Spanish chair-final-report

FOREWORD: a promising future for EUREKA 3
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPANISH CHAIR 4
1. PREPARATORY WORK 4
2. SPANISH CHAIRMANSHIP ACTION PLAN:REMARKABLE FACTS 4
2.1. Open EUREKA 5
2.2. Upgrade EUREKA 5
2.3. Check EUREKA 7
3. CALL ACTIVITY, PROJECT GENERATION AND PORTFOLIO OF EUREKA PROJECTS 8
4. INNOVATION WEEK 8
5. COMMUNICATION 9
6. ESE HEAD RECRUITMENT 10
ANNEX:XXVII EUREKA MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE COMMUNIQUE 11
CONTENT

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FOREWORD:a promising future for EUREKA
After a really intensive year, completely focused achieving the Spanish Chairmanship’s objectives, a
set of important conclusions arise as a consequence of the identified problems, the solutions given
and the pending challenges. These concluding thoughts are gathered in this final report with the aim
of being useful for EUREKA in the future:
1. With no doubt, EUREKA, an intergovernmental platform formed by 44 countries from four
continents, is the widest global entity for technological cooperation among companies, research
centers and universities.
2. The concept OPEN EUREKA,discussed and approved during the Spanish Chairmanship,will serve
as a solution to answer to the OPEN INNOVATION challenge faced by the countries.This reference
shall allow other countries and organizations to establish relationships with EUREKA to improve
their companies’ competitiveness.
3. Particular attention must be paid to the future cooperation between EUREKA and the European
Commission.Both in Horizon 2020 and in future Framework Programmes,the eficiency of EUREKA
international innovative action must actively contribute to the international cooperation challenge
that Europe has to tackle.
4. Withtherecordfiguresofmorethan500approvedprojectsandabudgethigherthan1billioneuros,
the current EUREKA challenge is to improve the synchronization of different funding mechanisms
in member countries to allocate the funds which support EUREKA projects.
5. Together with the previous point and regarding R&D&I national policies, budget planning should
allow to maintain multi annual programmes, essential for these kind of activities.
6. EUREKA greatest challenge consists of the necessity to achieve further convergence in members’
performance,moreinlinewiththeircapacities,sincecurrently,strongdifferencesamongcountries
activities reduces its efficency in boosting international cooperation.
7. To improve the previous point,the Spanish Chairmanship has incorporated to the EUREKA regular
operation a set of performance indicators which will enable EUREKA governing bodies to set up
supportmeasuresaswellastheuseofbestpracticesforthebenefitoflow-performancecountries.

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8. EUREKA communication policies should be strongly changed. Its current level does not represent
its value nor its growth potential.The following Chairmanships should consider them as essential
and assign them the necessary resources, so that those interested in international technological
cooperation identify EUREKA as their own platform for this purpose.
9. Within an open horizon, with an efficient and simple governance, enough funds and a bottom-up
orientation based on industrial demands, EUREKA should have governance teams up to the task
and challenges to be achieved.To that end,Ministers should appoint as High level Representatives
top level politicians/officers from their respective Governments. In that way, decisions made will
be firmly supported by member countries,in full coherence to the size and shape of the necessary
political initiatives for R&D&I growth at global level.
10. Hosting Ministerial Conferences in shorter periods of time, for instance every two years, will be
the consequence of the establishment of intensive challenges for EUREKA within national and
regional policies, as a vehicle to reinforce business competitiveness through close-to-market
R&D cooperation.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPANISH CHAIR
1. PRELIMINARY WORK
The EUREKA Spanish Chairmanship was internally discussed in the Spanish Ministry of Economy and
Competitiveness during 2014. It was decided to propose Spain as candidate to the Chairmanship at
the Executive Group (EG) meeting on September 24.
At the beginning of March 2015, preparations started, taking place several meetings with Spanish
companies to detect their interests and expectations. A first outline of the program of the Spanish
Chairmanship was presented by the Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation on
occasion of the 30th anniversary of EUREKA held in Lugano on 2 July 2015.
Early in January and February 2016, brainstorming meetings on the Chairmanship program were held
with 9 countries.The official program of the Spanish Chairmanship was presented at the HLG meeting
on 9 March 2016 in Malmö.
The Spanish Presidency began on July 1, 2016. After the first EG meeting in Alcalá de Henares on
July 5 and 6, an Action Plan was designed. This Plan has been the guide for the development of the
Chairmanship.
2. SPANISH CHAIRMANSHIP ACTION PLAN: REMARKABLE FACTS
The Action Plan for the Spanish EUREKA Chair 2016-17 has been developed along three priorities:
Open EUREKA, Upgrade EUREKA and Check EUREKA. This final report highlights and summarizes
remarkable facts in each of them as well as operative results of the EUREKA initiative during this
Chairmanship´s term.

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2.1. Open EUREKA
The Strategy for EUREKA Internationalization 2025 was approved at the Ministerial Conference in
Madrid with the objective of making EUREKA the preferred tool for European industry to cooperate
globally in R&D&I.The main measures included in this Strategy are the following:
• A new status, called EUREKA Partner country, that recognises Associate Countries that have
made a significant contribution to the EUREKA network, and allows them to become permanent
and strategic partners within the EUREKA initiative.
The Republic of Korea has been proposed as the first candidate to become EUREKA Partner
Country. Formalization of this Partnership agreement is foreseen for the Finnish Chairmanship
period.
• The renewal period for the Associate Country status has been extended to four years and the
steps required for the renewal decision have been simplified.
According to these new procedures, the Association Agreement with South Africa has been
renewed until the 30th of June 2021, and Chile has become a new EUREKA Associated country
until the same date.
• Reinforcement of Globalstars as a key basic instrument for the internationalization of EUREKA.
Joint calls with any country or groups of countries around the world will be boosted. In this line,
new opportunities to launch Globalstars joint calls with platforms for regional cooperation in
other continents will be explored.
The first pilot Globalstars calls were launched with Chile and Argentina during the Spanish Chair.
Under the Chile call, 25 full applications were received (€14.5m of public-private investment)
with participants from Chile, Austria, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and UK; 13
projects have been finally labelled. Concerning the Argentina call, 12 full applications were
received (€11.1m of public-private investment) with participants from Argentina, France, Spain
and Turkey;6 projects have been labelled.
2.2. Upgrade EUREKA
Under this objective several actions have been carried out in order to optimize the functioning of the
initiative and update its different instruments.
• EUREKA Regulatory Corpus (ERC). This single document, endorsed by the Madrid Ministerial
Conference,combines into a coherent corpus those rules that have formed the basis of EUREKA’s
strategic, operational and legal developments since its inception. Its modular structure,
consisting of a main section on General Rules and eight annexes,allows updating the Regulatory
Corpus in a flexible and effective way, replacing each annex by an amended version if necessary.
• EUREKA projects forecasting and Performance Monitoring System. Projects forecasting
obtained from HLRs and partial information about funding have been collected, analysing
trends of the EUREKA portfolio. It is planned to complete the available information and make
this exercise compulsory and continuous. Moreover, for the first time in the history of EUREKA,
the monitoring of countries´ performance has been included under the Regulatory Corpus as
a mandatory procedure, aiming to encourage and improve countries´ participation in EUREKA
projects.
• Synergies with EU programmes and actions. Reinforce a desirable coordination and joint work
between EUREKA and the EC has been one of the priorities of the Spanish Chairmanship. As
a result, the Ministerial Conference approved the position paper entitled “Synergies between
EUREKA and the EU”, and announced the creation of a joint High Level Working Group to design

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a concrete roadmap for EUREKA and European innovation policy until 2020 and beyond this
date.For this post-2020 period,the key point is the future of Eurostars under the 9th Framework
Programme and, in particular, in the context of the European Innovation Council. In this respect,
during the Spanish Chairmanship a EUREKA position paper on the interim evaluation of Horizon
2020 was sent to the European Commission.
• Guidelines for Network Projects (EUREKA 2.0 included). A Working Group was created in order
to implement the synchronization of terminology in Network projects and to define an updated
process for the management of this type of projects, including some further development of
the concept EUREKA 2.0. In this line, a EUREKA 2.0 pilot call, named Turbo, was launched and
monitored by the Chair.
• Clusters’ activity in the Network. More visibility has been given to Clusters, which have actively
participated in EUREKA network meetings during this Chairmanship, sharing information and
points of view on strategic and operational issues. In this respect, the Chair and also the Troika
members have been invited and attended the Inter Cluster meetings. Additionally, a working
group was created as a cross road of Clusters and Network members to discuss about things in
common.The main result of this WG has been a list of annexes to the existing Clusters guidelines.
Moreover, two new EUREKA Clusters have been launched, in the technology areas of Advanced
Manufacturing, and Graphene and 2-D materials. The one in Advanced Manufacturing got the
applicant label at the end of the Spanish Chair.
• Audit and Risk Committee. Approved by the EUREKA Executive Board in July 2017, its mission
is to provide support to the Executive Board in the exercise of its responsibilities by: reviewing
robustness and adequacy of financial reporting; monitoring of effectiveness of internal control
and risk management systems put in place by the ESE;monitoring the statutory audit of annual
accounts and making recommendation to Executive Group on the approval of accounts; follow-
up to the recommendations made by the statutory auditor and the internal audit function;
evaluation and monitoring of the independence of the statutory auditor and monitoring of the
internal audit function and its effectiveness.

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• HLR appointments. In order to formalize and update HLRs appointments, a review process has
been carried out. As a result, 39 HLRs have been properly appointed by National Authorities
during the last months.
• Consolidation of E!Innovest. During the Spanish Chair, E!nnoVest, a program that allows
the contact of innovative companies with potential international investors, coaching them to
effectively pitch their projects, has been consolidated as the new instrument of the Eureka
portfolio. It has been promoted at South Summit and Transfiere, two important international
events hold in Spain dealing with R&D, technology, investors and companies. Almost 200
companies applied to present their businesses at the E!nnoVest Venture Forum in the Innovation
Week in Barcelona, where 36 were finally selected. Out of these, 9 companies were selected as
finalists by a jury composed of experts in venture capital, corporate investors and investment
intermediaries:4 Spain, 2 Germany, 1 Norway, 1 Portugal and 1 Slovenia.
• Measures to improve meetings. Participation of countries´ representatives has been actively
promoted by the Spanish Chairmanship, by means of intense and busy work schedules and
agendas with numerous discussion points.A total of 10 network meetings (each of them includes
several types of meetings: GA, EG, EB, HLG, HLG/NPC, NPC) have been organized, together with
3 webinars and more than 200 bilateral and multilateral pre-scheduled meetings. Plenary
sessions have been broadcasted by streaming.
2.3. Check EUREKA
An internal review of EUREKA has been accomplished during the Spanish Chairmanship by means of
three main action lines:update of the Strategic Roadmap 2020, elaboration of an impact assessment
of EUREKA instruments and the mid-term evaluation of Eurostars-2.
• The EUREKA Strategic Roadmap is a key element in EUREKA’s governance system that provides
strategic direction to the whole Network. It needs to be reviewed every two years with regards to
the described scope and priorities, and evaluated against its objectives. The Spanish EUREKA
Chair had leaded the revision process of the EUREKA SRM 2014-2020. It was one of the major
priorities in order to ensure a strong strategic governance and political continuity over the
coming period of 2017-2020. The revised SRM puts forward four strategic priorities, illustrating
the direction in which EUREKA wants to develop in the future,and ten action fields that underpin
EUREKA’s vision and strategic priorities. One of the main improvements of the reviewed strategy
is a set of 32 Key Performance Indicators related to each action field. Further steps for its
implementation will be taken under the upcoming Finnish and British Chairmanships.
• Impact Assessment of Network and Cluster projects.The need for a comprehensive evaluation
and impact assessment of EUREKA instruments is outlined in the EUREKA 2020 Strategic
Roadmap. During the Spanish Chairmanship a study has been carried out by independent
experts in order to analyse the benefits accrued by participants in EUREKA Network and
Clusters projects labelled in the period 2001-2015. The study has demonstrated an additional
annual turnover growth of 15% (Network Projects) and 13% (Cluster Projects) compared to non-
participating firms and, an additional annual employment growth of 4% and 7% respectively.
Moreover, participating firms recognised or expected a strengthened economic positioning
through the EUREKA project, with the entering of new markets (69% of survey respondents),
improved market shares (68%) and increased exports (67%).
• Midterm Evaluation of Eurostars-2. Two parallel evaluations of the ongoing programme
Eurostars 2 have been carried out during the Spanish Chairmanship. The first one has been
accomplished by an internal EUREKA task force, while the second one has been outsourced to
external experts by the European Commission.Despite methodological differences,both of them
have confirmed the positive role of Eurostars in the European innovation landscape. Aspects

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to be improved, such as the synchronisation of national funding, have been also highlighted.
Results from these evaluations will be a valuable input for the implementation of Eurostars until
2020 and also for the definition of further steps beyond this date.
3. CALL ACTIVITY, PROJECT GENERATION AND PORTFOLIO OF EUREKA
PROJECTS
During the Spanish Chair, 31 calls for Network projects had been launched;some of them multilateral
(Danube, Turbo, Advanced manufacturing, Globalstars) and most of them bilateral (with South Korea,
Germany and Spain as the most active countries). In addition, there were 8 Clusters calls (2 calls per
year:Celtic, Eurogia, Euripides;1 call per year:Itea, Penta) and finally 2 Eurostars calls (CoDs 6-7).
In the period of the Spanish Chairmanship,490 new EUREKA projects have been labelled (132 Network
Projects;314 Eurostars projects and 44 Cluster projects),with a total budget of 1,074 M€ (454 M€;160
M€ and 460 M€, respectively).
These results are the highest achieved in EUREKA since its inception, more than 30 years ago.
4. INNOVATION WEEK
The Spanish chair hosted the main annual EUREKA promotion event, the Open EUREKA Innovation
Week, focused on the Open EUREKA concept developed by the Spanish Chair.
The venue was the International Convention Center in Barcelona (CCIB). The event lasted 5 days
between 15th and 19th May 2017, and was oriented as an Open Forum and Marketplace focused on
working on smart technologies.
The activities carried out as parallel activities included plenary sessions, workshops, three days of
B2B matching activities carried out by EEN, Key note speeches, pitches, an exhibition area open 3+1
days, and some meeting points for sharing technology activities.

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Sessions focused on EUREKA instruments (Network Projects,Eurostars,Cluster Projects,Globalstars
calls, E!Innovest) were held, as well as specific sessions devoted to the Open EUREKA concept and
the Korea-EUREKA Day. The winners of the Innovation Award Pitch competition were also announced
during this event.
There was a high participation, with more than 1.100 attendees from 41 different countries. Besides
Spain, the most represented countries were South Korea (129), Turkey (76), Chile (51) and France
(49). Around 50% of participants came from industry (25% from SMEs) and 17% from research
organisations.
According to these figures and feedback received from the EUREKA network and stakeholders, the
event can be considered as very successful, as it was achieved an important participation in all
activities during the whole week, getting very high scores in the feedback from participants, mainly
coming from organizations related to technology (companies, research institutions). Moreover, a
significant number of public authorities, namely innovation agencies and funding bodies, were
present. Therefore, it was reached the objective of rebranding EUREKA as network for the support of
innovation at European level and beyond (Open EUREKA concept).
5. COMMUNICATION
The EUREKA Spanish Chairmanship developed and implemented a Communication and Marketing Plan,
withinitsgeneralstrategy,askeytooltomakevisibletheopportunitiesandpeculiaritiesthatthisinitiative
offers to R&D&I bodies for the development of technological projects, such as: favourable funding
access,internationalisation,cooperation among more than 40 countries,employment generation,talent
attraction and simplified procedures.
The main goal was to make this visibility becoming in an increase of projects and investment,especially
in Spain.Data indicate that the objective has been finally achieved,taking into consideration that in the
Spanish Chair the highest number of R&D projects were labelled during a EUREKA Chairmanship after
more than three decades of history.
This Communication and Marketing Plan identified audiences (R&D&I actors in Spain) to be addressed
in a relatively short period of time, June 2016-June 2017, messages to communicate together with the
channels and resources to be used and implemented efficiently and immediately to guarantee the
established goals attainment.
The cornerstone of the campaign was ”EUREKA makes you visible”. Aiming at reinforcing the main
message, a strategy was defined based on giving preference to the companies and their projects,
creating the concept of ”Heroes of Innovation”. Its immediate effect resulted in an involved entities’
proactive attitude, which became the best EUREKA ambassadors as can be seen in the reports and
interviews published and broadcasted in the main national media.
Following this strategic approach,the most efficient tactics,channels and resources,were selected.The
first one consisted in setting up a campaign in LinkedIn, which has doubled the number of followers in
the innovation sector in less than one year, as well as reaching clicking and engagement rates over the
average according to a ROI study,run at the end of the period.
The Spanish EUREKA Chairmanship has put off a real effort to be present in the main promotional
events held in Spain by R&D&I national and international bodies. By the first time, CDTI took part in
South Summit (5-7 Oct.2016),focusing on EUREKA and with a lecture given by Carlos Moedas,European
Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation. From 15-17 February 2017, CDTI also attended
Transfiere 6th
Edition in Málaga, where EUREKA reinforced its main role in comparison with previous
years.

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These actions have been reinforced by a constant presence in Spanish relevant media. Moreover,
Network plenary sessions in Bilbao,Sevilla,Málaga and Madrid and Innovation Week in Barcelona have
broughtEUREKAvisibilityininnovationandtechnologicalframeworkmainlyinPaísVasco,Andalucíaand
Cataluña.Another action in the media was the Spanish correspondents’press conference in Brussels.
Finally,a EUREKA Corporative Blog in Spain was created,eurekablog.cdti.es.
6. ESE HEAD RECRUITMENT
Since the contract of the former ESE Head expired on 31.01.2017,a new head of the ESE was recruited
during the Spanish Chairmanship. For this purpose, a recruitment task force was set up, composed
by HLRs from Germany, Finland, France, Portugal, Sweden and Spain (elected as Chairman).This task
force drew a Detailed Implementation Plan for the ESE Head recruitment that was approved in the
first EG and endorsed by the HLG.
With the support of a consultancy firm, 32 candidates out of 132 were preselected and 7 final
candidates were interviewed by the Task Force.The result was a ranked list of 3 candidates that were
interviewed by the HLG Chairman following the order of the list.
Mr. Philippe Vanrie was finally selected and, after a negotiation process, he accepted the EUREKA
Chairman offer and signed the corresponding contract, starting to work at the ESE at the end of
January 2017.

ANNEX:XXVII EUREKA
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
COMMUNIQUE
11

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At the invitation of Spain,Ministers and Representatives from 40 EUREKA member countries together
with four Associated Countries and the European Commission met in Madrid onJune 30th 2017,for the
XXVII Session of the EUREKA Ministerial Conference, chaired by Mr. Luis de Guindos Jurado, Spanish
Minister of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.
The future of EUREKA in a nutshell
In summary, Ministers have decided that, in view of EUREKA’s long experience in promoting
innovation within Europe and the success of its more recent outreach to the rest of the world,
the initiative should refocus its activity in the coming years along two main axes:
–– Reinforcing the global element of its work by adopting the “Strategy for EUREKA
Internationalization 2025”, with the objective of making EUREKA the preferred tool for
European industry to cooperate globally in R&D.
–– Strengthening synergies with other actors, and especially with the European Union, in
order to reinforce its contribution more generally to the European innovation space, and
in particular to the European Research and Innovation Area (ERIA), the 9th Framework
Programme (FP9) and the future European Innovation Council (EIC).
A new step forward for EUREKA
Ministers recognize that Europe is now facing decisive challenges that will determine the future of our
peoples for several generations.
Initiatives are needed that offer a path to sustainable growth and the generation of high quality
employment, in order to guarantee greater welfare and purchasing power for the people of Europe, in
turn creating a virtuous circle of demand for innovative goods and services,wealth creation,availability
of both public and private capital, and demand for even greater innovation.
There is a considerable risk that Europe will lose growth potential if the drivers of such growth are not
reinforced. This challenge must be taken up through policies that generate technological momentum
and ensure higher added value for European products, services and technologies.
Europe, the world’s leading producer of scientific knowledge, must be able to transfer that knowledge
effectively and efficiently to industry.The so-called ‘European paradox’ must end once and for all.
Traditional technology giants like the United States of America and Japan have now been joined by
a plethora of newcomers competing energetically with Europe. Today’s reality calls for openness,
in order to get the best talent and partners to jointly develop and sell our products and services all
around the world.
Smart reindustrialization is essential, based on technology innovation and driven by enterprises in
cooperation with Research and Technology Organisations and public stakeholders. Several initiatives
are addressing this, notably the reinforcement of innovation support within H2020 and the upcoming
creation of the European Innovation Council, both aiming to stimulate bottom-up innovation projects.
EUREKA has been working in this manner for more than 30 years,establishing itself as a framework of
reference for innovation stakeholders in Europe and facilitating collaboration initiatives between them
and with the European Commission. Its bottom-up approach and variable geometry; its experienced,
professional and lean organisation and its agile self-governing and intergovernmental procedures
give this initiative a natural, pivotal position in European innovation policy.

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At EUREKA’s heart is cooperation among countries and among organisations, and this confluence of
interests has been one of its key success factors. Moreover, it is a unique platform for companies that
want to cooperate with organisations across Europe and across the world.
It is a fact that EUREKA is reinforcing the innovative capabilities of European firms and their market
performance, generating employment in our economies. According to a study carried out during the
Spanish Chairmanship, the main motives for firms participating in EUREKA projects are the opening
up of international cooperation and the creation of new business opportunities.Significantly,EUREKA
has an impact on employment growth in EUREKA companies by 4% and in sales revenues over 12%.
Being determined to strengthen the competiveness of European industry in an increasingly globalized
landscape, Ministers endorse the following strategic axes for the future of the initiative:
A / EUREKA as a platform for international cooperation in a global context
Ministers recognize that:
• A key characteristic of the current international landscape on R&D&I is the entry of new actors
to challenge Europe and the United States as global drivers of R&D.
• The global distribution of R&D expenditures has consequences for the generation of knowledge:
Europe is still a global leader in knowledge production,but changes in these patterns mean new
competitors and also new opportunities.
• International cooperation is one of the main ways to secure access to knowledge, capacity,
resources and skills around the world and hence to improve the performance of national
innovation systems.
• EUREKA has long proved its value to innovative firms wanting to cooperate with European
partners, and confident new actions such as the development of Associate Country status and
Globalstars calls have extended EUREKA’s scope beyond Europe. All of these initiatives have
demonstratively reduced the risks and costs associated with international cooperation,opening
new opportunities for European firms to access talent and to take advantage of new markets all
around the world.
Ministers therefore welcome and endorse the “Strategy for EUREKA Internationalization 2025” and
its objective of making EUREKA the preferred tool for European industry to cooperate globally in
R&D&I.
EUREKA, originally conceived as an instrument to reinforce the internal European market through
technological cooperation, will now adapt its role and organization to the global scenario where
European firms operate, supporting their competitiveness strategies. As a European initiative,
EUREKA should focus this work on those countries with existing commercial agreements with Europe,
facilitating R&D&I projects with partners from those countries.
From a strategic perspective, the essential goal is to support the internationalization of European
industry, widening the scope of EUREKA, but maintaining its European essence and reflecting the
perspectives and interests of European companies and the values and ethics of European societies.
Within this Strategy, Ministers have decided that three measures shall be undertaken:
• To establish a new status of ‘EUREKA Partner Country’ that recognises Associate Countries
that have made a significant contribution to the EUREKA network, and allows them to become
permanent and strategic partners within the EUREKA initiative.There will be nothing automatic
about this process. Partners will be selected according to a rigorous case-by-case assessment
while ensuring the proper operational functioning of EUREKA. Moreover, EUREKA Partner
Countries shall pursue active market economy policies, and establish appropriate framework
conditions including export and non-proliferation control arrangements and proper protection
of industrial and intellectual property rights.

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The permanent nature of this new status will mean European companies can count on a stable
cooperation framework when designing their medium- and long-term innovation strategies.
Given the exceptional performance of the Republic of South Korea during its long period as an
Associate Country, and considering its close links with Europe within a full and open market
framework, Ministers recommend, subject to its meeting the assessment criteria, inviting this
country to become the first Partner country of EUREKA.
• Globalstars joint calls with any country or countries around the world shall become the
key basic instrument for the internationalization of EUREKA. EUREKA shall explore new
opportunities to launch Globalstars joint calls with platforms for regional cooperation in other
continents, in order to create better medium-to-long term conditions for trade in goods and
services with Europe.
• Associate Country status shall be reviewed in order to create lighter procedures for those
countries. The renewal period shall be extended to four years and the steps required for the
renewal decision shall be simplified. Ministers recommend the creation of a shortlist of
countries, in Asia and the Americas, with the potential for association to EUREKA in the coming
years, subject to the above conditions.
B / Reinforcing the European innovation space: a more active role for EUREKA in the
European Research and Innovation Area
Ministers believe that:
• The bottom-up approach used by EUREKA is the best approach to promote industry-led
innovation.
• The best way to increase the scope and impact of European innovation is for EUREKA and the
other main public actors that promote innovation in Europe (EU, nations, regions) to streamline
and coordinate their work.
• The natural framework for the development of mutual cooperation between EUREKA and the
EU is the European Research and Innovation Area (ERIA), a space of coordination for initiatives,
programmes and other activities of Member States and other European organizations for the
purpose of generating and disseminating R&D&I, an essential element in the improvement of
European competitiveness.
• Launched in 2008, the joint programme Eurostars, co-funded from the national budgets of
numerous EUREKA countries and supported by the European Union through its Framework
Programmes, has created mutual benefits.
• Eurostars was carefully developed to address the specific needs of R&D-performing SMEs in
developingnewinnovativeandcompetitiveproducts,processesandservices.Throughfacilitating
easieraccesstointernationalmarkets,theprogrammehasdemonstratedsignificantimpactand
added-value, particularly in job creation, economic development and long-term transnational
cooperation.The past years have shown the strategic importance of having a stable programme
with a long-term commitment from EUREKA countries and the EU.
• By building on the strengths and lessons learnt from the past and on-going evaluations of the
first two Eurostars phases,a comparable collaborative bottom-up programme between EUREKA
and the EU, in a relevant form, should be explored in view of the forthcoming FP9, in order to
enhance support to innovation.

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To continue the realisation of EUREKA’s founding ambitions, Ministers call upon the European
Commission and the EUREKA decision-making bodies to implement the following actions:
• Optimise and rationalise coordination between EUREKA and EU activity in the field of
innovation policy and strategy. A joint High Level Working Group between EUREKA and the
EC, at a minimum of High Level Representative´s or Deputy´s level, shall be set up to present, at
the latest by the end of the Finnish EUREKA Chairmanship,a concrete roadmap for EUREKA and
European innovation policy. Continuity of this Group should be foreseen, keeping the roadmap
subject to yearly updates, taking account of the interactivity and interdependence of FP 9, EIC
and ERIA developments and the evolution of the innovation landscape.
• The roadmap will distinguish between actions to be implemented within the current pro-
gramming period (until 2020) and those to be proposed for the next programming period (post
2020),),specifically for the 9th
Framework Programme and in particular the European Innovation
Council:
• For the period up to 2020, particular attention will be paid to the outcomes of the mid-
term evaluation of Eurostars 2 of both the EC and EUREKA Participating Countries, with
a view to setting up and implementing any actions deemed necessary to completely fulfil
the objectives of the programme. Besides this, to enhance cooperation, the roadmap
should identify areas where closer synergy and better streamlining can be achieved
between specific Horizon 2020 initiatives and EUREKA instruments,notably in areas such
as investment (e.g. E!nnoVest and InvestHorizon follow-up; EUREKA Clusters and JTIs;
InnovFin), international cooperation (e.g. Globalstars-InConet), and communication (e.g.
the positioning of Eurostars 2 alongside the range of EU instruments aimed at SMEs , …).
• For the period after 2020, particular attention will be paid to two issues: cooperation
betweenEUREKAandtheEuropeanInnovationCouncil,includingwhetheraMemorandum
of Understanding is needed;and the conditions agreed between EUREKA and the EC to be
met for a potential renewal of Eurostars or a similar programme of joint support.
In view of the importance of the two strategic axes set out in this Communiqué, Ministers commit
themselves to active reinforcement of EUREKA within their national administrations, securing the
appropriate level of national resources to ensure EUREKA’s effective operation. This commitment
entails sufficient funding to allow their companies´ participation in EUREKA projects along with
sufficient skilled human resources to sustain the activity of the National EUREKA Offices. EUREKA
must be promoted as the best meeting point for European companies seeking to develop partnerships
in order to undertake innovative collaborative projects that can boost their competitiveness in a global
environment.
Approval of the Updated EUREKA 2020 Strategic Roadmap
The Ministerial Conference welcomes the updated EUREKA Strategic Roadmap 2020 and calls for
appropriate measures to fully implement the ambitions set out in the Roadmap during the forthcoming
Finnish Chair and subsequent Chairmanships of EUREKA.
Renewal of the Association Agreement with South Africa and Association of Chile
The Ministerial Conference announces the renewal of the Association with South Africa until the 30th
of June 2021, and the new Association of Chile with EUREKA, from the 1st of July 2017 until the 30th
June 2021.

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16
Approval of the EUREKA Regulatory Corpus
The Ministerial Conference endorses the EUREKA Regulatory Corpus,recognizing the excellent way in
which the rules that have formed the basis of EUREKA’s strategic,operational and legal developments
since its inception have now been combined into a coherent single document.
Update of EUREKA instruments to make them more effective and efficient
Ministers acknowledge the considerable effort undertaken to define new guidelines for the
management of Network Projects and EUREKA Clusters.
Enhancing EUREKA Clusters presence
The Ministerial Conference welcomes the launch of two new EUREKA Clusters in the technology areas
of Advanced Manufacturing, and Graphene and 2-D materials.
Project generation and portfolio of EUREKA projects
The Conference welcomes the increasing number of Eurostars projects within the overall EUREKA
project portfolio in the last five years and is particularly pleased with the very high proportion of R&D-
performing SMEs among the participants in Eurostars projects.The Ministerial Conference notes that
the same period has seen: 495 new Network projects with a total estimated budget of 855 M€; 1,242
Eurostars projects with a total estimated budget of 1,787 M€;and 224 new Cluster projects with a total
estimated budget of 2,092 M€. The total number of newly labelled projects of all types is therefore
1,961, with a total budget of 4,734 M€.
During the Spanish Chairmanship, 490 new EUREKA projects have been labelled (132 Network
Projects;314 Eurostars projects and 44 Cluster projects),with a total budget of 1,074 M€ (454 M€;160
M€ and 460 M€, respectively).

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17
2017 EUREKA Innovation Award
The Ministerial Conference congratulates the winners of the EUREKA Innovation Award: Eurostars
project AR-TEX in the category of Innovators of Tomorrow; ITEA EUREKA Cluster project ADAX, in the
category of Competitiveness;and EURIPIDES2 Cluster Project UPMOST,in the category of AddedValue.
Future Chairs
The Ministerial Conference looks forward to the forthcoming Chair of United Kingdom (July 2018 –
June 2019).
In view of the positive future direction for EUREKA summarised in this Communiqué, the Ministerial
Conference calls upon all members to consider taking the EUREKA Chairmanship in future years,
particularly members which have not yet done so.
Incoming Chair:the Finnish Programme
Ministers thank the Government of Finland for taking over the EUREKA Chairmanship from July 2017
to June 2018. Ministers welcome the appointment of Mr. Heikki Uusi-Honko, Development Director
for International Operations at Tekes - the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, as Chairman of the
EUREKA High Level Group. Ministers also welcome the programme of the incoming Finnish Chair:
• Smart EUREKA
• Extensive EUREKA
• EUREKA and European Innovation Policy
The Ministerial Conference delegates to its HLG representatives the necessary decision-making
authority to ensure the good functioning and future development of EUREKA activities until the next
Ministerial Conference.
At the end of the meeting, the Spanish Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation,
Ms. Carmen Vela, formally passed the EUREKA Chairmanship to the Head of the Finnish Delegation,
Mr.Petri Peltonen,Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment,and
expressed his sincerest wishes for a successful Chair term.

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