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.

1. Contact your national funding body using the form below to discuss your project idea, financial viability, eligibility and national procedures.
2. Create an account on our application portal (one per consortium) and select the funding opportunity you want to apply to.
3. Using the portal, complete one application form per consortium (in English) and invite other consortium partners to fill in a partner form.
4. Upload a GANTT chart (one per consortium), a signed and completed co-signature form (which you can download from the platform) and any additional required annexes.
5. Your application will be checked for completeness and eligibility before being reviewed using a standard evaluation procedure. If successful, your project will receive a Eureka label.
6. Your national funding body may carry out a further evaluation (performed by the national contact and technical experts) according to national rules before allocating funds to successful applicants.
7. The final step is to complete and sign a consortium agreement. We recommend that you seek legal advice when drafting your consortium agreement.

The Eureka application must be submitted by 10 October 2024 at 17:00 (CEST). The forms must be legally signed by all participating companies. The signatures must be scanned and sent electronically with your application form. The final Eureka status is only granted if the funding of all project partners has been secured.

Your project application will be screened and evaluated by the Innovation Authority in Israel and the German Eureka Office.

When you submit your Eureka application, all project partners must also submit an application following national procedures. Contact your national funding body before you apply.

Germany apply steps

Each German project partner must submit an individual ZIM application to AiF Projekt GmbH.

Detailed criteria for submitting applications and the ZIM application form can be found on the ZIM website (in German). You may also contact AiF Projekt GmbH directly. The application must comply with ZIM guidelines and be written in German.

The proposal form is available here.

Israel apply steps

At the same time as the Eureka application, Israeli partners will be asked to submit a short project outline of their funding applications to the Innovation Authority here.

At this stage, you must also submit a provisional consortium agreement between project partners.

Deadline: 30 October at 12:00 Israeli time

Each country will fund its eligible participants. Funding conditions and eligibility criteria vary between participating countries. Up-to-date information in relation to bilateral projects in education and research is available here.

Innovation Authority and BMWK (supported by the German Eureka Office in Bonn, and the ZIM project management agency, AiF Projekt GmbH) will provide all necessary assistance to project partners during the project proposal, evaluation and monitoring phases. In addition, both Innovation Authority and the German Eureka Office will support you when you are completing your Eureka application and receive a Eureka label (if your project receives a positive evaluation) and will support the progress of your project.

Germany and Israel call for projects text

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