The European Commission has published the 2015 call for proposals for the Eurostars II Programme under Horizon 2020, which aims to support collaborative projects involving Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and their partners that develop innovative products, processes and services ready for market entry.

The Eurostars programme, currently supported by the 34 countries participating in EUREKA and by the European Union, is dedicated to supporting projects by innovative SMEs and start-ups. It has a total budget of €1.1 billion for the 2014-2020 period, of which €287 million is provided by the European Commission and €861 million by the member states that, like Italy, participate in the programme.

The 2015 Eurostars call, which features a bottom-up approach, provides funding for actions aimed at industrial research and experimental development activities, including projects in any thematic area (excluding military applications), provided there is a strong market orientation. The maximum duration for projects is 36 months, while the maximum period allowed for the product to be introduced to the market cannot exceed 24 months following the completion of the project.

Innovative SMEs, universities, research bodies/organisations (public or private) and large enterprises are eligible to participate in the programme. As the programme is co-funded by the European Commission and national funds, eligible costs and funding amounts depend on the countries involved in the project.

The deadline for submitting funding applications is 17 September 2015.

Specifically for Italy, as indicated in the following chart, the call follows different co-funding guidelines for the various types of organisations:

Type of organisation % of eligible costsMaximum fundingAdditional information Small enterprises Industrial research: 40% Experimental development: 30% €1,000,000.00 An additional loan to the grant is available upon request Medium enterprises Industrial research: 30% Experimental development: 20% €1,000,000.00 An additional loan to the grant is available upon request Large enterprises Industrial research: 20% Experimental development: 10% €1,000,000.00 An additional loan to the grant is available upon request Universities Industrial research: 50% Experimental development: 25% €1,000,000.00 Research organisations Industrial research: 50% Experimental development: 25% €1,000,000.00 Others €1,000,000.00 Additional loans to the grant only for enterprises or all private organisations €1,500,000.00