WHO: The proposal involves 40 National Funding Authorities and/or Agencies under the Umbrella of Eureka and is coordinated by the Eureka Secretariat in Brussels. Founded in 1985, Eureka is a global network, with 48 Member States plus the European Commission. It includes nearly all countries of the European continent as well as international members like Israel, Turkey, Korea, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, Argentina and Chile. The Consortium also benefits from the fact that is has successfully run the Eurostars 1 and 2 programs. WHAT: The proposed European Partnership on Innovative SMEs will comprise two main instruments (Eurostars 3 and Innowwide) as well as measures to connect to existing EU programs, initiatives and other European partnerships. EUROSTARS 3 (E*3) is an instrument that supports the international cooperation of SMEs in the field of non-military collaborative innovation projects. An E*3 project consortium must be composed of at least 2 independent entities from at least two participating countries and must be led by an innovative SME. The E*3 instrument benefits from accompanying measures that strengthen SMEs’ ability to access foreign markets like the INNOWWIDE instrument, which has already been piloted with the support of some Eureka network members in recent years. WHY: The biggest challenges for innovative SMEs are the access to international cooperation and to enter international markets as well the ability to receive funding. E*3 through its coordination of national innovation programs will in addition support the further development of a European Research Area. HOW: The Eureka Secretariat will organize two joint transnational calls per year for E*3 and one call per year for Innowwide. National Innovation Agencies actively support the implementation of E*3 via national funding and support measures as well as services to applicants and promotion of the program.

Water is central to all human activities, to all components of the EU Green Deal and to several UN SDGs. The Water4All Partnership aims at enabling water security for all on the long term through boosting systemic transformations and changes across the entire research – water innovation pipeline, fostering the matchmaking between problem owners and solution providers. It gathers more than 70 partners, R&I funders, environment ministries, local authorities, European, national and regional-scale networks, research performing organisations. It will collaborate with other relevant R&I initiatives. Water4All proposes a portfolio of multi-national, cross-sectoral activities, targeting a variety of actors, intending to generate the following outputs: - Strengthen the water R&I collaboration at European and international levels, across at least 31 countries, notably through Joint Transnational Calls - Coordinate and leverage the activities of the Water R&I community - Support and promote the demonstration and access to market of innovative solutions - Produce, share and better communicate water-related knowledge & data, from local to global scales - Enhance talent development of water R&I professionals - Foster capacity development and life-long training of water policy-makers, stakeholders and civil society - Design & implement approaches for participatory development of innovation Water4All will run its activities across 7 themes of its strategic agenda: water for circular economy; water for ecosystems and biodiversity; sustainable water management; water and health; water infrastructure; international cooperation; water governance. Water4All’s outputs will contribute to: - Deliver sound knowledge, tools and evidence basis on water for policy- & decision-making - Improve consideration of water impacts in all relevant policies - Enhance the field/market use of innovative solutions to water challenges - Increase citizens’ awareness and engagement for an inclusive water

This proposal is the continuation of the Description of the Action of the Grant Agreement 101055476 signed under the European Innovation Ecosystems Work Programme 2021-2022. The proposal involves 41 National/regional Funding Bodies and/ Agencies under the umbrella of Eureka, and is coordinated by the Eureka Secretariat in Brussels. The partnership will be comprised of two main instruments(Eurostars-3 and Innowwide) as well as accompanying measures to further supports SMEs and to connect existing EU programmes, initiatives and other European partnerships. On this proposal, the consortium describes the additional activities that will take place under the EIE WP 2023-2024. The activities implemented under this Work Programme mirror to a great extent those described in the DoA.

The DUT Partnership builds upon and steps up the ambition and efforts of the Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe (JPI UE). With its partners from 28 countries, the DUT Partnership aims at developing and implementing a transformative research and innovation (R&I) programme to strengthen urban transitions towards climate-neutral, inclusive and sustainable urban areas. With national and regional R&I programme owners, funders and urban policy-related public authorities, DUT is strongly building upon and aligning with national and regional strategies and policies. In order to support cities along their specific strategies, the Partnership focuses on three critical urban sectors, energy, mobility and circular economy, and their interrelations. Three Transition Pathways (TPs) – Positive Energy Districts (PED), the 15-minute City (15minC) and Circular Urban Economies (CUE) – will be addressed with a long-term perspective. DUT will not only provide funding for transnational R&I projects in and across these areas through implementing co-funded JCs, but establish a comprehensive programme management to support capacity building and enhance the (policy) impact of these projects and their results. In this regard, programme activities will address capacity building and empowerment of all urban stakeholder groups to engage in urban R&I and co-design solutions. Urban living labs (ULLs) will be fostered as an important concept to support local experimentation and inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration. New approaches towards dissemination and mainstreaming of research results will be developed with the ambition to bring results into our cities. Strategic synthesis, as well as recommendations and references for policy making will be provided with particular focus on contributions to the Urban Agenda for the EU (UAEU), the European mission for climate-neutral and smart cities (CNSC) and the European Green Deal (EGD). Efforts will be taken to position the DUT Partnership internationally and mobilise international partners to join forces in DUT.