Xecs is a Eureka Cluster designed to accelerate the pace of sustainable industrial innovation in the Electronic Components & Systems (ECS) Community. The goal of Xecs is to create an ambitious international collaboration program that results in high societal and economic impact for all participants in the Xecs project.

Xecs follows the successful Penta and Euripides clusters. Originally operating independently, Euripides and Penta decided to join forces to better serve the ECS Community, and over the past 3 years, they have launched joint calls. In 6 years, more than €400 million in RD&I projects have been stimulated, with more than 500 partners and over 40% of the funding supporting SME development. 23 countries from around the world have supported these projects.

Xecs organizes an annual project call. First, interested parties submit a Project Outline (PO), and after the selection of the POs, a Full Project Proposal (FPP) is expected. The Flemish projects within Xecs are situated from TRL3 to TRL7. Information regarding this program, the European modalities to be fulfilled for submitting projects, and the timing of the calls is available at eureka-xecs.com.

Flemish project proposals adhere to the general conditions for submitting projects to VLAIO: research projects and development projects. The contributions of all involved Flemish partners must be bundled into one Flemish application. The Flemish sub-project is eligible for ‘extra support for cooperation’ if:

• The partners have submitted a signed international Consortium Agreement;
• At least two member states of the European Union participate in the project;
• None of the companies bear more than 70% of the eligible costs of the cooperation project.

A specific question about Xecs? Contact geert.carchon@vlaio.be, T +32 2 432 42 94.

Important dates for call 4:

• Matchmaking event: October 15, 2024
• Deadline PO: January 23, 2025 – 17:00
• Deadline FPP: April 16, 2025 – 17:00