Brussels, 23/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - Ministers and representatives from 38 European countries, along with the European Commission, meeting in Lisbon on 19 June, agreed that EUREKA has made a significant contribution to enhancing the competitiveness of European industry. EUREKA is a pan-European network, established in 1985, to promote cooperation between companies, private and public research centres and universities on cutting edge research and development. Since its launch, over €26 billion of public and private money have been invested in EUREKA. “For more than 20 years EUREKA has contributed to the competitiveness of European industry and the fostering of trans-national cooperation, in line with our European research area policy. I fully support the internationalisation strategy of EUREKA: international cooperation is vital for the future of Europe as a competitive and attractive world region,” EU Commissioner for
Research Janez Potoènik said at the conference.
This year, the 24th EUREKA Ministerial Conference is taking place in Lisbon. Portugal provided the presidency of this intergovernmental initiative for a year. After the meeting, the Luxembourg minister for the economy and external trade stated: “The ministerial conference recognised the success of the EUREKA initiative in its efforts to promote competitiveness in European industry, particularly that of SMEs, by promoting, through its bottom-up, flexible and dynamic approach, cross-border market-orientated R&D cooperation”. Ministers highlighted, given the current context of the crisis, the importance of fostering public investment in new collaborative EUREKA projects for developing products, procedures and innovative services. Representatives noted with satisfaction, the success of the first appeal for projects for the Eurostars programme, which specifically supports European SMEs and proved a first-choice tool for SMEs seeking to enhance their competitiveness through developing international research cooperation. During the Portuguese presidency, new rules were established outlining the framework in which non-European countries can get involved in the EUREKA initiative. Ministers warmly welcomed these rules, which will help consolidate international cooperation through the proactive seeking out of new partnerships worldwide in support of European industry by way of more efficient cooperation in the globalised economy. Ministers also sought to regenerate their political vision and introduce a new dynamic to EUREKA by approving a certain number of actions: continued implementation of strengthened cooperation between EUREKA and other European supported R&D programmes, particularly EU programmes; the creation of new international research networks and implementation of collaboration with countries and non-European networks sharing the same principle of autonomy and industrial initiative as EUREKA; the strengthening of the new communication strategy begun under the Portuguese presidency to increase EUREKA visibility; stepping up efforts by member states to promote the initiative and the generation and funding of new projects; the promotion of synchronicity of national funding programmes and EUREKA support projects. The ministerial conference hailed the impact of the first two calls of the new Eurostars programme on the overall portfolio of EUREKA projects. It was announced at the conference that, during the Portuguese presidency, there were 192 new bi- and multi-lateral projects worth a total of €324 million and 86 Eurostars projects worth €128 million. Ministers were particularly happy that so many SMEs were involved in the Eurostars projects. Strategic initiatives saw the launch of 45 new projects worth €995 million over the same period, taking the total number of projects to 323, worth €1,447 million. The ministerial conference welcomed Bosnia and Herzegovina as a National Information Point (NIP) country, an intermediate status before becoming a full EUREKA member, and South Korea as a new associate country. The next presidency of the EUREKA initiative will fall to the German government. (B.C./transl.rh/rt)