EC research funding for SMEs

On June 23, the Council of Ministers agreed to provide 100.0 million ($154.8 million) from the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (FP7) budget to Eurostars, a R&D program jointly set up by 31 countries to boost research capacities of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in Europe. The amount from the FP7 will leverage at least 300.0 million euros in public funding from the participating countries, resulting in a package of 400.0 million euros for financing trans-national research partnerships driven research-performing SMEs in Europe, says a European Commission statement.