Eurostars-2 evaluation study shows high participation from Switzerland

Eurostars is a programme funding cross-border R&D projects, addressing in particular SME including start-ups. Eligible participants in the Eurostars-2 programme were R&D-driven SMEs and other organisations such as research institutes and universities from at least two different Eurostars-2 countries working on collaborative, cross-national innovation projects aiming at rapid commercialisation within two years of a process, service, or product.

The recently published Evaluation study Eurostars-2 aimed to evaluate, identify, and showcase outputs and results achieved in the program so far. The study also highlights the lessons to be learned and recommend how the Framework Programme can be improved in the short and long term.

The total committed budget for the cutoffs 1-15 of the Eurostars-2 programme was EUR 1.074 billion. Between 2014 and 2020, 5 891 projects were submitted for the 15 calls and 1 546 projects were selected for funding.

Close to 300 Swiss SME supported

Looking at the number of participants, Germany has the highest participation (779), followed by the Netherlands (603), Switzerland (492), Denmark (434) and Sweden (348). Participants from Switzerland comprised 284 R&D performing SMEs, 5 SMEs, 37 large companies, 112 Universities, and four others. The success rate of the applications was also examined to evaluate the varying participation rates in Eurostars-2. Netherlands and Switzerland have very high success rates of over 30%.

The preliminary findings on the effectiveness of the Eurostars-2 programme showed that the most common transnational collaborations were for cut-offs 11 and 12 between project partners from Germany-Switzerland (9% of projects), Germany-Netherlands (9% of projects) and Switzerland-Netherlands (8% of projects).

Positive feedback and lessons learned

Interviewed stakeholders perceived the Eurostars-2 programme as a relevant support programme to tackle existing market failures of lacking SME innovation capacities due to higher risks and lacking resources. In this context, the Eurostars-2 support was relevant for SMEs to further develop their innovative products, processes and services through transnational knowledge sharing. Around 50% of the participants were newcomers to European-level funding, and approximately 30% of the participating SMEs had no prior experience in international collaboration.

As of August 2022, 601 Eurostar-2 projects are still running (39%), and 800 projects were already completed (52%). The remaining 9% of the Eurostars-2 projects have been either withdrawn (8%), are on hold (1%) or on ethical conflict (0.1%). According to the Annual Eurostars-2 report (2021), withdrawals are mainly due to bankruptcy issues, feasibility issues, and project changes. Main project changes in 2021 were related to prolongation requests (62%).

Many projects were also extended due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; thus, only 52 % of all Eurostars-2 projects were completed by August 2022. Cross-border activities were postponed as cross-border activities could not be performed as planned due to national lockdowns. In these cases, Eurostars-2 projects asked for project extensions and National Funding Bodies (NFBs) reacted flexibly to the situation by agreeing on general project extensions. The European Commission facilitated the creation of an extra call during the COVID-19 outbreak, which ensured the continuity of the programme.

Innosuisse orchestrates Eurostars 3 activities in Switzerland

Switzerland remains a participating country for Eurostars 3 running from 2021 to 2027. Application for a Eurostars project can submitted through calls, usually twice a year. The application window for the next call is open from 14 July 2023 to 14 September 2023. Innosuisse is responsible for issuing the contracts, paying out the funding and the financial reporting in Switzerland. As a first step, the project leader has to register on the Eurostars website, where they will be guided through the application process.

More information on the Innosuisse and Eurostars website.

(Ritah Ayebare Nyakato)