REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Interim Evaluation of the Eurostars Joint Programme
Date: 2011-04-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, apprenticeship, education, vocational training

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 8.4.2011 
COM(2011) 186 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Interim Evaluation of the Eurostars Joint Programme  

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Interim Evaluation of the Eurostars Joint Programme 

1. 

CONTEXT 

The  Eurostars  Joint  Programme  aims  to  support  R  &  D  performing  SMEs  by  co-financing 
their  market-oriented  research  projects  and  by  providing  them  with  the  necessary  legal  and 
organisational framework. It is based on a large-scale European cooperation between Member 
States in applied research and innovation in any technological or industrial field. It has been 
undertaken by all1 EU Member States and 6 countries associated to the Seventh Framework 
Programme2, in the context of Eureka, a European Intergovernmental organisation in charge 
of supporting activities performing close-to-market R&D3. 

By Decision  of 9 July  2008 of  the European Parliament and  the Council  the  EU decided to 
participate  in  financing  Eurostars4  with  a  contribution  of  up  to  €100  million  for  the  period 
2008-20135,  equivalent  to  a  maximum  of  one  third  of  the  effective  contributions  of  the 
Member States and the other participating countries. The Eureka Secretariat is responsible for 
the  implementation  of  the  programme  and  for  receiving,  allocating  and  monitoring  the  EU 
financial contribution. 

The above-mentioned Decision (hereinafter the “Eurostars decision”) is based on Article 185 
TFEU (previous Article 169 EC Treaty) which, in implementing the Multiannual Framework 
Programme,  makes  it  possible  to  coordinate  national  research  programmes,  through  a 
voluntary  integration  process  between  Member  States,  covering  scientific,  management  and 
financial aspects.  

In the Eurostars decision the Parliament and the Council refer, in particular, to the importance 
of  SMEs  for  European  growth  and  competitiveness,  to  the  need  for  Member  States  and  the 
Commission  to  enhance  the  effectiveness  and  complementarity  of  national  and  European 
support  programmes  for  SMEs6,  to  the  importance  of  promoting  industrial  innovation 
(including  links  with  Eureka,  especially  with  reference  to  SMEs),  and  to  the  importance  of 

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Eurostars included initially 26 Member States. With Malta joining Eurostars in October 2010, all EU 
Member States participate in it. 
Decision  No  1982/2006/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  18  December  2006 
concerning the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological 
development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) (OJ L 412, 30.12.2006, p. 1). The associated 
countries are Croatia, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. 
EUREKA  was  established  by  a  Conference  of  Ministers  of  17  countries  and  Members  of  the 
Commission of the European Communities, meeting in Paris on 17 July 1985. 
Decision  No  743/2008/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  9  July  2008,  on  the 
Community’s participation in a research and development programme undertaken by several Member 
States  aimed  at  supporting  research and development  performing  small  and  medium-sized  entreprises 
(OJ L 201, 30.07.2008, p.58). 
The EU contribution comes from the FP7 budget allocated to "Research for the benefit of SMEs" in the 
Specific Programme "Capacities" 
Council conclusions, 25-26 November 2004 

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coordinating  national  programmes  for  the  development  of  the  European  Research  Area 
(ERA). 

In  its  recent  Communication  on  the  Innovation  Union  Flagship  Initiative7,  adopted  in  the 
context  of  the  new  EU's  growth  strategy  “Europe  2020”8,  the  Commission  confirmed  the 
importance of SMEs, especially those with high growth potential, able to easily turn results 
into  new  products  and  services.  They  represent  the  backbone  of  the  European  economy, 
strongly  contributing  to  its  competitiveness  and  growth.  A  clear  commitment  was  made  to 
design  EU  research  and  innovation  programmes  ensuring  simple  access  and  stronger 
involvement  of  SMEs.  In  order  to  achieve  this  target,  the  Commission  referred  also  to  the 
need of further using partnerships with Member State agencies, building in particular on the 
experience of the Eureka-Eurostars initiative. 

The  European  Council  has  made  a  strong  plea  for  streamlining  the  EU  research  and 
innovation funding instruments, including those for SMEs.9 The current European landscape 
for  SME  support  is  very  scattered  and  the  European  Commission  is  in  the  process  of 
rethinking the overall approach. Recognising the importance of SMEs in boosting innovation 
in  the  European  Union,  the  European  Council  has  invited  the  Commission  to  explore  the 
feasibility of a Small Business Innovation Research scheme, as part of a general assessment 
exercise aimed at meeting the needs of fast growing innovative companies through a market-
based approach.  

The  Budget  Review10  proposed  that  the  full  range  of  EU  instruments  for  research  and 
innovation  work  together  in  a  Common  Strategic  Framework  for  Research  and  Innovation 
funding11,  a  concept  which  has  been  supported  by  the  European  Council  to  improve  the 
efficiency of research and innovation funding at national and EU level, allowing a seamless 
funding  across  the  innovation  system  and  the  rationalisation  of  instruments  with  the 
elimination of potential duplications.  

The  Eurostars  Decision  requires  an  interim  evaluation  two  years  after  the  start  of  the 
programme.  This  evaluation  was  carried  out by  a  Group  of  Independent  Experts  ("Group"), 
chaired by Ms Laperrouze, former Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of 
the ITRE Committee.  

the  main  aspects  of 

Based on extensive documentation, case studies, country reports, and interviews with SMEs 
and stakeholders, the interim evaluation report (hereinafter the "Report") provided an analysis 
of 
the  Eurostars  programme  (operational  and  strategic)  and 
recommendations  on  both  the  short  and  longer  term  future.  The  Group  has  looked  in 
particular  at  the  progress  towards  the  main  objectives  of  Eurostars  of  supporting  R&D 
performing  SMEs  and  of  aligning  and  synchronising  national  research  and  innovation 
programmes. 

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Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European economic 
and social Committee and the Committee of the Regions of 6.10.2010, “Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative 
Innovation Union” COM(2010)546 final  
Communication from the Commission of 3.3.2010, “Europe 2020” A strategy for smart, sustainable and 
inclusive growth' (COM(2010) 2020 final 
European Council Conclusions of 4 February 2011 
'The EU Budget Review' – COM(2010) 700 
Green  Paper  'From  Challenges  to  Opportunities:  Towards  a  Common  Strategic  Framework  for  EU 
Research and Innovation funding' COM(2011) 48 

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The present report provides the Commission views on the main recommendations expressed 
by the experts. 

2. 

INTERIM  EVALUATION  OF  THE  INDEPENDENT  EXPERT  GROUP:  COMMISSION’S 
OBSERVATIONS 

According  to  Article  13.2  of  the  Eurostars  decision  the  interim-evaluation  should  cover 
progress  toward  objectives  set  out  in  Annex  1  of  the  Eurostars  decision;  include 
recommendations  on  the  most  appropriate  ways  to  further  enhance  scientific,  management 
and financial integration, assess the ability of R & D performing SMEs to access the Eurostars 
Joint Programme, and assess the quality and efficiency of its implementation. 

The  Group’s  Report  covered  all  those  aspects  and  provided  an  important  number  of  facts, 
comments and recommendations. The Commission considers the whole Report12 as being an 
integral part of the Interim evaluation process provided by Article 13.2. The Commission will 
relevant 
therefore  highlight, 
findings/recommendations on the way forward and on those will focus its observations. 

sub-paragraphs,  only 

the  most 

following 

the 

in 

2.1. 

Progress of Eurostars towards its objectives 

2.1.1.  Need for Eurostars 

The Group suggested that the target population of European R&D performing SMEs, in line 
with the main objective spelled out in Annex 1 of the Eurostars Decision is being reached and 
that  this  population  provides  a  sustainable  niche  from  the  demand  side  perspective.  The 
programme, with its distinctive combination of characteristics, appears to address real needs 
of R&D performing SMEs and it has attracted a high number of applications, with the number 
of  qualified  projects  exceeding  original  budget  allocations.  With  the  open  innovation 
approach  rapidly  becoming  a  common  practice  and  the  recognised  importance  of  R&D  for 
SMEs performance, the Group believes the demand for international R&D collaborations by 
SMEs  to  be  likely  to  grow.  The  Group  therefore  recommends  that  Eurostars  should  be 
continued  beyond  2013  and  that  in  the  next  edition  of  the  Eurostars  Programme,  the 
European  Commission  should  prepare  a  proposal  to  expand  the  budget,  using  flexibility 
clauses, to respond to the increasing demand.  

The Commission welcomes the strong SME interest in Eurostars. It will be important 
to  see  whether  this  level  of  demand  is  maintained  and  that  Eurostars  countries  are 
able to meet it. Furthermore, currently the majority of participating SMEs has been 
already involved in international research, as explained in chapter 2.3. Whether this 
constitutes the intended target group could be questioned. Discussions on the future 
budget allocation for Eurostars should take place in the light of the further evolution 
of  the  programme  and  eventually  in  the  overall  context  of  the  future  Common 
Strategic  Framework  for  Research  and  Innovation  funding  and  of  the  European 
Council conclusions of 4 February 2011. 

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Report  published  on  http://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/index_en.cfm?pg=fp7-evidence  under 
'Other FP7 Panel Evaluations' 

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2.1.2.  Eurostars’ socio-economic impact 

The  Eurostars  programme  is  quite  young,  therefore  only  a  few  projects  have  now  been 
completed.  As  recognised  by  the  Group,  the  qualitative  appreciation  of  the  impact,  through 
the  measures  of  project  additionality  (input,  output  and  behavioural-  additionality),  is  very 
difficult in absence of concrete data, most of them to be collected at the end of the project. 

The  accurate  estimation  of  additionality  requires  the  application  of  appropriate  techniques, 
which need specific data that the Group has indicated in its recommendations, to be collected 
by the Eureka Secretariat and by the National Funding Bodies.  

The Commission welcomes the recommendations on the impact indicators and on the 
needed  data  which  should  lead  to  a  better  assessment  of  the  project  impact  that 
Eurostars creates. It encourages the Eureka secretariat to develop these indicators and 
collect these data, without however imposing a too high reporting burden on SMEs. 
The Commission will take them into account in view of the final evaluation, which 
according to the Eurostars Decision will take place in 2013. It will be crucial at that 
time  to  come  to  a  comprehensive  understanding  of  the  impact  of  Eurostars  on  the 
businesses of the participating SMEs.  

2.1.3.  Funding of eligible projects 

With relation to the Eurostars resources for the period before 2013, the Group observed that 
the funding available for each call is not sufficient to cover all the projects which have passed 
the  evaluation  threshold.  The  Group  recommends  to  the  European  Commission  and  the 
Member  States  to  provide  sufficient  funds  to  make  it  possible  to  fund  a  greater  share  of 
projects that meet the Eurostars evaluation threshold. 

The  Commission  agrees  with  this  recommendation  as  far  as  it  would  allow  the 
financing  of  all  the  best  projects  along  the  principle  of  the  common  pot.  As 
mentioned in the Eurostars Decision, "the allocation of funding from the Community 
contribution  and  national  budgets  earmarked  for  selected  Eurostars  projects  shall 
follow the order of the ranking list". Because of the way the current (not centralised) 
funding model operates, it however seems unlikely that an increase in budget would 
lead  to  an  equivalent  increase  of  projects  funded.  This  can  only  be  achieved  if  the 
Eurostars countries make sufficient provision for funding all the best ranked projects. 
In addition, the Commission observes that the current data on the funds effectively 
committed  by  the  National  Funding  Bodies  show  that  only  a  modest  share  of  the 
budget  has  been  used  so  far.  Considerations  on  the  impact  of  the  current  financial 
crisis  on  funding  availability  in  many  Member  States  must  also  be  taken  into 
account. 

The  Commission  therefore  suggests  considering  alternative  solutions,  such  as 
tightening  the  project  evaluation  criteria  as  proposed  by  the  Group,  or  reallocating 
budget from future calls to the current ones, with a possibility to move forward the 
unspent budget year by year. 

2.2. 

Further enhance scientific, management and financial integration 

The  Group  stated  that,  conceptually,  Eurostars  has  featured  a  good  level  of  integration  of 
national  programmes,  in  all  the  three  aspects  (scientific,  management  and  financial),  by 
setting up the main bodies and procedures as referred to in the Decision. 

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However,  further  improvements  still  remain  to  be  made  to  achieve  the  desired  level  of 
integration  at  the  implementation  level,  especially  in  the  following  areas:  harmonisation  of 
national  funding  rates  and  funding  rules,  synchronisation  and  reduction  in  time-to-contract 
and  harmonisation  of  reporting  practices.  These  aspects,  more  deeply  linked  to  the 
implementation/operational aspects of Eurostars, are dealt with in paragraph 2.4. 

The  Group  recommends  addressing  these  important  issues  through  the  development  of  a 
roadmap with  measurable  milestones to facilitate  the monitoring and implementation of the 
integration process and by setting up a permanent Working Group for the exchange of Good 
practices. 

The  Commission  agrees  with  the  recommendations  of  the  Group  with  a  view  to 
further  accelerate  the  integration  process.  The  Commission  invites  the  Eurostars 
countries  to  take  the  integration  objective  of  the  Eurostars  Joint  Programme  into 
account through a better harmonisation and simplification of funding eligibility rules 
and alignment of financing and disbursement practices. 

In addition, the Group identified and commented on further 'areas for improvement' (indicated 
below)  which  the  Commission  considers  to  be  fundamental  for  the  full  and  longer-term 
success of the programme, being at the very heart of the Eurostars construction. 

2.2.1.  Compliance with Eurostars rules: Common Eligibility criteria and Signed Bilateral 

Agreements 

While not commenting on individual countries, the Group points out that Eurostars eligibility 
criteria should be universally applied across all participating countries. No country should be 
allowed  to  impose  eligibility  conditions  that  go  beyond  Eurostars  eligibility  criteria.  It  also 
recommends  that  the  Bilateral  Agreements  with  the  Eureka  Secretariat  should  be  signed  by 
all the National Funding Bodies13 .  

The Commission fully endorses this recommendation for the Eureka Secretariat and 
the  Eurostars  countries.  The  completion  of  the  signature  process  of  the  remaining 
bilateral  agreements  is  a  matter  of  priority.  It  should  be  ensured  that  the  Eurostars 
eligibility  criteria  are  the  necessary  and  sufficient  condition  for  any  participating 
project to be funded in any participating country. Compliance with Eurostars rules is 
essential to fully unlock the high potential of the programme, strengthens its longer 
term  credibility  and  facilitates  the  integration  process.  The  Eurostars  Decision 
foresees the respect of a common set of criteria and a common set of rules to fund 
selected projects which are part of a common ranking list following the given order. 
The Commission stresses the need to fully honour this commitment for the long-term 
success of the programme. 

2.2.2.  The "Virtual Common Pot" (VCP) 

Eurostars  has  started  the  programme  based  on  a  "virtual  common  pot"  funding  model, 
meaning that countries and regions pay for their own participants applying existing national 
rules,  applying  a  'fair  return'  principle.  However,  according  to  the  Delegation  Agreement, 
concrete measures for progressing towards a "real common pot" should be proposed at mid-
term by the Secretariat, as part of the financial integration process. 

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Seven Bilateral Agreements not yet signed 

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The Group considers that the VCP has been an appropriate organising principle for funding 
the Eurostars activity. However it also observed that if one participating country runs out of 
earmarked  budget,  this  may  adversely  affect  all  subsequent  projects  with  participants  that 
require funding from that country. 

The  Group  recommends  that  Eurostars  should  continue  to  be  organised  around  a  "Virtual 
Common  Pot"  principle.  However,  it  is  also  recommended  that  Eurostars  Joint  Programme 
experiments with the approach of allocating 10% of total earmarked funds to a Real Common 
Pot,  which  would  be  used  to  finance  highly  ranked  projects  that  risk  not  getting  funded 
because of country-level complications. 

The Commission recognises the merits of the "virtual common pot" at this stage of 
the  Eurostars  Programme.  There  is  nevertheless  a  concern  that  the  continued 
application of the "virtual common pot" as a funding model could lead to unbalanced 
success  rates  between  Eurostars  countries  depending  on  the  availability  of  national 
funding,  while  the  programme  should  provide  'equal  opportunities'  for  SMEs  in  all 
countries and fully rely on the excellence principle. 

As already clearly stated at the occasion of the Adoption of a Joint Baltic Sea Research and 
Development  Programme  (BONUS)  based  on  Article  185  TFEU  (ex-Article  169  EC),  the 
"real common pot", while not a goal in itself, is one means of guaranteeing excellence and the 
financial commitment of Member States for all initiatives related to cross-border funding and 
collaboration, which remains crucial to advance in the realisation of the European Research 
Area. 

The  Commission  therefore  agrees  with  the  recommendation  to  test  such  a  partial 
"real common pot" approach, to be accomplished by 2013. The Commission invites 
the Eureka Secretariat to propose other relevant measures towards the same end. This 
is in line with the principle that for any Article 185 Initiative, the full commitment, 
both  financial  and  political,  of  Member  States  is  required  and  is  a  sine  qua  non 
condition for receiving European funds. 

2.3. 

Ability of R & D performing SMEs to access Eurostars 

Based  on  a  thorough  analysis  using  in  particular  the  Eurostars  registrant  survey14  and  the 
Community Innovation Survey15 data, the Group concluded that Eurostars is easily accessible 
and  its  rules  are  easily  understood  by  applicants,  the  cost  of  applying  is  reasonable  and  the 
tools available are easy to use. 

The  programme  seems 
international 
to  attract  mainly  SMEs  already 
collaborations.  While  the  programme  appears  to  have  a  high  potential  to  facilitate 
international  R&D  collaboration  building  on  prior  experiences,  there  is  little  evidence  of  de 
novo relationships, therefore the impact on the generation of new partnerships is limited. 

involved 

in 

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The  Eureka  Secretariat  launched  in  May  2010  a  Eurostars  Registrant  Survey  which  reached  3182 
registrants from Cut-off 1 to Cut-off 3. 442 registrants answered. The results of the survey have been 
made available to the group of Experts 
The Group used different waves of the Community Innovation Survey. 

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The  Group  recommends  that  the  Eureka  Secretariat  and  the  Eureka  National  Programme 
Coordinators (NPCs) should seek to increase its reach among SMEs that do not possess pre-
existing international links by 2013. 

The  Commission  agrees  with  this  recommendation,  considering  that  Eurostars  is 
expected to complement the opportunities offered to SMEs by existing instruments in 
carrying  out  international  research,  and  that  the  principle  of  transparency  is  key  to 
the successful impact of the programme and should be fully respected. 

It invites the Eureka Secretariat and the Eurostars countries to address this problem 
and  to  find  ways  to  attract  newcomer  SMEs  by  making  the  programme  more 
accessible  and  transparent.  In  the  future  the  primary  focus  should  also  be  towards 
addressing SMEs with the required profile rather than recruit more SMEs. 

The  Commission  will  work  to  facilitate  the  interaction  and  synergy  creation  with 
other  EU  initiatives  supporting  the  networking  between  potential  proposers, 
including SMEs new to international research. 

2.4. 

Quality and efficiency of the implementation of Eurostars 

As foreseen under an indirect central management regime, the Eureka secretariat acting as the 
Dedicated  Implementation  Structure 
the  management  and 
is  fully 
operational/financial implementation of Eurostars. In its analysis of the different activities for 
the programme implementation (calls, evaluation, funding, project management, monitoring) 
the  Group  finds  that  the  process  runs  quite  smoothly.  However,  it  identifies  some  areas  for 
improvement, mainly related to the evaluation process: the Group found evident complexities 
in, first, the allocation of national funding to projects, and secondly, in contract negotiations 
between successful applicants and the National Funding Bodies. 

in  charge  of 

2.4.1.  Central evaluation process 

The evaluation follows a two step-procedure: a first assessment by the technical experts and a 
second assessment by the Independent Evaluation Panel which also proceed with the overall 
ranking of the proposals. 

With  relation  to  the  technical  experts,  the  Group  recommends  that  the  Eureka  Secretariat 
takes the necessary steps in order to achieve, by the end of 2013, an increase in their number 
maintaining however a high level of expertise and a better balance of technical and market 
expertise  within  the  pool  together  with  a  better  geographical  balance  of  experts  across 
participating countries.  

With  relation  to  the  Independent  Evaluation  Panel  (IEP),  the  Group  recommends  that  more 
time  should  be  allocated  to  the  members  of  the  IEP  for  a  more  accurate  analysis  of  the 
proposals to be ranked and more precise and systematic feedbacks should be provided to the 
project applicants and to the technical experts. 

As  the  report  rightly  points  out,  the  success  of  Eurostars  depends  on  the  credibility  of  the 
entire  evaluation  process.  Three  aspects  of  the  evaluation  process  are  particularly  salient  in 
this regard: impartiality, quality and timeliness.  

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The Commission fully agrees with the above recommendations. In particular experts 
need to have the necessary expertise to also assess the socio-economic impact of the 
projects, one of the distinctive features of Eurostars.  

The  Commission  reminds  that  the  transparency  of  the  entire  process  is  a  key 
principle  underpinning  the  “Eurostars”  decision.  It  therefore  fully  agrees  with  the 
request from the Group to improve the quality of the feedback from the evaluators to 
the applicants. 

The Commission encourages the Eureka Secretariat to undertake the necessary steps 
to improve the quality of the evaluations, starting from the recruiting and selection of 
experts,  using  for  instance  a  more  user-friendly  link  to  the  application  tool  for 
becoming an expert in the Eurostars public website and through the mobilisation of 
the Eureka National Programme Coordinators to accomplish these tasks.  

2.4.2.  Decentralised funding – time-to- contract 

A  second  set  of  operational  recommendations  to  be  implemented  by  2013  refers  to  the 
funding  process,  where  the  national  level  becomes  the  main  actor.  The  Group  finds  the 
implementation  process  to  vary  quite  substantially  across  countries.  It  is  important  for 
Eurostars  to  achieve  a  high  level  of  harmonisation  across  countries  to  reach  homogeneous 
operational performance and increased overall efficiency of the programme. Once a proposal 
has been selected for funding, the negotiation phase between each applicant and its national 
funding body starts. The Group has identified this phase as the most complex. 

The Group considers that reducing time-to-contract (defined as the time between cut-off date 
of the calls and the date of the signature of the grant agreement) should remain one of the top 
priorities for all the stakeholders of the Eurostars programme and participant countries are 
invited to put the necessary measures in place.  

The  Group  also  suggests  possible  actions  to  reduce  time-to-contract:  earlier  financial 
assessment  by  the  national  level;  the  Secretariat  to  monitor  and  discuss  with  'slower' 
countries; common and stricter deadlines for signature of consortium and grant agreement.  

The  Commission  agrees  with  the  above  recommendations,  and  encourages  the 
Eurostars countries to advance the processes in the national administrations as much 
as  possible.  The  goal,  as  foreseen  in  the  Delegation  Agreement16  between  the 
European  Commission  and  the  Eureka  Secretariat,  was  to  sign  the  individual  grant 
agreement with project participants no later than 6 months after the cut-off date, by 
mid-term  of  the  programme.  Fully  sharing  the  view  of  the  Group,  the  Commission 
encourages the Secretariat to continue its efforts in monitoring time-to-contract and 
in identifying best practices.  

16 

Eurostars Joint Programme Delegation Agreement (30-CE-0270684/00-14) of 19.06.2009 between the 
European Commission and the Eureka Secretariat AISBL  

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3. 

CONCLUSIONS 

In  its  first  years,  Eurostars  has  shown  good  potential  as  a  programme  of  interest  to  R&D 
performing  SMEs,  supporting  them  to innovate. The  Commission  will  therefore  continue to 
support the current programme until 2013 as foreseen. 

Having  started  in  2008,  the  programme's  operational  performance  still  needs  further 
improvement. In this respect, the key measure for success is a substantially reduced time-to-
contract. 

From  a  wider  perspective,  the  integration  process  of  the  national  participating  programmes 
needs to be reinforced. Hence, the Eureka Secretariat and the Eurostars countries should make 
increased  efforts  to  accelerate  the  harmonisation  of  national  rules  in  full  respect  of  the 
Common Eurostars eligibility and evaluation criteria and procedures. 

Finally, the Commission will actively engage into discussions on the possible follow up for 
the  current  Eurostars  programme  in  the  context  of  the  next  programming  period,  without 
prejudice  to  the  preparation  of  the  Common  Strategic  Framework  for  Research  and 
Innovation funding and the EU Multi-Annual Financial Framework, taking into consideration 
the  wider  political  context  of  the  Innovation  Union  Flagship  initiative  and  the  European 
Council conclusions of 4 February 2011. 

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