South Africa to join Eureka network

South Africa is poised to becoming an associate member of Eureka, a Europe-wide network of governments funding business R&D and innovation.

This would be the third country expanding Eureka’s reach beyond the European continent, after South Korea and Canada became associated countries in 2009 and 2012, respectively.

The move was mentioned at Eureka’s 18th inter-parliamentary conference, held at the European Parliament in Brussels on 16 May. Set up in 1985, Eureka has evolved from its initial goals—bolstering European research and innovation to fight competitors from the US and Japan—and is now open to global cooperation, Pedro Sampaio Nunes, head of Eureka’s secretariat, told the conference.