The roadmap for the continuation of the Eurostars Programme published by the European Commission shows the support of this European institution to the continuation of the Programme. However, this document is published just for information and is subject to change.

The Eurostars Programme which is mainly financed through national funds and benefits from locally-based, language fluent contacts, will be part of the proposed Horizon 2020 scheme, the largest funding initiative for research and innovation in the world. The European Commission proposed in a roadmap published in December 2012, an integrated approach to help with funding small businesses involved in research among other instruments through the Eurostars Programme and the so-called new SME instrument, to be launched in 2014.

Eurostars is a research and innovation programme that finances R&D performing SMEs building on the EUREKA programme and is implemented by the EUREKA Secretariat. According to the EUREKA Secretariat, funding rules within the Eurostars Programme are adapted to economic conditions in the countries of each participating company or research institute. One of the objectives of the Eurostars Programme is also the synchronization of national funding programmes and rules in order to harmonize conditions for researchers and innovative entrepreneurs all over Europe. The Secretariat also stressed that by the end of the programme, the same funding rules for SMEs should be used by at least 75% of Eurostars countries' national R&D programmes.

Eurostars also successfully delivers financial benefits for project participants and growth for employment in the research and innovation sectors, says the EUREKA Secretariat. Three years after the end of each project, for each million euro of public funding invested the turnover of the participants should increase by at least €10 million and at least 25 new jobs should be created.