Organisations and companies applying through Eureka programmes can access funding and support from national and regional ministries or agencies for their international R&D projects.

Other important personalities involved were Hubert Curien, French ex-Minister of research and former chairman of the European Space Agency and Jacques Attali, adviser to François Mitterrand.

Briefly, it is about assuring the technological independence of Europe in the key domains of the future; encouraging, wherever possible, co-operation between European businesses and researchers; mobilising the necessary financial resources; accompanying the efforts of our enterprises by creating the necessary environment and supporting the unification of our internal markets.

But we know that each time we come together — for example to address high-energy physics, research into nuclear fusion, the development of an integrated space programme or the construction of crucial scientific equipment — our successes encourage us in the idea that we can work together in R&D areas close to industrial markets, despite the problems arising from the normal and legitimate competition between firms.

It is co-funded by 36 participating Eureka national funding bodies and the European Union Horizon 2020 framework programme.

They usually have a large number of participants, and aim to develop inclusive technologies of importance for European competitiveness mainly in ICT, energy and more recently in the biotechnology and automation sectors.

In recent years, national funding ministries/ agencies from e.g. Brazil, India, Japan and Singapore have collaborated with Eureka using this programme.