Actions according to Art. 185 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union

Programme Description

Art. 185 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) enables the European Union to participate in research programmes undertaken jointly by several Member States.

Based on this treaty the EU provides long-term support to various programmes set up by member states.

Eurostars

Eurostars supports international innovative projects led by research and development- performing small- and medium-sized enterprises (R&D-performing SMEs). With its bottom-up approach, Eurostars supports the development of rapidly marketable innovative products, processes and services that help improve the daily lives of people around the world.  Eurostars projects aim at developing new products, products and services for civilian use.

Project partners are funded by their national funding institutions. Funding for universities may cover up to 100% of their eligible project costs, if a German SME participates in the project.

Projects are funded up to 3 years. It is expected that products resulting from the project will be introduced to the market no later than two years after the end of the project.

Further information is available here.

Notes on Eurostars

Eurostars funds collaborations of SME with their partner institutions. Within this context, universities can be funded. Eurostars projects are coordinated by SME which are active in research.

The German project partners are funded by the BMBF (via the Project Management Agency DLR). Therefore, the national funding conditions apply.

100% of the project costs incurred by participating German universities will be reimbursed in case a German SME participates in the project.

Otherwise up to 50% of their project-related costs will be reimbursed. In this case, the following applies:

• The university’s share in its project-related costs may not be financed by institutional funds or other projects funds.
• The university’s own financial contribution to its project costs may only be financed from free, untied institute funds, as well as from externally acquired untied funds.

The following sources of funding could be considered eligible: a) non-conditional grants from industry, b) any remaining amounts that can be used after the completion of projects; c) financial contributions from any other third party which can be freely used by the project manager or d) receipts resulting from the exploitation of the results generated by the university in the Eurostars project.

The exploitation of the results generated in Eurostars projects is mandatory for both private and public project partners. Forms of utilization of project results for the participating universities are:

• Patenting of any commercially viable IPR and their licensing to enterprises
• A contractually agreed-upon share in the sales proceeds of the SME partners
• A one-off payment (up to the amount of Eurostars funding for the public project partner) by the SMEs

It is decisive that the results generated by the university are not made available to enterprises free of charge.

Consortium Agreement / IPR

• Concluding a Consortium Agreement which regulates the internal governance as well as IPR between the project partners is mandatory in projects funded by Eurostars.
• A Checklist with the minimum requirements for Consortium Agreement is available on the Eurostars website of the project management agency DLR. Link
• The DESCA Model CA provides a comprehensive reference document. Its latest version is available here.

European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP)

The EDCTP funds clinical research to accelerate the development of new or improved drugs, vaccines, microbicides and diagnostics against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as well as other poverty-related infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. The focus is on phase II and III clinical trials.

Further information is available here.

Active and Assisted Living Programme (AAL)

The Active and Assisted Living (AAL) programme funds projects in public-private partnership in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) for active and healthy ageing since 2008.

The AAL aims to improve the quality of life of older people while strengthening the industrial base in Europe through the use of ICT.

The contents of the AAL programme’s projects cover a wide range  from managing chronic conditions, social participation, mobility of older people and assistance for daily activities to support non-professional carers (relatives, friends).

AAL projects aim at introducing their solution to the market within 2 to 3 years after the end of the project.  For this reason, funded projects perform pilot tests in realistic settings and develop their business model during project implementation.

Further information is available here.

EMPIR

EMPIR is the main programme for European research on metrology. It coordinates research projects to address grand challenges while supporting and developing the SI system of measurement units / It funds projects that support the solution of social challenges, including in the area of health.

Further information is available here.

Contacts for your EU project

Please notice that ‚EU-Projects‘ only refers to projects that are directly funded by the EU and which are administered by the European Commission, one of its executive agencies (ERCEA, REA, Chafea) or other public bodies acting as programme authorities on behalf of the European Commission.

Other contact persons

For transnational collaborative research projects which are funded by the BMBF or other German funding institutions, contact the competent responsible person for the administration of your department’s or institute’s national third-party funded projects in the ‘Drittmittelverwaltung’.

This refers, for example, to projects such as various ERA-NET, Joint Programming Initiatives and the Eurostars programme.

The latest version of the list of staff and their area of responsibility (PDF) is available through the Medical Center – University of Freiburg’s intranet:

Verwaltung - Geschäftsbereich 1 - Controlling und Finanzen → Abteilung 1.1 – Finanzplanung -  Mitarbeit