EUREKA – Germany and Israel call for projects

In all technological and application areas, you must develop ready-to-market solutions for products or technology-based services or methods, which have strong market potential for Germany, Israel and Europe. If your application is successful, you will receive a Eureka label.

• Call for projects opens: 21 May 2024
• Deadline: 30 October 2024
• Eligibility feedback: mid November 2024
• National evaluation: November 2024 – January 2025
• Consensus meeting between funding agencies: February 2025
• Eureka label and funding decisions: spring 2025
• Projects start: beginning of summer 2025
• Project duration: up to 36 months

Project results must contribute to the development of commercial products, applications and/or technology-based services. Your project must comply with the following guidelines:

• The partners should include at least one Israeli and one German commercial company (though participation of research institutes/universities is welcome as additional participants or subcontractors, according to each country’s funding regulations).
• Companies and/or academia from other countries may also participate. These partners’ participation follows Eureka participation and financing rules and procedures and the funding regulations of these partners’ countries of origin.
• The project should have an obvious advantage and added value resulting from the cooperation between the participants from the two countries (e.g., increased knowledge base, commercial leads, access to R&D infrastructure, new fields of application, etc.).
• The project should demonstrate the contribution of the participants from both countries.

If your R&D project meets these criteria, you can apply to this call for projects, following national laws, rules, regulations and procedures in effect.

Germany (BMBK) funding rules

German companies with less than 1,000 employees (or consortia of such enterprises) that carry out R&D for the development of innovative products, processes or technological services (also in cooperation with a research institution/university) may apply.

However, companies with 500 or more employees need to cooperate with at least one SME. There are no restrictions to specific technologies or branches.

More detailed criteria can be found on the ZIM website (in German).

The application must be in line with the ZIM guidelines and be written in the German language. Support is given in the form of a conditional grant amounting up to 60% of the project costs, which are restricted to 450,000 euro per industrial partner.

The final approval is made by the ZIM project management agency. It is possible to begin a research project at the applicant’s own risk after receiving a confirmation of the receipt of the funding application from AiF Projekt GmbH. We recommend contacting AiF Projekt GmbH before the application to clarify open questions and to hand in a project sketch up until six weeks before the deadline. German research institutes/universities are accepted as additional partners according to the rules available on the ZIM website. The proposal form is here.

Israel (IIA) funding rules

You can apply if you are an Israeli R&D-performing company that initiates a single or multi-year programme to provide know-how, processes or methods for the manufacture of a new product, application, technology-based service or process.

The product must have a sizeable potential for export sales. Research institutes or other participants may apply as a subcontractor to a company.

The support is in the form of a conditional grant generally amounting to up to 50% (plus regional incentives for companies located in a “development zone”) of the eligible R&D budget.

Further details regarding grants and payment of royalties here.

If there is no allocated budget for your organisation type in your country and you want to participate in a project consortium, contact your national funding body using the form below to see whether there are other funding opportunities available or talk to them about self-funding.

Eureka has limited eligibility criteria for organisations participating in a Network project consortium:

• Your project idea must represent international cooperation in the form of a specific project.
• The project must be directed at researching or developing an innovative product, process or service with the goal of commercialisation.
• The project must have a civilian purpose.
• Your consortium must include at least two independent legal entities from a minimum of two Eureka countries.
• No single organisation or country can be responsible for more than 70% of the project budget.

Germany and Israel have additional criteria for organisations to be eligible to receive funding.

Your project application will be reviewed according to our Network projects evaluation methodology.

Impact

• Is the market properly addressed (i.e. size, access and risks)?
• Is the value creation properly addressed (i.e. employment opportunities and environmental and societal benefits)?
• What are the competitive advantages of your project (i.e. strategic importance, enhanced capabilities and visibility)?
• Are your commercialisation plans clear and realistic (i.e. return on investment, geographical and sectoral impact)?

Excellence

• What is the degree of innovation? (i.e. is the proposed product, process or service state-of-the-art? Is there sufficient technological maturity and risk)?
• How is the new knowledge going to be used?
• Is your project scientifically and technically challenging for consortium partners?
• Is the technical achievability and risk properly addressed?

Quality and efficiency of implementation

• What is the quality of your consortium (i.e. balance of the partnership and technological, managerial and financial capabilities of each partner)?
• Is there added value through international cooperation?
• Is your project management and planning realistic and clearly defined (i.e. methodology, planning approach, milestones and deliverables)?
• Is your cost structure reasonable (i.e. costs and financial commitment for each consortium partner)?

Overall perception

Experts will list three positive and negative points to your application and finally state whether they recommend your project for public investment.

Your national funding body may carry out a further evaluation (performed by the national project coordinator and technical experts) according to national rules before allocating funds to successful applicants.