EUREKA program gaining traction as IRAP promotes benefits of European collaboration

Industry-led innovation

Small innovative Canadian companies are increasingly taking advantage of Canada's status as an associate member of the EUREKA Network, with 15 projects launched in the past 18 months. The market-driven industrial R&D projects, valued at more than $20 million, have helped Canadian firms partner one-on-one and in clusters with companies from Europe, Israel and Korea, on a wide range of technology development, from virtual machining to water desalination.

The EUREKA Canadian coordination office is being managed by the National Research Council's Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) stemming from a June/12 agreement that capped more than a year of negotiations (R$, May 24/11 & July 5/12). Activity is accelerating as word of the program's potential spreads and firms tap into expertise previously beyond their reach and leverage a massive pool of European funding.

"We're very pleased with the uptake. Canada is the number one country in terms of projects going forward," says NRC president John McDougall. "Technology and markets are global and this program recognizes that. Originally our agenda was not very aggressive but now we've decided to do it seriously."

EUREKA provides IRAP with yet another mechanism to stimulate industrial R&D and innovation. Long held in high regard as an effective tool for incenting smaller firms to conduct R&D, IRAP has been given additional functions and funding in recent years, boosting its overall budget to more than $300 million or about 30% of NRC's annual allocations.

Canadian sources are contributing about 25% of the total funding for their EUREKA projects, with IRAP providing the necessary matching funds for seven of the projects. Natural Resources Canada is funding three projects through its Canada-Israel Energy S&T Fund, focused on the assessment of hydrocarbon potential for oil shale, enhanced oil sands-produced water evaporators and the enhanced re-use of desalinated water. Canada joined EUREKA when the program's chair position was held by Israel, which was eager to demonstrate its impact through tangible benefits such as new members.

Alberta Innovates is supporting two projects for the separation of contaminants from water for oil sands extraction and a project entitled Real-Time Release Management Utilizing Big Data.

"It's truly a partnership in each case … Beyond North America, it's hard for SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) to partner without help. Now the NRC has a direct portal for technology and market access. It's a mechanism that wasn't there before," says McDougall.

Of the 15 projects in which Canada is participating, 13 are bilateral (see chart) and two are multilateral under EUREKA's ITEA Cluster program. The latter are longer term, theme-based projects involving several firms including many large companies. The current themes for the cluster program are information and communications technology (ICT), energy and biotechnology.

A major cluster project led by Thales called Web of Objects has 26 partners including Concordia Univ. Its objective is to develop a multi-tenant Internet-of-things platform achieved with the interoperability of objects through semantics and the dynamic discovery and reconfiguration of devices.

A second cluster project, Advancing Plug & Play Smart Surveillance, includes Montreal-based Pegasus Research and Technologies. Pegasus collaborates extensively with other NATO countries on the development of defence and security technologies.

The uptake of Canadian firms in cluster projects has been slower due to their complexity and the larger number of firms involved.

"We're still learning. We're pushing companies to dig deeper," says McDougall.

No uptake for Eurostars program

To date, Canada has not participated in the third type of EUREKA projects — Eurostars — which are short-term, involve at least two other countries and are led by an R&D-performing SME. The program is jointly supported by the European Commission. McDougall calls Eurostars a "special issue" that provides for EU top-up funding" but it has limitations in terms of eligibility.

Launched in 1985, EUREKA now encompasses 41 countries engaging in market-oriented R&D. To date, it has funded more than 4,000 projects valued in excess of €30 billion from public and private sources.

For Canada, EUREKA is seen as a cost-effective opportunity to gain access to one of the world's largest and most innovative economic ecosystems. McDougall is taking on the role of EUREKA champion in Canada while IRAP is utilizing its network of Industrial Technology Advisors and partners such as Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and Innoventures Canada to spread the word.

"EUREKA opens up lots of public and private funding mechanisms and some provinces are already participating," says McDougall. " There are increasing levels of interest and there are major opportunities in clusters ... With IRAP, the government is creating something that can be quite powerful ... There's huge growth potential and I think we've just scratched the surface.

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