Eurostars 3 – Call 11: International Collaborative R&D & Innovation Projects

Part of the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs, co-funded via Horizon Europe within the Eureka framework. Eurostars encourages cross-border collaboration among SMEs, large companies, universities, and research organisations across Eureka member states and associated countries.

Goals

• Enable SMEs to lead international R&D projects.

• Accelerate innovation commercialization in global markets.

• Promote collaborative excellence through diverse consortia

Consortium composition

• Lead partner: innovative SME from a Eurostar country

• Minimum of two independent entities from at least two different Eurostar countries, with at least one from an EU or Horizon Europe associated country

• Open to SMEs, large enterprises, universities, research institutes, and other legal entities

Eligibility Criteria

1. SMEs’ combined budget ≥ 50% of total project cost (excluding subcontracting)

2. No single partner/country exceeds 70% of total budget

3. Project duration ≤ 36 months

4. Focus strictly on civil applications

Funding & Budget

• Funding type: Decentralised – each partner receives funding from their national funding agency

• Funding rates & eligible activities depend on national/regional rules

• Participating organisations from non-Eurostars countries can join if they self-fund

Timeline

• Call opens: 9 July 2026, 00:00 CET

• Call closes: 10 September 2026, 14:00 CET

• Eligibility results: within 1 week of deadline

• Legal/financial viability checks and experts evaluations: mid-October to end of November 2026

• Project selections and notifications: by mid-December 2026

• Grant agreements expected: between 5-7 months post deadline