Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Norwegian economy is not only dependant on foreign trade. As a small country Norway counts for only half a percent of the world R&D. This means that internationalisation and transfer of knowledge are necessities for my country. This situation explains why, from the onset, Norway did strongly support both EUREKA and the establishment of the European Research Area (ERA) – and still does.

The overwhelming majority of businesses in Norway belong to the SME category. Thanks to the bottom-up principle and the absence of calls for proposals and deadlines for application, EUREKA has become a favourite instrument for international collaboration among European SMEs.

There is a trend in the 6 ^th> Framework Programme to concentrate the efforts in large projects and networks, each likely to receive perhaps several million Euros. In this way, the Commission wants to realise the ERA. My warning is that this must not happen at the expense of the SMEs. Vital as they are for the European economy, innovative start-ups in particular and SMEs in general, must be taken on board in ERA. And this should be a vital part of EUREKA’s role in the European Research Area.

In fact, SME participation should be considered compulsory for all big projects and networks. Further, one major aim of ERA is to open up national research programmes. This matter has still to be elaborated in greater detail, and one of the interesting questions to consider is how SMEs looking abroad for co-operation should be included in national programmes.

Again EUREKA, with its long tradition for assisting enterprises in setting up project plans and finding partners, has an important contribution to make. My deeply felt wish for the future of EUREKA is that it must continue to take care of the SMEs as well as creating umbrellas and strategic projects.

I will conclude by saying that I consider the development of ERA as a condition for the prosperity of EUREKA. But it is also the other way round: EUREKA may inspire the Commission on how to approach industry and SMEs. Therefore EUREKA must - also in practice - become an integrated and substantial part of the ERA process. The prospects of European industrial research call for a closer co-operation between EU and EUREKA to ensure that EUREKA becomes an integrated, important and active part of the ERA.

I feel convinced that what I have just said about SMEs apply to many other countries, perhaps also to the newcomers Yugoslavia and Cyprus. I avail myself of this opportunity to express my satisfaction with their accession. Their wish to join us testifies to the actual success and the promising future of our EUREKA initiative.