Joint R&D Track

Request your free Joint Report

For one R&D project carried out with partners in another country — Eurostars and comparable joint transnational programmes. We check your eligibility against the programme's own seven criteria and come back in writing within 5 working days, including an honest "not yet" where that is the answer.

Applying to Eurostars Call 12 (17 December 2026 – 4 March 2027)? Use the Call 12 version of this form

This form is in English only, because the Eurostars application itself must be submitted in English. We work entirely in writing: no calls. Start with the eligibility questions — if the route does not fit, we will tell you there and you can stop.

First: does the route fit?

Eurostars has seven eligibility criteria, and failing any one of them ends the application regardless of how good the project is. These questions check them. "Not sure" is a fine answer to the budget questions — those ratios only settle while the application is being written.

Is your organisation an SME under the EU definition?

Fewer than 250 staff, and either turnover up to €50M or a balance sheet total up to €43M. If your company is part of a larger group, that group's figures count towards yours.

Do you have a committed partner in another Eurostars country?

Not a supplier and not a "we have spoken about it" — someone who has agreed to be a partner in the application. This is the one requirement we cannot arrange for you: we do not broker consortia.

Planned project duration, in months

36 months is the hard limit.

Does the project have an exclusive focus on civil application?

Military partners and results that also meet military needs ("dual-use") are allowed, provided the project itself has an exclusive focus on civil applications.

Will at least one participant apply for public funding?

An application in which every participant self-finances cannot be approved. At least one has to be asking a national agency for money.

Does another company or group own 25% or more of your company?

This matters because a parent group's headcount and turnover count towards your SME status.

Country where your company is legally and operationally based

The 37 Eurostars countries are the 27 EU member states plus Canada, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom. The leading SME must be legally and operationally based in one of them.

Are you and your partner(s) independent of one another?

This decides eligibility. Independent means neither controls more than 50% of the other, and they are not under the same control. Being held by the same venture capital company, institutional investor or public investment corporation, or owned by the same public body, does not in itself count as control.

Will SMEs from Eurostars countries carry at least 50% of the project cost?

Counting only SMEs based in Eurostars countries, and excluding their subcontracting. Partners may not subcontract to each other. The figure is not rounded, so 49.9% fails. "Not sure" is fine — this settles while the budget is built.

Will any single participant or country carry more than 70% of the budget?

Including subcontracting, and with linked organisations counted together. Also not rounded: a single participant or country at 70.1% fails. "Not sure" is fine.

Do the partners have PIC numbers?

A PIC number is required for every partner, and registration and submission are impossible without one. Getting one takes time, so it is worth starting early.

Contact

Your name *

Work email *

Legal entity name *

Your role

The project

Project title *

A working title is fine.

Project acronym

Optional. If you do not have one, we will suggest one.

Preferred start date

Roughly. Month and year is enough.

What do you want to do? *

Two or three sentences in your own words. The application asks for this in 100 words; we will do that compression.

Why do you want to do it?

What problem does it solve, and why now?

How will you make money from it?

Who pays, for what, and roughly how much?

Which products, processes or services will the project deliver?

List them separately, starting with the main one. A product, a process and a piece of software are three results, not one.

What is the technical approach, and how novel is it?

Which method or approach, and why that one? Is this a breakthrough or a step up from what you already do?

What already exists today?

What can be bought or done today, and where does it fall short?

What could go wrong technically?

The honest ones. Assessors read a risk section with no risks in it as a section that has not been thought about.

Technology readiness now, and at the end of the project

For example: "TRL 4 now, TRL 7 at the end". A rough estimate is fine. The application does not ask for this, but some national funders do: Germany, for example, only funds R&D up to TRL 6.

Is this a resubmission of an earlier application?

If yes, please give the previous application number and title. A resubmission is not a disadvantage, but it changes how we write it.

Market and impact

What revenue do you expect from this, and what have you invested so far?

Rough figures are fine. The application asks for expected revenue as a result of the project and for what has been invested so far.

How many months after the project ends do you expect to be on the market?

Counted from the end of the project, not from today.

Who are the main players and competitors, and what is commercially available now?

Named competitors are more useful than market-size statistics.

Does the project contribute to any UN Sustainable Development Goals?

Which ones, and how specifically? Vague claims here score badly, so we would rather claim one goal with evidence than five without.

Could the results carry any negative social or environmental effects?

Answering "none" is allowed, but a considered answer is worth more than a blank one.

Your partners

Partner 1

Partner organisation

Country

Type

Core business and what they bring

What they do commercially, and what they contribute that you cannot do yourself.

What they will do in the project

Roughly which part of the work is theirs.

Have you worked together before?

Any previous joint project, contract or research collaboration.

What does each side gain from working across borders?

Assessors specifically look for why this has to be international, rather than something you could do at home.

Who owns what now, and how will results be owned?

Existing patents, licences or background knowledge each side brings, and any agreement on who owns the results.

What project management experience does the lead partner have?

Who will lead the project, and what have they run before?

Anything else

Does the project touch on ethics issues?

For example personal data, human participants, animals, or research with a possible dual-use dimension. The application has a separate ethics table for this.

Any deadlines or constraints we should know about?

For example a customer commitment, a patent deadline or a funding round.

Anything else

We reply in writing within 5 working days. Your answers are used only to assess this application and are never shared with third parties.

Eurostars applications are submitted on the Eureka Project Management Platform by the consortium itself, and cannot be modified after submission. We prepare the full application and hand it over for you to paste and submit, with a final check before you press send.

If the route fits, the next step is a Joint Application Plan: €475 per partner, €950 in total for two partners, invoiced to one partner, excluding VAT, and deducted in full from the application price if the Service Agreement is signed within 30 days of delivery of the Plan. After that, a Joint Application starts at €4,975 per partner — €9,950 in total for a two-partner consortium, excluding VAT, fixed, agreed before we start, with no success fee. Each partner above two adds €2,500, so three partners come to €12,450, or €4,150 each. The Joint Report itself is free and carries no obligation.