ITEA is the Eureka Cluster on software innovation
ITEA is the Eureka Cluster on software innovation
Published on 08 Aug 2017

The impact of participation in EUREKA Cluster projects

A consortium led by Prognos AG and its research partners, Joanneum Research and Professor Cincera (Université Libre de Bruxelles) carried out an Impact Assessment of EUREKA Network Projects and EUREKA Cluster projects. All participants in projects which received the EUREKA label in the period of 2001-2015, either as a Network or as a Cluster Project, were studied.

Download the full EUREKA Impact assessment report

Key facts from the report are:

      1. Annual turnover of firms in EUREKA R&D projects develops significantly better than turnover of non-participants: one year after the end of projects, project participants showed an additional annual turnover growth of 15% (Network Projects) and 13% (Cluster Projects) compared to non-participating firms.

         

        Clear examples of business impact in ITEA are shown by the results of e.g.:
        • the Digital Cinema project. In 2012, Barco, project leader of the Digital Cinema project, employed 3725 people and realised a revenue of €1.156 billion. We estimate that close to 10% of Barco's workforce in Europe is active in the area of Digital Cinema (direct and indirect).
        • the SoRTS project that finished in December 2016 and was led by Philips. With the key innovations from this project, Philips MRI will sell 50-100 systems in Europe on a new market, meaning an addition of more than 5% to the present MRI market of €4.5 billion.
      2. Development of employment is also positive: one year after the end of projects, project participants showed an additional annual employment growth of 4% (Network Projects) and 7% (Cluster Projects) compared to non-participating firms. In terms of firms' size, differences are observed: large companies (firms with more than 250 employees) experienced the highest performances one year after project completion.

         

        Only to mention a few examples from ITEA:
        • the SCALARE project enabled Husqvarna to make the digital transition and saw its team of 4-5 software developers expand to more than 40 people.
        • Thanks to the business impact coming from the results of the DIAMONDS project, SME Montimage's workforce almost doubled.
      3. Participating firms expect a strengthened economic positioning through the EUREKA project, with the entering of new markets (69% of survey respondents), improved market shares (68%), and increased exports (67%) being the most relevant aspects.
      4. International co-operations (more than 70%) and new business opportunities (more than 60%) are the most relevant motivation for participation in EUREKA according to survey respondents.
      5. High degree of flexibility of EUREKA, building upon a strong bottom-up approach, is an essential asset from the perspective of many participating firms.

         

        In ITEA, we value the flexibility and bottom-up approach of our programme and our satisfaction surveys show that ITEA project partners also highly appreciate this. Check out some testimonials on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWxpjchmkHs

The report highlights that the synchronisation and the acceleration of funding decisions are still priority #1 on the agenda for improvement. This is also the case for ITEA. Since ITEA 3 Call 1 in 2014, we have taken several actions to improve this, e.g. a shift in the ITEA Call calendar, to be more aligned with the national funding calendars, monthly monitoring with the Public Authorities and closer follow-up of the status of the national applications. Thanks to these actions, we reduced the time from idea to project start from 24 months, for ITEA 2 Call 6, to 15 months for ITEA 3 Call 2, meaning that more than 50% of the projects started between 5 to 9 months after submission of the Full Project Proposal (FPP). Now it is part of our daily work and it will be further monitored as an ITEA Key Performance Indicator.

 

Be part of our next Call and grow!

If you have a software (related) business and you are ready to realise an increased turnover and employment rate, don't miss the opportunity to join the next ITEA 3 Call. It will open in conjunction with the ITEA Project Outline (PO) Preparation Days in Berlin on 12&13 September. This event is the perfect way to jump-start your preparations for an ITEA Project Outline. For more information and registration, visit the ITEA PO Days 2017 webpages.

 

Image Jump-start your project idea

 

"The continuous and constructive mentoring of ITEA, from project idea to exploitation, with its business impact-driven approach helped us to reach the full potential of the project."

Adrien Bécue, ADAX project leader of the Award winning ITEA project ADAX
and Head of Research & Technology at Airbus Cybersecurity