Greece in Eureka: the transformative power of international collaboration

Over the years, Greece’s innovation economy has surged, supported by dynamic partnerships across a broad range of Eureka programmes. This progress marks a significant shift from an earlier period of fiscal constraint, when the country’s research and innovation ecosystem faced structural limitations, including restricted access to networks and investment. Today, Greece’s increasingly vibrant innovation landscape reflects the positive impact of sustained collaboration and targeted investment.

Enriching its enterprise community with Eureka-funded programmes has strengthened Greece’s innovation sector dramatically: data reports have found employment growth rates doubling for Eurostars-funded businesses.

A founding member of Eureka in 1985, Greece’s interest in the network was spurred by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Technology, nowadays Ministry of Development. Eureka came at a particularly opportune time as Greece sought to elevate the reinforcement of its national research and innovation ecosystem.

The participation of Greece in the founding of the Eureka network in 1985 constitutes a landmark towards boosting competitiveness and fostering innovation. During these 40 years, Greece has demonstrated notable involvement in Eureka programmes. The Presidency of Eureka in 2001–2002 was a remarkable milestone: during an interparliamentary conference held at the Greek Parliament in May 2002, major advancements were underscored in fostering ties with European institutions, including the European Investment Bank. We are honoured to be members of the Eureka family and look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries together.

Anastasios Gaitanis – Secretary General for Research and Innovations

In the 1980s, investment of Greek enterprises in research and development reached devastating lows: the overall national research and development expenditure was 0.3% of gross domestic product in 1985, inching up slightly to 0.4% in 1990. Greece’s business sector also had not formed strong ties with the scientific and academic community, and small- and medium-sized enterprises dealt with limited access to funding and minimal networking opportunities.

Eureka acted as a timely catalyst for innovation soon after Greece joined. By 2021, around 1,900 Eureka-funded projects had been implemented, with the participation of 3,000 organisations.

Eurostars accelerated the rollout of new and improved products, processes and services whilst also inspiring new cross-border collaborations that members of the funded consortia continued beyond the programme window.

Particularly helpful was the evolution of Eurostars into a European co-funded partnership leading to Greece using European Union structural funds for their national contributions. They found that numerous Greek small- and medium-sized enterprises wanted to participate and benefit through the programme within the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs, leading to a rush of excitement that galvanised the innovation community.

Greek small- and medium-sized enterprises have also been engaging in Innowwide and the Investment Readiness programme. The latter initiative has attracted many Greek startups, as it is expected to accelerate their scaling opportunities.

Going forward, Greece will continue to participate in future Eurostars calls and liaise with Eureka representatives to boost organisation engagement. Of particular interest to Greece are opportunities offered by Eureka programmes such as Network Projects, Globalstars and Clusters.

A priority for Greece is exploring new initiatives leading to a boom in innovation within the country. Fruitful collaborations with members of the Eureka network and the European Commission are anticipated to continue, whilst the launch of the European Union’s Startup and Scaleup Strategy, which aims to make Europe a leading hub for technology-driven companies by fostering innovation, improving access to funding and supporting market entry and expansion is expected to further strengthen Greece’s ambitions to be a globally competitive region known for impactful research and development and innovative companies.