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Eurostars Ireland for Innovative SMEs

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What is Eurostars and how does it support Irish SMEs?

Eurostars is an international R&D funding programme for innovative SMEs, co funded by Eureka countries and the EU, that supports market oriented, collaborative projects led by SMEs.

It is designed for companies that:

Develop new products, processes or services with clear commercial potential.
Need cross border partners to access technology, markets or supply chains.
Want to avoid the complexity of very large, multi dozen partner consortia.

Eurostars projects are evaluated centrally, then funded by national agencies. For Irish companies this means European level competition combined with local contracting, reporting and payment, which is attractive from both a risk and governance perspective.

Grants Writing Service

What is Eurostars and how does it support Irish SMEs?

What is Eurostars and how does it support Irish SMEs?

Eurostars is an international R&D funding programme for innovative SMEs, co funded by Eureka countries and the EU, that supports market oriented, collaborative projects led by SMEs.

It is designed for companies that:

Develop new products, processes or services with clear commercial potential.
Need cross border partners to access technology, markets or supply chains.
Want to avoid the complexity of very large, multi dozen partner consortia.

Grants Writing Service

Who is eligible for Eurostars funding in Ireland?

Eurostars eligibility focuses on R&D performing SMEs working in international consortia, with criteria at project, company and consortium level.

Key eligibility points for Irish participants

Company profile
- Irish SME, typically with a significant share of turnover or headcount in R&D.
- Larger companies and research organisations can join consortia, but an innovative SME must lead the project.
Consortium structure
- At least two independent entities from at least two Eurostars countries.
- Balanced participation, with no single country or partner carrying almost all of the budget.
- SME leadership and strong industrial participation, not purely academic research.
Project characteristics
- Civil, market oriented R&D and innovation, not fundamental research.
- Realistic time to market, often within two years of project completion.
- Clear innovation beyond the state of the art and beyond normal product updates.

FI Group IE helps Irish CFOs and founders test eligibility early and decide whether Eurostars, Horizon Europe or another scheme is the better fit.

Check Eligibility

Who is eligible for Eurostars funding in Ireland?

Eurostars eligibility focuses on R&D performing SMEs working in international consortia, with criteria at project, company and consortium level.

Key eligibility points for Irish participants

Company profile
- Irish SME, typically with a significant share of turnover or headcount in R&D.
- Larger companies and research organisations can join consortia, but an innovative SME must lead the project.
Consortium structure
- At least two independent entities from at least two Eurostars countries.
- Balanced participation, with no single country or partner carrying almost all of the budget.
- SME leadership and strong industrial participation, not purely academic research.
Project characteristics
- Civil, market oriented R&D and innovation, not fundamental research.
- Realistic time to market, often within two years of project completion.
- Clear innovation beyond the state of the art and beyond normal product updates.

FI Group IE helps Irish CFOs and founders test eligibility early and decide whether Eurostars, Horizon Europe or another scheme is the better fit.

Check Eligibility

How much funding can Eurostars provide to Irish companies?

Eurostars can cover a substantial share of eligible R&D costs for Irish SMEs, with exact rates and caps set by the Irish national funding body and subject to state aid rules. In practice, Eurostars funding typically covers a meaningful percentage of personnel, subcontracting and direct project costs.

Indicative funding structure

Grants often cover a sizeable portion of eligible R&D and innovation costs for SMEs.
Co funding is required, so company cash and in kind contributions remain material.
Costs are claimed and reimbursed in arrears against approved cost categories.

Speak To An Expert

How much funding can Eurostars provide to Irish companies?

How much funding can Eurostars provide to Irish companies?

Indicative funding structure

Grants often cover a sizeable portion of eligible R&D and innovation costs for SMEs.
Co funding is required, so company cash and in kind contributions remain material.
Costs are claimed and reimbursed in arrears against approved cost categories.

Speak To An Expert

How does the Eurostars application process work for Irish companies?

Eurostars is designed to fund near to market, SME led international R&D. The process is simpler than many large EU frameworks, but it still requires disciplined consortium design, investor grade project definition and clean financial planning. The key point for Irish CFOs is that Eurostars is evaluated centrally, then contracted and paid through national agencies, so you must manage both a European evaluation lens and an Irish compliance lens.

How does Eurostars compare to other EU grants for Irish companies?

Eurostars sits between national R&D schemes and larger EU programmes in terms of scale, complexity and partner requirements. For many Irish SMEs it is a practical first step into European funding before tackling large Horizon Europe or EIC instruments.

Scheme	What it is	Typical consortium	Funding profile	Best for Irish companies when	CFO watch points
National R&D grants Ireland	Domestic innovation and R&D supports delivered by Irish agencies.	Often single company, sometimes with an Irish research partner.	Grant style support, generally smaller budgets than EU programmes.	You need fast, local support for feasibility, development or capability building.	State aid limits, evidence of eligible spend, interaction with Irish R&D tax credit on a net of grant basis.
Eurostars Ireland	SME led, near to market international R&D funding under the Eureka network.	Small, focused international consortium, minimum two countries.	Meaningful grant support, usually simpler than large EU frameworks.	You need cross border partners for product development and a practical route into European collaboration.	Partner delivery risk, cash flow timing, eligibility consistency across countries, clean cost tracking from day one.
Horizon Europe collaborative projects	Large EU collaborative R&I calls structured around excellence, impact and implementation.	Larger consortia across multiple EU countries, more complex governance.	Bigger total budgets, higher reporting and coordination burden.	You have the scale and internal capacity to manage multi year, multi partner projects and want EU level impact.	High proposal effort, long timelines, heavy reporting, audit exposure, working capital modelling.
EIC Accelerator	Deep tech scale up funding, often grant plus equity or equity only.	Usually single company, may use subcontractors and partners.	Potentially substantial grant and patient equity, highest scrutiny.	You are a deep tech SME with strong IP and a global scale thesis that needs patient capital.	Dilution and valuation implications, due diligence intensity, cash flow alignment, governance and documentation expectations.

How FI Group IE supports Eurostars projects for Irish companies

FI Group’s extensive European office network and US presence makes Eurostars a natural fit for our model of global reach, local expertise. For Eurostars Ireland, we bring together Irish incentives knowledge with direct experience of how other national funding agencies implement Eurostars.

Our support model

Portfolio and scheme choice
Partner and consortium support
Bid design and writing
Financial modelling and compliance
Delivery, claims and audit defence

The outcome is a Eurostars pipeline that your Board can understand as part of an integrated, cross border funding strategy.

Speak to a funding expert

How FI Group IE supports Eurostars projects for Irish companies

Our support model

Portfolio and scheme choice
Partner and consortium support
Bid design and writing
Financial modelling and compliance
Delivery, claims and audit defence

The outcome is a Eurostars pipeline that your Board can understand as part of an integrated, cross border funding strategy.

Speak to a funding expert

International perspective – Eurostars within a global incentives strategy

Eurostars projects involve multiple countries by design. For Irish entities that are part of multinational groups, this must be reconciled with group wide incentives, transfer pricing and IP strategies.

From a global CFO perspective, Eurostars should be seen as:

A way to fund cross border R&D collaborations without concentrating risk in one jurisdiction.
A source of comparable, EU recognised project quality signals across markets.
A driver for harmonising project coding, documentation and incentives across entities.

FI Group’s international network helps align Eurostars with R&D tax credits, national grants and IP regimes across all participating countries, so HQ sees one coherent incentives story rather than fragmented local deals.

Go Global

International perspective – Eurostars within a global incentives strategy

From a global CFO perspective, Eurostars should be seen as:

A way to fund cross border R&D collaborations without concentrating risk in one jurisdiction.
A source of comparable, EU recognised project quality signals across markets.
A driver for harmonising project coding, documentation and incentives across entities.

Go Global

Download InternationalGrants Guide

FI Group Insights

FAQs – Eurostars Ireland

Before committing to an Eurostars strategy, many CFOs ask similar questions. The answers below provide short, self contained guidance you can share with internal stakeholders.

Download Our International R&D Tax Guide

Produced by FI Group’s international incentives team, the guide brings together the insight of specialists working day to day with R&D tax incentives, innovation grants and IP boxes in multiple jurisdictions. It is written for senior finance and tax leaders who need a clear view of effective benefit rates, compliance risk and interactions with local accounting and Pillar Two.

Inside the guide you will find:

Concise country profiles covering the main R&D tax incentives in each jurisdiction.
Comparable data on incentive types, typical benefit levels and qualifying activities.
Commentary on how R&D tax reliefs interact with grants, innovation loans and IP regimes.
Red flag areas for CFOs, including audit trends, documentation expectations and common errors.
Practical tips on coordinating incentives across subsidiaries to avoid double counting and missed value.

Use the International R&D Tax Incentives Guide as the starting point for your global incentives strategy.

Download the Guide

Download Our International R&D Tax Guide

Inside the guide you will find:

Concise country profiles covering the main R&D tax incentives in each jurisdiction.
Comparable data on incentive types, typical benefit levels and qualifying activities.
Commentary on how R&D tax reliefs interact with grants, innovation loans and IP regimes.
Red flag areas for CFOs, including audit trends, documentation expectations and common errors.
Practical tips on coordinating incentives across subsidiaries to avoid double counting and missed value.

Use the International R&D Tax Incentives Guide as the starting point for your global incentives strategy.

Download the Guide

Eurostars Ireland for Innovative SMEs

Eurostars Ireland overview

Eurostars Ireland helps innovative Irish SMEs fund international R&D projects with trusted partners across Europe. It is part of the Eureka network and is co funded by the EU and national agencies, so awards are contracted and paid locally while delivering an EU level quality badge.

For CFOs, Eurostars sits between national R&D grants and large Horizon Europe calls. It offers comparatively high funding intensities, simpler consortia and faster cycles, making it a powerful tool for de risking product development and building European routes to market.

FI Group IE, supported by FI Group’s extensive European office network and US presence, helps Irish SMEs design, finance and manage Eurostars projects as part of a single, cross border incentives strategy.

Speak to FI Group IE about whether Eurostars funding Ireland is the right vehicle for your next international R&D collaboration.

Speak to a funding expert

FI GroupOur PresenceIs Global

+25Years of Experience

+18,000Satisfied Clients

+20Countries

+50Offices

+€2.5BSavings for Clients

What is Eurostars and how does it support Irish SMEs?

Eurostars is an international R&D funding programme for innovative SMEs, co funded by Eureka countries and the EU, that supports market oriented, collaborative projects led by SMEs.

It is designed for companies that:

Develop new products, processes or services with clear commercial potential.
Need cross border partners to access technology, markets or supply chains.
Want to avoid the complexity of very large, multi dozen partner consortia.

Grants Writing Service

What is Eurostars and how does it support Irish SMEs?

Eurostars is an international R&D funding programme for innovative SMEs, co funded by Eureka countries and the EU, that supports market oriented, collaborative projects led by SMEs.

It is designed for companies that:

Develop new products, processes or services with clear commercial potential.
Need cross border partners to access technology, markets or supply chains.
Want to avoid the complexity of very large, multi dozen partner consortia.

Grants Writing Service

Who is eligible for Eurostars funding in Ireland?

Eurostars eligibility focuses on R&D performing SMEs working in international consortia, with criteria at project, company and consortium level.

Key eligibility points for Irish participants

Company profile
- Irish SME, typically with a significant share of turnover or headcount in R&D.
- Larger companies and research organisations can join consortia, but an innovative SME must lead the project.
Consortium structure
- At least two independent entities from at least two Eurostars countries.
- Balanced participation, with no single country or partner carrying almost all of the budget.
- SME leadership and strong industrial participation, not purely academic research.
Project characteristics
- Civil, market oriented R&D and innovation, not fundamental research.
- Realistic time to market, often within two years of project completion.
- Clear innovation beyond the state of the art and beyond normal product updates.

FI Group IE helps Irish CFOs and founders test eligibility early and decide whether Eurostars, Horizon Europe or another scheme is the better fit.

Check Eligibility

Who is eligible for Eurostars funding in Ireland?

Eurostars eligibility focuses on R&D performing SMEs working in international consortia, with criteria at project, company and consortium level.

Key eligibility points for Irish participants

Company profile
- Irish SME, typically with a significant share of turnover or headcount in R&D.
- Larger companies and research organisations can join consortia, but an innovative SME must lead the project.
Consortium structure
- At least two independent entities from at least two Eurostars countries.
- Balanced participation, with no single country or partner carrying almost all of the budget.
- SME leadership and strong industrial participation, not purely academic research.
Project characteristics
- Civil, market oriented R&D and innovation, not fundamental research.
- Realistic time to market, often within two years of project completion.
- Clear innovation beyond the state of the art and beyond normal product updates.

FI Group IE helps Irish CFOs and founders test eligibility early and decide whether Eurostars, Horizon Europe or another scheme is the better fit.

Check Eligibility

How much funding can Eurostars provide to Irish companies?

Indicative funding structure

Grants often cover a sizeable portion of eligible R&D and innovation costs for SMEs.
Co funding is required, so company cash and in kind contributions remain material.
Costs are claimed and reimbursed in arrears against approved cost categories.

Speak To An Expert

How much funding can Eurostars provide to Irish companies?

Indicative funding structure

Grants often cover a sizeable portion of eligible R&D and innovation costs for SMEs.
Co funding is required, so company cash and in kind contributions remain material.
Costs are claimed and reimbursed in arrears against approved cost categories.

Speak To An Expert

How does the Eurostars application process work for Irish companies?

How does Eurostars compare to other EU grants for Irish companies?

Scheme	What it is	Typical consortium	Funding profile	Best for Irish companies when	CFO watch points
National R&D grants Ireland	Domestic innovation and R&D supports delivered by Irish agencies.	Often single company, sometimes with an Irish research partner.	Grant style support, generally smaller budgets than EU programmes.	You need fast, local support for feasibility, development or capability building.	State aid limits, evidence of eligible spend, interaction with Irish R&D tax credit on a net of grant basis.
Eurostars Ireland	SME led, near to market international R&D funding under the Eureka network.	Small, focused international consortium, minimum two countries.	Meaningful grant support, usually simpler than large EU frameworks.	You need cross border partners for product development and a practical route into European collaboration.	Partner delivery risk, cash flow timing, eligibility consistency across countries, clean cost tracking from day one.
Horizon Europe collaborative projects	Large EU collaborative R&I calls structured around excellence, impact and implementation.	Larger consortia across multiple EU countries, more complex governance.	Bigger total budgets, higher reporting and coordination burden.	You have the scale and internal capacity to manage multi year, multi partner projects and want EU level impact.	High proposal effort, long timelines, heavy reporting, audit exposure, working capital modelling.
EIC Accelerator	Deep tech scale up funding, often grant plus equity or equity only.	Usually single company, may use subcontractors and partners.	Potentially substantial grant and patient equity, highest scrutiny.	You are a deep tech SME with strong IP and a global scale thesis that needs patient capital.	Dilution and valuation implications, due diligence intensity, cash flow alignment, governance and documentation expectations.

How FI Group IE supports Eurostars projects for Irish companies

Our support model

Portfolio and scheme choice
Partner and consortium support
Bid design and writing
Financial modelling and compliance
Delivery, claims and audit defence

The outcome is a Eurostars pipeline that your Board can understand as part of an integrated, cross border funding strategy.

Speak to a funding expert

How FI Group IE supports Eurostars projects for Irish companies

Our support model

Portfolio and scheme choice
Partner and consortium support
Bid design and writing
Financial modelling and compliance
Delivery, claims and audit defence

The outcome is a Eurostars pipeline that your Board can understand as part of an integrated, cross border funding strategy.

Speak to a funding expert

International perspective – Eurostars within a global incentives strategy

From a global CFO perspective, Eurostars should be seen as:

A way to fund cross border R&D collaborations without concentrating risk in one jurisdiction.
A source of comparable, EU recognised project quality signals across markets.
A driver for harmonising project coding, documentation and incentives across entities.

Go Global

International perspective – Eurostars within a global incentives strategy

From a global CFO perspective, Eurostars should be seen as:

A way to fund cross border R&D collaborations without concentrating risk in one jurisdiction.
A source of comparable, EU recognised project quality signals across markets.
A driver for harmonising project coding, documentation and incentives across entities.

Go Global

Download InternationalGrants Guide

FI Group Insights

FAQs – Eurostars Ireland

Before committing to an Eurostars strategy, many CFOs ask similar questions. The answers below provide short, self contained guidance you can share with internal stakeholders.

Download Our International R&D Tax Guide

Inside the guide you will find:

Concise country profiles covering the main R&D tax incentives in each jurisdiction.
Comparable data on incentive types, typical benefit levels and qualifying activities.
Commentary on how R&D tax reliefs interact with grants, innovation loans and IP regimes.
Red flag areas for CFOs, including audit trends, documentation expectations and common errors.
Practical tips on coordinating incentives across subsidiaries to avoid double counting and missed value.

Use the International R&D Tax Incentives Guide as the starting point for your global incentives strategy.

Download the Guide

Download Our International R&D Tax Guide

Inside the guide you will find:

Concise country profiles covering the main R&D tax incentives in each jurisdiction.
Comparable data on incentive types, typical benefit levels and qualifying activities.
Commentary on how R&D tax reliefs interact with grants, innovation loans and IP regimes.
Red flag areas for CFOs, including audit trends, documentation expectations and common errors.
Practical tips on coordinating incentives across subsidiaries to avoid double counting and missed value.

Use the International R&D Tax Incentives Guide as the starting point for your global incentives strategy.

Download the Guide

Eurostars Ireland for Innovative SMEs

FI GroupOur PresenceIs Global

How does the Eurostars application process work for Irish companies?

1. Idea definition and partner search

2. Consortium and project design

3. Building the Eurostars application

4. Evaluation and ranking

5. National contracting and project implementation

How FI Group IE supports Eurostars Ireland applicants

How does Eurostars compare to other EU grants for Irish companies?

Scheme

What it is

Typical consortium

Funding profile

Best for Irish companies when

CFO watch points

National R&D grants Ireland