Eurostars, a European funding programme, supports R&D-performing SMEs with the development of marketable innovative products, processes and services. To be eligible, you must collaborate with foreign partners from at least one of the other Eurostars countries. This cooperation offers companies the chance to access new markets, learn from the knowledge and technologies available in another country and share the risks of development.

Quickly navigate to:

• When to apply for Eurostars funding?
• What projects are eligible for Eurostars?
• How to apply for Eurostars funding?
• What is the grant contribution?
• What are the Eurostars countries?
• Hezelburcht: extensive experience in Eurostars
• How Hezelburcht supports your Eurostars application
• Contact us for more information

When to apply for Eurostars funding?

The next call, Eurostars Call 12, is open for applications from 17 December 2026 until 4 March 2027.

What projects are eligible for Eurostars?

A project must meet a number of criteria in order to be eligible:

• The project is led by an innovative SME from a Eurostars country;
• The consortium consists of at least 2 independent entities;
• The consortium consists of entities from at least 2 Eurostars countries;
• At least 50% of the project’s budget is carried by the SME;
• No participant or country is responsible for more than 70% of the project costs;
• The project lasts up to 36 months;
• The project has an exclusive focus on civil applications.

How to apply for Eurostars funding?

Applying for this grant consists of two steps: first, your proposal must be approved internationally by Eureka. Then you can apply for the national funding via your national funding body.

Step 1: Submit a proposal at Eureka – Your project and consortium should meet the criteria listed above. Then you can submit a fully completed project proposal as a consortium. It is important that you describe the project in a way that it suits the goals of Eureka. An application consists of several annexes; the documents required depend on the partner’s country. Eurostars is a highly competitive programme, so keep in mind that your project is described very well and is complete. Only in this way can you rank highly and stand a chance of being awarded.

Step 2: Submit the national proposal – After being ranked high, you’ll be invited to submit an application at your national funding body. After approval of the international application, you’ll have two to three weeks to submit the national proposal.

What is the grant contribution?

The programme offers a maximum of € 500.000,- per innovative project. Project partners can receive 40% or 50% of their total R&D-costs:

• SMEs: 50%
• Research organisations or universities: 50%
• Large company and other participants: 40%

What are the Eurostars countries?

Eurostars countries are: 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 that are not an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country: Canada, Singapore, South Africa, and South Korea.

National funding as a determining factor

Although Eurostars projects are evaluated at an international level, the actual funding is provided through national funding agencies. This means that available budgets, grant percentages, and additional requirements may vary by country. This calls for extra attention when building a consortium.

Hezelburcht: extensive experience in Eurostars

Hezelburcht has been helping innovative companies secure Eurostars funding for many years. In that time, we have supported dozens of clients, from start-ups to established SMEs, across a wide range of sectors and countries. This experience means we know exactly what evaluators look for and how to translate a promising innovation into a proposal that stands out.

Our clients’ projects illustrate the diversity of the programme. We supported MaxWell Biosystems, which develops technology to advance research into diseases of the central nervous system, and Digi.Bio, which is working on solutions to tackle food fraud. In the energy transition, we helped Ore Energy with its innovation in large-scale, long-duration energy storage. Different sectors, different partners and different countries, but each with an ambitious innovation and a well-prepared application.

How Hezelburcht supports your Eurostars application

Eurostars is one of Europe’s most competitive funding programmes for innovative SMEs, and a strong idea alone is not enough to secure funding. Our Eurostars specialists guide you through every stage of the process. We start by assessing whether your project and consortium meet the programme’s requirements, and whether national funding is available in each partner’s country. Need a partner abroad? We use our international network to help you find the right organisation to complete your consortium. We then work with you to write a compelling proposal that is tailored precisely to the evaluation criteria of excellence, impact and implementation, including a well-founded budget and a convincing route to market. Because Eurostars also requires national applications, we coordinate these steps too, so that no deadline or country-specific requirement is overlooked. And once your project has been awarded, we can support you with project administration and reporting, so you can focus on what matters most: bringing your innovation to market.

Contact us for more information

Do you have questions about Eurostars or would you like more information about our services? Please do not hesitate to contact us via 088 495 20 00 or info@hezelburcht.com.