Brussels, 13/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 12 September, the Commission adopted EUROSTARS, a new joint programme with 27 EUREKA countries to finance R&D partnerships with research-performing SMEs. In an effort to respond to the specific needs of SMEs, which represent 99% of all enterprises in Europe, the Commission contribution will be to the tune of €100 million. 22 EU member states and 5 countries associated with the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) will jointly contribute another €300 million, giving a total investment of €400 million over 6 years. According to the Commission, this will, in turn, mobilise up to €400 million in additional private funding. In a press release the Commissioner for research, Janez Potoènik said: "EUROSTARS brings a new level of cooperation and integration between Community and national research programmes...It is an illustration of the European Research Area at work”. EUROSTARS is more than a mere coordination of research programmes. This programme includes: scientific integration, which entails the common definition of priorities, and the common evaluation and selection of projects, on the basis of excellence and economic impact; management integration through the establishment of a dedicated management structure for faster decision-making, and financial integration, which includes setting up a multi-annual financing plan, pooling EC and member states funds into a common pot. EUROSTARS will be managed by the EUREKA secretariat in Brussels, under the authority of the Eurostars High Level Group of representatives of the participating countries. Providing a "one stop shop" for SMEs, the secretariat will issue calls, receive project proposals, organise evaluation by independent experts, manage the financial contributions to the joint programme, and monitor project progress. (bc)