What CELTIC-NEXT does

CELTIC-NEXT is an industry-driven Eureka Cluster that orchestrates international collaborative R&D projects in next-generation communications and digital ICT. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, the cluster operates under the Eureka Network framework and is hosted by Eurescom GmbH. Its core offering is a biannual call programme (Spring and Autumn calls) where organizations submit project proposals, build international consortia using the Brokerage Tool and Proposers Days, receive evaluation by a Group of Experts, and earn the CELTIC label — after which participants pursue national public funding directly from their respective countries' public authorities. Active focus areas include network resilience, energy efficiency, 6G, cybersecurity, and sustainable digital networks; the SUSTAINET flagship project (launched January 2025) spans three sub-projects on resilient and energy-efficient networks.

The cluster's primary participants are major ICT industry players, SMEs, research institutions, and service providers across multiple European countries. CELTIC-NEXT does not generate commercial revenue from products or services; it is funded through membership fees from Core Group members and operates with a small staff (1-10 employees) embedded in Eurescom GmbH. Distribution channels include an online Proposal Submission Portal, a Brokerage Tool for partner matching, and in-person Proposers Brokerage Days held across European cities. Recent strategic milestones include the June 2025 seven-year Eureka Cluster licence renewal, the launch of SUSTAINET, and publication of the SRIA 2026-2032. The cluster is governed by a Core Group of industry members (currently chaired by Xavier Priem) and operated under the direction of Eurescom GmbH Director David M. Kennedy.

Name

CELTIC-NEXT

Legal name

CELTIC-NEXT (operated by Eurescom GmbH)

Website

https://celticnext.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CELTIC-NEXT is a Eureka Cluster, operated by Eurescom GmbH, that orchestrates international collaborative R&D projects in next-generation communications and ICT. It runs biannual calls, brokers international consortia, and labels proposals for national public funding across Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Heidelberg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Cluster Operations and Project Orchestration: CELTIC-NEXT does not generate commercial revenue from products or services. It operates as a European Eureka Cluster that orchestrates international collaborative R&D projects, facilitating access to national public funding for participating organizations. The cluster is funded through membership fees and hosted by Eurescom GmbH.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

CELTIC-NEXT is an industry-driven Eureka Cluster that orchestrates international collaborative R&D projects in next-generation communications and ICT. It runs biannual Spring and Autumn calls, evaluates proposals through a Group of Experts, and grants the CELTIC label after which participants pursue national public funding. The cluster operates a Proposal Submission Portal and Brokerage Tool to facilitate consortium building across European countries.

Product overview

CELTIC-NEXT is an industry-driven Eureka Cluster for next-generation communications, not a single product company but an orchestration platform for international ICT research collaboration. The organization operates a Proposal Submission Portal for managing R&D project proposals and a Brokerage Tool for connecting partners across borders. Its flagship initiative is SUSTAINET, a sustainability-focused research programme comprising three sub-projects (SUSTAINET guarDian, SUSTAINET Advance, and SUSTAINET inNOvAte) addressing network resilience, energy efficiency, and security. CELTIC-NEXT administers a biannual call programme (Spring and Autumn calls) offering access to national public funding, supplemented by Proposers Days, consortium-building events, and project support tools including templates and guides.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CELTIC-NEXT Proposal Submission Portal Online portal for submitting project proposals, managing consortium documentation, and tracking proposal status through the CELTIC-NEXT project lifecycle. Targeted at organizations seeking to participate in the biannual CELTIC calls.
• Brokerage Tool Online platform enabling organizations to share project ideas, find potential partners with complementary expertise, and build international consortia for R&D project proposals.
• SUSTAINET Flagship Project Flagship research initiative addressing network resilience, energy efficiency, sustainability, high-performing end-to-end networks, and network security for European technological sovereignty. Coordinated by CELTIC-NEXT with partners including Adtran Networks SE, DFKI, Fraunhofer HHI, and CEMWorks Inc.
• CELTIC-NEXT Calls Programme Biannual (Spring and Autumn) bottom-up call programme enabling organizations to secure national public funding for ambitious R&D projects in next-generation communications and ICT.
• Project Support Tools Guides, contracts, templates, and documentation supporting project management throughout the CELTIC project lifecycle from proposal to final report.
• Proposers Days & Brokerage Events In-person and online events enabling proposers to pitch project ideas, meet potential partners, and learn about funding opportunities across participating countries.

Quantifiable outcome

• 21 years of collaborative innovation in ICT

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered major, minor and core.

• DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2025Key partner in SUSTAINET project focusing on cybersecurity and network security research.
• Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2025Key partner in SUSTAINET project, contributing research on electromagnetics simulation and network technologies.
• CEMWorks Inc.minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2025International partner in the SUSTAINET project.
• Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany)coreOthers · 1 April 2025Supports SUSTAINET project and provides national public funding for R&D activities in Germany.
• Adtran Networks SEcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Adtran Networks SE coordinates the SUSTAINET flagship project, focusing on sustainable technologies for resilient and energy-efficient networks.
• Eureka NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024CELTIC-NEXT is part of the EUREKA Network, an intergovernmental organization facilitating international R&D collaboration. Eureka provides the overarching framework and recognition for Celtic cluster activities, including the Eureka Clusters Programme.
• Eurescom GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEurescom GmbH hosts the CELTIC Office and provides operational support for the cluster. The company manages the Celtic office location in Heidelberg and provides administrative infrastructure.
• Digital CatapultminorGTM or Marketing PartnerHost venue for Autumn Call 2024 Proposers' Brokerage Day in London.
• Instituto de TelecomunicaçõesminorGTM or Marketing PartnerHost venue for Proposers' Brokerage Day in Aveiro, Portugal.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• 3GPP: 3GPP is the global standards partnership that defines mobile communications specifications (5G, 6G). It is not a competitor to CELTIC-NEXT but is a critical downstream consumer of the pre-competitive research that CELTIC-funded projects produce, making it a thematically central peer in the European communications value chain.
• Horizon Europe (European Commission): Horizon Europe is the EU's flagship research and innovation funding programme. While it sits outside the Eureka ecosystem, it channels significant funding into the same ICT and 6G research areas CELTIC-NEXT addresses, making it the most important ecosystem-level alternative for industry and academic participants.
• EUREKA Network: EUREKA is the intergovernmental framework that grants and renews CELTIC-NEXT's cluster license. As the parent organization, it shapes the policy and funding environment CELTIC-NEXT operates in and is therefore the most strategically consequential adjacent entity, even though it is not a direct commercial peer.

Broad incumbents

• ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute): ETSI is the European standards organization for telecommunications. While it differs from CELTIC-NEXT by producing standards rather than orchestrated R&D projects, it serves overlapping ICT industry members across Europe and shapes the same technological roadmap (5G/6G, network security) that CELTIC-NEXT-funded projects feed into.
• Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU, formerly ECSEL JU): Chips JU is a major EU-funded public-private partnership for electronic components and systems. It is a comparable R&D-coordination body that sits adjacent to CELTIC-NEXT's communications focus and is one of the largest orchestrators of cross-border European ICT R&D, drawing many of the same industry and research participants.

Direct peers

• EUROGIA: EUROGIA is a Eureka Cluster for low-carbon energy technologies. It mirrors CELTIC-NEXT's cluster-orchestration structure, biannual call process, and reliance on national public funding, making it a strong structural peer even though the underlying technology domain differs.
• ITEA: ITEA is a Eureka Cluster focused on software-intensive systems and services in industry. It is directly comparable to CELTIC-NEXT as a sibling Eureka Cluster using the same bottom-up, biannual-call, brokerage-tool, and national-public-funding model, only targeting software innovation instead of next-generation communications.
• PENTA: PENTA is a Eureka Cluster for microelectronics and semiconductor-enabled systems. It operates the same intergovernmental, consortium-orchestrating model as CELTIC-NEXT and is positioned as a direct peer within the Eureka Clusters Programme, with overlap on hardware-adjacent ICT topics.
• Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU): SNS JU is the EU's public-private partnership coordinating 6G research across Europe. It directly overlaps with CELTIC-NEXT's research focus on next-generation communications and network resilience, competing for the same industry and academic participants but operating as a direct EU instrument rather than an intergovernmental cluster.

Emerging players

• European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO): ECSO is the European contractual counterpart to the European Commission on cybersecurity, coordinating a community of cybersecurity stakeholders. It overlaps with CELTIC-NEXT's network-security research focus (e.g., SUSTAINET guarDian) and competes for the same cybersecurity R&D attention from European industry and academia.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/Celticnext
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/CelticplusVideos
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/celtic-next

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CELTIC-NEXT