Kick-off of the Eureka
Clusters Programme
On 15 October the Clusters Committee (CC) and Public Authorities Committee
(PAC) had their very first meeting to kick-off the Eureka Clusters Programme
(ECP), the new Eureka instrument that was approved last June. The kick-off
meeting was received with clear enthusiasm from its stakeholders from both
Industry and Public Authorities.
All Eureka countries are invited to join the PAC
and this will increase the interest from various
countries within the network. Already in ITEA 3
Call 7 there is interest from Singapore for the
first time and Italy is back in one of the ITEA
proposals after a long time.
In the CC, each Cluster is represented by
three Board members and the main purpose
of this new committee is to create a common
understanding of urgent challenges arising from
the Communities of the Clusters.
In addition to the CC and PAC, the CC Support Group (CC-SG) and the PAC Support Group (PAC-SG) have
been established. The CC SG is a combination
of representatives of Cluster Committee
companies and Cluster Offices. The main
purpose of these groups is to prepare the
content for the Multi Annual Plan (MAP) and the
Annual Operating Plan (AOP). The first version
of these documents will include the Rules and
Regulations for the Joint Calls of the ECP, for
which potential subjects were discussed in
the kick-off meeting. Additionally, each Cluster
will present its plans for the next four years in
terms of vision, technology and finance as well
as announce the plan for its annual bottom-up Calls for this period. With the approval of these
documents, Clusters that provide the necessary
documentation will be authorised to operate for
four years with an evaluation every two years.
And this will be the beginning of ITEA 4 too.
Meanwhile, PAC SG will gather national priorities
and potential interest to finance ECP Joint Calls
and annual bottom-up Cluster Calls for the next
four years to be declared in the MAP and AOP.
This very first Multi Annual Plan and Annual
Operating Plan will enlighten the way forward for
the Eureka Clusters. We are looking forward to
that with a great enthusiasm!
