Start-ups and companies in transformative phases, aiming to realign themselves in the market while preserving a disruptive edge, often rely solely on internal resources or private financial markets to fuel their innovation efforts. This approach entails leveraging internal expertise and infrastructure, and conducting R&I discreetly until completion.

However, in practice, opting for a more transparent approach, and engaging in open processes such as seeking external resources and addressing skill gaps, can signal competitiveness to the market even before the innovation is fully realized. Start-ups usually focus on crafting content, execution strategies, and budget plans to meet market demands, intending to attract potential investors, whose selection criteria may sometimes be subjective and unclear.

Less frequently, start-ups or spin-offs from established companies may consider initiating their innovation journey by collaborating with other partners to secure initial resources through public funding, such as the grants offered by European Union programs. Surprisingly, adopting a project within an open innovation framework often leads to forward-thinking solutions, alignment with real market needs, and exponential profitability, sometimes requiring no more effort, or even less, than operating in isolation through closed processes.

EU funds provide financial backing for transnational projects, covering a wide range of priorities including research, development, and implementation. The Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) set by European institutions dictates the allocation of resources to EU programs and priorities across various domains, comprehensively impacting the lives of citizens and Member States.

Projects aiming to align with EU calls must adhere to specific requirements to secure funding and demonstrate credibility and utility, serving as a means for initiatives to validate their viability and alignment with evolving contexts. It’s crucial for nascent ventures to establish a sustainable structure to ensure competitiveness.

Commence with an Open Innovation Approach

In today’s competitive landscape, innovation is indispensable for businesses’ future success. Open innovation offers organizations the opportunity to collaborate with external partners to generate new ideas, develop products, and explore new revenue streams. Embracing external collaboration enables access to novel ideas and resources, sometimes necessitating outsourcing to mitigate internal resistance to change. EU-funded R&I projects, often requiring partners from diverse geographical areas and specializations, serve as fertile ground for open innovation to thrive, contributing to European competitiveness goals. Engaging with EU calls presents an opportunity for collaborative partnerships at a transnational level, fostering open innovation paths geared towards societal, cultural, environmental, and technological impact. Additionally, transnational collaboration facilitates access to broader markets.

Time matters

Efficient proposal writing and partnership building for transnational and public-private partnerships or consortia correspond to the time needed to secure public funding, potentially accelerating project timelines compared to solo endeavors. Collaborating with multi-disciplinary consortia saves time and enhances market readiness by leveraging initial public funds for high-level research without being constrained by private investors’ interests and lack of funds just when you need them. While meeting project deadlines to retain funding may pose a challenge, it fosters efficiency and lean project management practices.

Streamlining Processes

Projects involving multiple partners and intricate processes necessitate precise rules and methodologies for effective management. By decentralizing decision-making processes and leveraging the expertise each partner contributes to the consortium, as well as segmenting tasks into manageable work packages—each with decision-making authority delegated to the respective partner—can streamline the process and enhance overall efficiency in achieving desired outcomes. Defining a clear and comprehensive organizational model and taking care to define lean and sustainable processes from the outset is exactly what consortia of organizations applying for a grant are expected to do.

Community-Centric Approach

Every organization should strive to deliver value that aligns with local and global community priorities. EU funding institutions prioritize projects originating from citizen requests, research institutes, NGOs, and various organizations, emphasizing community impact and alignment with EU objectives. This is to emphasise that to realise their priorities, the European institutions adopt a down-to-top needs identification process, the same path that companies take when they don’t want to put something on the market that nobody needs. In a nutshell, to take a European Grant your value proposition must be sound.

Never stop exploring

Engaging in a European-funded project means a company gets out of its normal predisposition to protect the core and its usual processes of maintaining the status quo and to get involved and experiment. And after all, maintaining exploration activities alongside core initiatives is imperative for sustained disruption and resilience against competitors, especially in established organizations, where protecting dedicated exploration teams from being overshadowed by core activities is crucial for long-term success.

Networking, Dissemination, Replication

Networking, dissemination of results and ensuring replication and adoption by other projects form the basis for EU-funded projects and companies aspiring to become leaders in the field. Transparency and community involvement are the keys to a coherent and goal-oriented communication plan. In addition, making decision-makers and regulators aware of the results of your project can play a decisive role in shaping the future market. If lobbying is not a sustainable activity for all companies and partnerships that want to shape the rules of the market, investing efforts and resources in R&I and disseminating the results to the right stakeholders can be a viable strategy to avoid struggling with the rules.

Emphasizing your effort in Technological Innovation and Digital Transformation

Whatever your sector, you cannot skip this topic. Incorporating technological advancements into project strategies is essential for future market relevance. EU institutions prioritize projects fostering technological infrastructures for competitiveness across sectors, aligning with goals such as digital transformation and sustainability. In January 2020 Ursula Von Der Leyen presented the strategy to shape the European digital future, and programs such as Digital Europe will contribute to the goals of Digital Compass 2030 according to which digital services should put people and businesses first and help achieve the green transition.

Sustainability and Long-Term Impact

Remember that prioritizing sustainability, diversity, gender mainstreaming, transparency, and long-term impact enhances project positioning for EU grants and constitutes essential considerations for organizational success, irrespective of resource constraints. If changes take generations, demonstrating a bold vision can foster trust, unlock funding opportunities, strengthen stakeholder relationships, and expedite your growth process immediately.

Categories: EUfundscompetitivenessbusinessstart-upsopen innovationHorizon 21- 27ResearchFundingExooutsurcingcommunityTechnologyDigital Europe