Bulgaria to Join Research & Development Network EUREKA

Bulgaria will become the 40th member of EUREKA. Map by eurekanetwork.org

Bulgaria is going to join formally EUREKA, a Europe-wide network for market-oriented industrial research and development and innovations, becoming its 40th member.

The agreement for accession to EUREKA will be signed Friday in Berlin, Germany, by Bulgaria’s Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism, Evgeni Angelov.

A total of 39 countries are currently full members of EUREKA with Bulgaria being the only EU member state outside of the network. Other members include Russia, Turkey, Israel, Switzerland, Macedonia, Ukraine, Serbia.

Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania are the three countries with “national information points, preparing for full EUREKA membership.

The only European countries still fully excluded from it are Belarus, Moldova, and Montenegro.

The aim of the EUREKA initiative is to boost a network of trans-border cooperation of scientific and research institutes, factories, and financial institutions in order to increase the competitiveness of the national economies and the internationalization of R&D activities.

EUREKA helps involved institutions find partners for respective innovation and industrial projects.

EUREKA’s major financial instrument is the EUROSTARS Program aimed at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises whose operations are focusing on research and development.

The EUROSTARS Program has a budget of EUR 400 M, with EUR 100 M coming from the European Commission, while the rest of the money comes from the state budgets of the members.

By joining EUREKA as a full member, Bulgaria will commit to contributing BGN 1 M annually to the National Innovation Fund for Financing EUROSTARS Projects.

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