In cooperation with Israel’s national renewables initiative, the intergovernmental consortium of European organizations Eureka will fund the research and development of 25 projects in clean technologies and related fields totaling 33 million euros ($45.4 million).
Eureka, a 40-member consortium, had approved the grant in a meeting that was held in parallel to the 2011 Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference in Eilat, Israel. Israel currently holds the chairmanship of the organization.
The 25 research and development projects in renewable energy, agrofood technology, and biotechnology among others have two or more member countries as collaborators.
Eureka partners with Israeli companies in six out of the total approved projects. Israeli small and medium enterprises comprise of 15 percent of all Eureka projects, the organization said in a statement.
During the conference, Eureka rolled out its new program that focuses on generating partnerships with member countries for funding of research and development projects in the clean tech sector.
“When launching the Eureka Clean Tech Action, we set a very ambitious goal to mobilize all available Eureka instruments in order to generate and support clean tech projects,” said Israeli national project coordinator chairman Israel Shamay.
Eureka currently has over 100 active clean technology projects totaling almost 200 million euros.
The newly approved projects will add to more than 150 Eureka projects that were approved since last year with 150 million euros of private and public investments in total.
Eureka allots 1.5 billion euros every year for 300 collaborative projects in different industries aside from clean tech and renewable energy.
The conference in particular is an Israeli government initiative that engages participants to discuss technological innovation, business opportunities, and policy implementation in the renewable energy sector.
Representatives from government agencies from over 40 European countries gather to specifically plan on addressing global issues such as climate change, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and solar and wind energies expansion.