£ Portugal – Innovation Agency (ANI) £ Romania – Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding
(UEFISCDI)
£ Russia – Center of Innovation Technologies and Engineering of the Moscow Technological University £ San Marino – Patent and Trademark State Office (USBM) £ Serbia – Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development £ Slovakia – Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic (MESRS SR) £ Slovenia – Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (Internationalisation, Entrepreneurship and
Technology Directorate)
£ South Africa – Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) £ South Korea – Korea Institute of Advancement of Technology (KIAT) £ Spain – Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) £ Sweden – Vinnova £ Switzerland – Innosuisse (Swiss Innovation Agency Knowledge Transfer and International Collaborations) £ Turkey – Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) £ Ukraine – National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRF), State Finance Institution for Innovations (SFII)
and Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF)
£ The United Kingdom – Innovate UK
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www.eurekanetwork.org Eureka Network
Avenue de Tervueren/Tervurenlaan 2 1040 Brussels Belgium