August 2023

Korea was selected to become the first non-European member of the Eureka board of directors during the Eureka General Assembly held in Brussels, Belgium on June 22.
Established in 1985, Eureka is the world¡¯s largest joint R&D platform. The platform actively promotes joint international research such as embarking on new R&D projects of 600-700 million Euros every year. Eureka has carried out 13,170 projects with 44,660 companies since its establishment.
Currently, there are 47 members, including 41 European countries, and six-non-European countries (such as Korea) participating in research. Ten countries (Germany, Spain, Estonia, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Canada, Portugal, France, Turkey and Korea) make up Eureka¡¯s board of directors. The board of directors is in charge of discussing the operation plans for the R&D program. The board is also in charge of managing and supervising the operations of the Eureka Secretariat.
Korea became the first non-European country to become an associate member of Eureka in 2009, and was promoted to partner in 2018. Since joining as an associate member in 2009, Korea has supported 216 projects with government funds totaling 210.8 billion KRW. The country has continued to actively cooperate in the exchange of technology with Eureka. One such example is the event called Korea Eureka Day held to promote technological exchanges between Korea and Europe.
In recognition of these efforts, Korea, along with Canada, obtained full member status in June 2022, a first for a non-European country.
Becoming a member of the board of directors for the world¡¯s largest joint R&D platform means that Korea is now a major force when it comes to international R&D. Korea plans to use the opportunity to promote the growth and innovation of the country¡¯s economy by linking domestic policies with the latest European trends in R&D. The country also plans to expand Korea-Europe industrial technology cooperation in the future.