Speech delivered my Mr. Israel Shamay, EUREKA NPC Chairman, at EUREKA 25th Anniversary Event
We are only 25 years old but may still not remember that NPCs were not always around. When EUREKA was first established and its organizational structure first developed – the Hannover Declaration set up the group of High level Representatives to oversee political matters, and a Secretariat to assist and guide the newly established Network.
It took only a year to realize that a few simple and less important matters should be also taken care of, simple matters like supporting the industries, generating projects, funding and synchronizing funding decisions etc.
So this is how the NPC forum was born and finally constructed after several years.
Since then, NPCs became the real backbone of EUREKA, supporting its fast growth, with new international actors joining and new support instruments being developed. The number of projects and the participation of SMEs subsequently increased dramatically – and all operational activities and in particular project generation became the responsibility of the NPCs – which managed so far to support 4200 projects, mobilizing 30B Euros.
The wealth of know-how, experience and access to innovation support capacities of the EUREKA NPCs is incomparable. They have created new labeling and evaluation methods, they have and continue to develop and launch Eurostars, and the Israeli chairmanship like previous and hopefully the future chairs, has indeed utilized extensively this resource which was extremely valuable in accomplishing successfully our targets this year.
Therefore I am very proud today to speak on behalf of my colleagues, the NPCs, which are not only the backbone of EUREKA, but also its beating heart.
Through the outstanding contributions of EUREKA’s National Project Coordinators, EUREKA has become a great network that puts industry at the core of its mission and success.
In looking towards the future and reflecting on the past, it is important to remember some of EUREKA’s key core values – the foundation upon which we have built our Network over the last 25 years, and the values which we celebrate today.
EUREKA does not attempt to unlock the secrets of the universe. But EUREKA has, over the past 25 years, changed our daily lives for the better through technology and innovation, and EUREKA NPCs work hand-in-hand with companies on a daily basis to help them convert R&D achievements into business success.
This is what has made EUREKA an attractive tool for industrial partners as well as for governments seeking to create opportunities for their national industries and SMEs in particular. In a nutshell, this is how EUREKA has become the preferred, most relevant and largest innovation cooperation platform for industries in Europe and even beyond. And this is the vision that the EUREKA NPCs are committed to.
Thank you and congratulations!
