EUREKA is an intergovernmental organisation for market-driven industrial R&D.  It is a decentralised network facilitating the coordination of national funding on innovation aiming to boost the productivity & competitiveness of European industries. The network integrates over 40 pan-European economies, but also includes Israel, South Korea, and Canada. Following a bottom-up approach with projects being in any technological area with a civilian purpose, EUREKA has been the driving force of innovation in Europe for over 25 years.

Founded in 1985, to challenge the increasing migration of R&D and industrial innovation to Asian and North-American countries, EUREKA now unites over 40 countries and also includes the European Union (represented by the European Commission). Together, they promote international, market-oriented research and innovation through the support they offer to small and medium-sized enterprises, large industry, universities and research institutes. Through EUREKA, these organisations are introducing new products, processes and services to market, helping make Europe economically strong and socially sound.

Results stemming from EUREKA projects are everywhere: gsm mobile phone technology; navigation systems; smartcards to support mobile and electronic commerce; film special effects software for cinema; state-of-the-art medical devices and technologies to monitor and limit environmental pollution.

EUREKA Clusters are long-term, strategically significant public-private partnerships. Most of Europe’s leading companies participate in EUREKA Clusters, developing generic technologies of key importance to European competitiveness. EUREKA Umbrellas are thematic networks that focus on a particular technology or business sector. Their goal is to generate and support R&D projects in their specific field of operation.

EUREKA’s Eurostars Programme is the first European funding and support programme to be specifically dedicated to research-performing SMEs. Eurostars stimulates them to lead international collaborative research and innovation projects. The Eurostars mission is “To support R&D-performing entrepreneurs, by funding their research activities, enabling them to compete internationally and become leaders in their sector.”

Source: http://www.eurekanetwork.org/about