“We expected to receive around 150 applications a year and fund around 40 projects. But we ended up with 600-700 applications and 150 projects annually”

Small business plays a big role in Europe’s economy. In France SMEs employ 60 per cent of workers, in Spain the figure is 67 per cent — and in Italy, 80 per cent. Unsurprisingly, a perennial discussion surrounds the best means of supporting these vital cogwheels.

Within Eurostars — an SME funding body co-financed by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and the 34 participating countries — business is good. On 13 March 2014, Eurostars' first submission deadline under Horizon 2020 closed with a total of 299 submissions. These involved 938 participants, 70 per cent of which were SMEs.

SMEs hail Eurostars’ lean application structure and the speed with which you can see the money. But is there room for improvement?

Here, Kristin Danielsen talks to Science|Business about the novelties of the next generation.

Q: What are the interesting features of public-public partnerships like Eurostars?

A: The added value of public-public partnerships is the security of funding. In the case of Eurostars, there is dedicated secure funding in its member countries. Eurostars national funding bodies have an important role - they make sure that all the partners are funded in these international projects.

Q: What have been the main success stories – in your opinion – of the programme?

A: Eurostars has developed — since its origins in 2008 — into a very attractive platform for high tech SMEs. Initially, we had expected to receive around 150 applications a year and fund around 40 projects. But we ended up with 600-700 applications and funding 150 projects annually. A part of the success lies with the short time of evaluations. Horizon 2020 introduced new SME instruments very similar to Eurostars in terms of how they are run and their bottom-up nature. We are happy to see ourselves as a benchmark in the creation of these new dedicated SME programmes.

Q: What will change in the second generation of the programme?

A: A higher degree of synchronisation, three times the budget of the first progamme — we now have a total budget of just over €1 billion — shorter time to contract — the goal for Eurostars 2 is to deliver within four to seven months — and a joint commitment to be able to fund the 50 first projects on our ranking list and 75 per cent of all projects on the list.

Q: What will you do with the increased budget?

A: With the EU’s contribution secured, we are now arranging joint conferences for the national programme owners to promote Eurostars and the EUREKA Secretariat is negotiating bilateral contracts with each Eurostars member state where a system of progressive milestones is a central element. In the guidelines for Eurostars 2 a special “toolbox of recommendations” has been developed to help member states achieve common goals. The toolbox includes recommendations on maximum funding rates per project and reduced funding to research institutes if they participate without a national SME partner. We also want to prepare better impact evaluations based on key indicators. We aim for synergies with other SME instruments — like the fast track to innovation in Horizon 2020 which will be a natural second step for Eurostars projects — and other relevant stakeholders.

Q: South Korean has joined the EUREKA network – can we expect interesting transnational projects between European companies and South Korean companies?

A: We very much hope so. South Korea has been an associated member of EUREKA since 2008 and has already been engaged in 46 EUREKA projects. Our South Korean colleagues have invested significantly into Eurostars 2 because they expect an enlargement of their international network and cooperation with other Eurostars member countries at EU-level. South Korea and Norway will host "Korea EUREKA Days" in Norway between the 26 and 28 May. We hope this will help generate more projects.

Q: What calls can we expect from Eurostars in 2014?

A: We already had the first call with 300 applicants on the 13 March 2014. We have great hopes also for the next call on the 11 September 2014. By then, we hope all Eurostars member states will have informed potential applicants about the new version of the programme — so we will expect even more applications.

For more on Eurostars, see here.