During today’s Eureka Global Innovation Summit, Claudia Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), called for “bold and ambitious action” to tackle the global crises and conflicts that threaten our future.
Hanover, Germany, 1 April 2025 – Müller emphasised that scientific and technological innovation is essential not only for industrial competitiveness, but also for advancing environmental sustainability. “Innovation is key to building a resilient, healthy, and secure planet for future generations,” she said.
Founded in 1985, Eureka started as a European initiative with the signing of the Hanover Declaration by 18 countries and the European Union (EU). Today, it has expanded into a global network of 47 countries plus the EU, with collaborations extending to North and South America, Asia, and Africa. This year, Germany and Canada are co-chairing the network, making it especially fitting that Canada is also the partner country for Hannover Messe 2025, where the Global Innovation Summit shares the stage.
Eureka supports a wide range of funding programmes, designed to foster innovation across every sector, with a focus on both small and large companies, universities, and research organisations.
“As a global, decentralised, and flexible intergovernmental network,” Müller explained, “Eureka is uniquely positioned to make a meaningful impact in addressing the world’s most pressing challenges.” Claudia Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
In her keynote, the State Secretary unveiled one of the largest calls in Eureka’s history: a major funding initiative for cross-border research and innovation projects in circular value creation. This call represents a significant public investment in advancing the circular economy. "This is more than just recycling,” Müller noted. “Circular value creation is a comprehensive approach that integrates circularity into product lifecycles, supply chains, and business models.”
The call for proposals is an initiative of the Canadian-German Eureka co-chair. With their leadership, 17 Eureka countries have already confirmed their participation in this groundbreaking call, which will open for submissions on 12 June and close on 30 September 2025. Ministries and funding agencies from Austria, Belgium/Flanders, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, and Ukraine will fund organisations working on international R&D projects focused on circular value creation.
International project consortia can submit applications for funding between 12 June and 30 September 2025. To be eligible, projects must include at least two organisations from at least two of the participating countries.
Read more about the Eureka network and the circular value creation call here.
