EAIC - European Association of Innovation Consultants - News

New Members Announcement

23/12/2021

We're pleased to welcome three of our newest members:

Konnekto (Belgium) supports organisations with subsidy consultancy and writing high-quality proposals for regional, national and European subsidy applications.
Konnekto has expertise in several domains such as AI, Blockchain, Health tech, circular economy etc. Their main customers are SMEs and large companies. Konnekto has a broad network within the public sector and encourages cooperation with universities and other knowledge/industry partners.

enco (Italy) is specialised in consulting services, aimed at helping companies in transforming innovative ideas into successful projects. ENCO supports the consortium in the proposal writing and submission. Furthermore, ENCO participates in national and international R&D&I projects, acting as exploitation and innovation manager, responsible for the development of market analysis, business plan, innovation management plan, IPR, exploitation – dissemination and communication plan and strategies.

Iceberg plus (Romania) has over 10 years of experience in project writing and implementation. They have four main working areas such as Funding and Project Management, Strategies & Innovation, Training & E-learning and Assistance in the Public Governance System. Innovation is the heart of Iceberg's culture.

View our full list of members here.

European innovation consultancies: Indispensable partners of European Executive Agencies

15/12/2021

Consultants play an important role in applying for European funding. Often, the funding programmes happen to be so specific that it is difficult for potential applicants to deal with all the aspects, from formalities such as entering data into portals, to interpreting the guidelines correctly.

Nevertheless, some European Executive Agencies are skeptical when it comes to consultants. This is partly because of certain prejudices. An “advisor” is not a protected professional title like a “notary” or an “auditor.” Anyone can call themself a consultant, and therefore, it’s possible to encounter underqualified professional or even an imposter who has very little in common with the qualifications and expertise of the reputable consultants. Those consultants sometimes charge exaggerated fees for their services that lack expertise and knowledge. By doing so, those few pretenders create a bias toward the consultancy services and consultants in general.

Qualified consultants work under umbrella organizations, such as the EAIC, which apply strict standards through specific criteria set (see EAIC’s Code of Conduct for mor details). In most cases, they also work with a success component when it comes to producing applications and share some of their clients' risk.

Many NCPs are in direct contact with consultants, which means that knowledge is shared in both directions. Client companies benefit from this collaboration, being provided with the latest information. Companies that hire consultants to apply for funding benefit from being relieved of the burden of time-consuming technicalities during the proposal preparation and application processes, receiving the necessary expertise externally.

Consultants provide added-value to their clients but to executive agencies as well. They act as multipliers, enabling more companies to apply for funding, rather than relying solely on the results of the executive agencies’ communication activities. In addition, consultants also help filtering out the best projects as they usually support promising projects that have the most potential to succeed. This prevents the flood of irrelevant or inappropriate applications making it easier for executive agencies, which therefore can be more efficient focusing their time and energy to the most promising proposals.

Therefore, a dynamic collaboration between the EU Executive Agencies and consultants should be strongly encouraged for the mutual gains. Developing well-established partnership in those terms would certainly benefit all stakeholders and increase Europe’s global competitiveness.

Article courtesy of EAIC member Dorucon

EAIC: In the starting blocks for 2022!

2/12/2021

EAIC members gathered last week, in Brussels, for the first ever in-person meeting held by the European Association of Innovation Consultants. Members of the Association met on the 23rd of November for a full day of workshops: 40 participants came to Brussels and over 20 others connected online to the various sessions organised by the Association.

The purpose of the meeting was to invite EAIC members to co-create and prepare the Association's action plan for next year. For the past 2 years, meetings were held online, mainly because of the sanitary crisis, but it was time for a physical meeting to be held to allow for more fruitful discussions and to provide the possibility for members to meet. The meeting was held the day prior to the EIC Summit, attended by many EAIC members. The EIC Accelerator has been a focal point of attention of the association for over the past year, and hence, it was the ideal time to organise this gathering.

Opening the event, Pekka Koponen, President of the EAIC, recalled some of the Association's most important achievements over the past 2 years, such as: the promotion of a Manifesto on professional project management, the adoption of a code of conduct, a constructive dialogue established with the EIC, the publication of our collective NGEU guide, strong visibility of the Association thanks to dynamic communication, the hiring of a Secretary General, Marie Latour, since October. Diego Soro, EAIC Board Member, presented the current membership structure and the objectives for growth for next year to ensure presence in all EU Member States; EAIC members are currently present in 25 European countries, of which 18 are EU Member States. Yiannis Geragotellis presented the results of an internal survey on new initiatives and project collaboration.

7 parallel sessions were held, in line with most of the EAIC’s active working groups, each of these led by one or several board members:

European Innovation Council Task Force, led by Xavier Aubry, Louis Papaemmanuel and Emanuele Angione
European Innovation Fund Working Group, led by Yorick Debeus
Project Collaboration; led by Yiannis Geragotellis
Communication strategy, led by Macarena Sanz
Next Generation EU, led by Alex Alvarez
New Initiatives, led by Virginie Robin
New Funding sources and EAIC treasury, led by Louis Papaemmanuel and Luc Ragon.

Each working group defined its objectives, a work plan, various KPIs and their budget for next year.
In the final and closing session, all the leaders of the working groups presented the progress made and reported what had been discussed in the parallel sessions.
The complete and consolidated action plan will be presented to all members of the Association in the beginning of January 2022, in the monthly members' meeting.

It was a very productive gathering and networking was encouraged among members, who were able to share their experiences and concerns.

Innovation lags behind in Eastern Europe: Collaborative projects a possible solution?

22/11/2021

Romania and Bulgaria are the only ”modest innovators” in the European Union, based on the 2020 European Innovation Scoreboard. They are followed by a batch of moderate innovators that are also ”led” by Central and Eastern European countries: Croatia, Poland, Latvia, Hungary, Slovakia, Greece and Lithuania.

Source: European Commission

If we correlate this data to the participation of these countries in Europe’s main financing instrument for research and innovation – Horizon Program – we will find striking similarities. These countries are also lagging behind in sending in eligible applications to the European Commission (only 1.12% of the total applications were sent in by Romania and only 0,76% of the applications were sent in by Bulgaria, even though they cover 4.32% and 1.55% of EUs population). The net EU contribution to research and innovation projects in the two countries represent only 0.74% of the EU total.

The top organizations that received Horizon financing differ in the two countries: for Romania the entity which received most money was a SME, while in Bulgaria Sofia University attracted the biggest amount of grants – the total amounts used by these top organizations are similar in the two countries: 19,79 mil euros for the Romanian SME and 19,42 for the Bulgarian University.

In a survey conducted by fonduri-structurale.ro in August 2021 in Romania, from 237 respondents (organizations looking for funding opportunities), more than 50% responded that they had little or no information regarding the Horizon program.

What’s next

A mix between intensifying dissemination activities on funding opportunities and capacity building/support for organizations interested in developing innovative projects is needed. One strategy for less experienced organizations is looking for relevant partners active in strong innovation ecosystems that can bring knowledge in implementing such activities. Usually, Horizon projects are implemented by at least 3 organizations from 3 member states and the European Union encourages partnerships between countries situated on different levels of the innovation scoreboard.

Another strategy can be looking for consultants that can assess whether the project idea fits the financing requirements of the European Commission or whether other national financing opportunities might be more suitable. In Romania, organizations will have the opportunity to receive vouchers for consultancy services for developing Horizon Europe projects through the newly approved National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Finally, in the next financial period (2021 - 2027), the European Commission will support ecosystem building and ecosystems cooperation in order to facilitate cohesion in innovation throughout the union, including increasing awareness on EU funding opportunities for innovators. Additionally, innovators from Eastern Europe can seek support through the Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence actions under Horizon Europe. The actions will strengthen countries’ potential for successful participation in transnational research and innovation projects, promote networking and access to excellence.

Article courtesy of EAIC member, Fonduri Structurale

Be part of the largest network of Innovation Consultancy Companies in Europe!

17/11/2021

Is your company an Innovation Consultancy active in European or National Funding Programmes? Have you already heard about EAIC, the European Association of Innovation Consultants?

Initiated in 2019 by the French Association of Innovation Consultants (ACI) and a small group of companies, EAIC has grown rapidly and is since 2021 registered as an European Association with headquarters in Brussels.

Today EAIC counts with 47 members, including 2 national associations, the members are present in 18 EU member States today as well as some associated countries. Discover our members.

The members are the most experienced innovation consultancies around Europe (from small to large companies), providing a variety of services such as:

EU Proposals writing
National Programmes proposal writing
Project management support
Tax credit
Innovation policy advices

Discover our members services here
The first visible action of EAIC in 2019 was the publication of a Manifesto to support professional project management in Horizon Europe. Already 272 signatures have been gathered!

The association aims to represent the interest of the members vis-a-vis European Institutions and improve the general perception about Innovation Consultants role, enhancing its key role channelling innovation initiatives. Several actions have already been undertaken to improve the image such as the adoption of a mandatory Code of conduct signed by all members and a Testimonial campaign currently ongoing, where EAIC members’ clients provide their feed-back about why they choose to receive the support from professional consultants.

EAIC is also addressing several important policy priorities such as the improvement of the EAIC Accelerator instrument: several position papers have been released over the past two years to address some concerns and provide critical feed-back to the European Commission about this very innovative funding instrument designed for Deeptech start-ups. All together our members represented 41% of all selected applicants to the June 2021 deadline of the Accelerator.

EAIC members also help companies present throughout Europe to apply to National Funding schemes. Next Generation EU is adding up an envelope of €750 bn million over the next 4 years to help the recovery. This is why EAIC issued in July a NGEU guide including a summary on the National Recovery and Resilience plans of 21 Member States. The guide provides a synthetic view of the main content of recovery plans, helping companies to get a complete view where EU member States are putting efforts into.

Facilitating members’ collaboration is the moto of EAIC: Next 23 November, members will meet face to face in Brussels, allowing them to network in person for the first time in two years! They have the occasion to meet also virtually very often through various Working Groups and a monthly members’ meeting. In addition, collaboration among members is facilitated through an online private collaboration platform reserved to EAIC members.

Would you like to learn more about EAIC? Download the EAIC Introduction presentation or ask to meet with our secretariat by sending a mail at info@eaic.eu!

EIC Accelerator Evolution or Revolution?

28/10/2021

Feedback from the June 2021 cut-off

DOWNLOAD THE POSITION PAPER

Based on a survey of 23 of its members, the European Association of Innovation Consultants (EAIC) has released a position paper, which summarises the return of experience from the first batch of applicants about the design and usage of the submission tool.

To improve the robustness of the evaluation process, the EIC made significant changes to the EIC Accelerator submission process in 2021: a new 3-step submission process, a novel AI-based diagnostic tool, a new online application form, and a fully redesigned evaluation system.

The new format proved to be successful in filtering out proposals that are not a good fit for the EIC Accelerator through Step 0 (diagnostic) and Step 1 (short proposal). This consequently improved the quality level of Step 2 applications, while unsuccessful applicants were recommended programs that may suit their proposals better instead of attempting to resubmit their application many times over.

The new format also generated certain criticisms mainly because it might lead the EIC to miss out some real innovation champions due to technical evaluation errors. In order to cope with the issue of “false negatives” and to improve the selection process further, the EAIC has put forward a series of recommendations, some of which are already being implemented already by the EIC:

•   Add simple control questions to the evaluation form to ensure proper understanding of the selection criteria, and implement a specific quality control process for cases awarded 8 “GOs” out of 9;

•   Add a “print to pdf” function for online form, as well as an improved table of content with hyperlinks in order to get a more comprehensive view, including hidden or collapsible fields, and improve the navigation throughout the document itself;

•   Make sure the evaluators’ background is relevant to the topic and their workload is within reasonable limits.

The data from the survey also demonstrated that, while the application workload is now 2.5x what it was in 2020, our members were able to achieve a success rate 3x above the average.

The EIC Accelerator has undergone a true revolution, with positive and negative consequences, but we are convinced that the minor improvements recommended in this paper can go a long way in reducing the risk of missing out real innovation champions for technical evaluation reasons.

Horizon Europe mission-orientation to tackle main global challenges

20/10/2021

The European Commission, in its evolution to an impact-driven framework programme, launched on Wednesday, 29 September 2021, the €1.9 billion plan for the first two-year phase of five Missions, a new-style approach to Research and Innovation in Horizon Europe (HE).

Beyond accumulating new knowledge, developing new technologies or increasing European competitiveness, Horizon Europe aims to achieve tangible benefits for European citizens related to the main challenges addressed by the programme, such as Digital transition, Ecological transition (Green Deal), Health resilience, Economic resilience and recovery.

In this regard, EU Missions are a novelty of the Horizon Europe Research & Innovation programme for the years 2021-2027 and have been introduced for maximising impact at the level of the programme.

Tackling societal challenges

Rooted in Research and Innovation, the missions aim to tackle societal challenges with systemic solutions, leading to societal transformations and social impact.
They support Commission priorities, such as the European Green Deal, Europe fit for the Digital Age, Beating Cancer, NextGenerationEU, the EU Industrial Strategy and the New European Bauhaus. Mission Climate is already a concrete element of the new Climate Adaptation Strategy; Mission Cancer of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the Mission Soil is a flagship initiative of the Long-term Vision for the EU’s Rural Areas.

5 Missions were defined :
- Adaptation to climate change
- Cancer
- Restore our oceans and waters
- Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities
- A Soil Deal for Europe

Operating as a portfolio of actions

Each mission will operate as a portfolio of actions to achieve a measurable goal. These actions will act as innovation vehicles for delivering policy. The role of education and training institutions in developing the talents, knowledge and skills of citizens will also be key elements of the missions. Importantly, missions will implement the reuse and reproducibility of research results such as FAIR research data and open access to scientific publications. Finally, the extent of wide engagement across the EU and Associated Countries and beyond, will also be critical to the success of the missions.

The missions will fund different types of actions : Coordination and Support Action (CSA), Research and Innovation actions (RIA), Innovation actions (IA), Framework Partnership Agreements (FPA).

A synergy between different funding programmes

For their successful implementation, Missions will work in synergy and coordination with other missions, financial instruments of Horizon Europe, in particular with European Partnerships and Clusters, as well as with other EU funding instruments and policies. Furthermore, they will need to be implemented in close synergy with funding programmes and strategies both at national and regional level, as well as with civil society and the private sector.

Engaging citizens

A critical element of the Missions will be to engage with citizens to boost societal uptake of new solutions and approaches, also showcasing the added value of the EU.

For example, the Missions will involve people in online discussions and polls on social media such as the Conference on the Future of Europe, citizen events and specialised conferences to discuss the focus of Missions.

The work programme for the missions has been published.

Each of the five identified missions is now in a preparatory phase until at least November 2021 and Implementation plans are under development. At the end of the preparatory phase, the Commission will assess the missions against a set of criteria. This assessment will form the basis for a decision on which missions will enter full implementation.

The actions included in the work programme are to establish foundations for the missions’ implementation phase. Once updated with the full R&I agenda when the implementation phase is launched, the work programme will include a more detailed presentation of the relationship between missions and the expected impacts of the Strategic Plan.

Article courtesy of EAIC Member, benkei

Clusters and Next Generation EU: collective mobilisation for a quick reaction

14/10/2021

“Industrial clusters are groups of specialized enterprises, often SMEs, and other related supporting actors in a location that cooperate closely. Together, SMEs can be more innovative, create more jobs, and register more international trademarks and patents than alone. The EU cluster portal provides tools and information on European initiatives, actions and events for clusters and their SMEs to create more world-class clusters across the EU.”
Industrial Cluster Policy of the European Commission

Since the beginning of the pandemic, European clusters and agents demonstrated their capability to react quickly, better than in China, US and other continents. The role of clusters is crucial in identifying the needs of European industries and where to allocate future investments. For these reasons, clusters will play a key role in how to support the recovery plan for Europe.

With the arrival of the COVID-19 crisis, clusters reaction at EU level has been forceful: a collective mobilization with the quick identification of disruptions and the creation of the European Rapid Alert Function, led by the European Clusters Alliance together with European Commission. It is a constant framework destinated to evidence problems in regulation, coordination, and funding, and all the consequent actions, as one of the main innovations in public policy never implemented.

Clusters can respond as quickly as possible to what the industry needs; they are business generators, magnets for talents and investors. Clusters are the best tool to promote European ecosystems and to recover internationally reputation of our industries on the global markets.

During 2014-20 a variety of Cluster initiatives have been financed from COSME and Horizon2020, such as:

- Cluster S3 Partnerships (2018) action of the COSME Framework Programme of the European Commission contribute to boost industrial competitiveness and investment within the EU.

- EU Clusters GO-International (2016-17) (2018-19) (2020-22) to intensify cluster and business network collaboration across borders and sectorial boundaries, and to support the establishment of 'European Strategic Cluster Partnerships' to lead international cluster cooperation in fields of strategic interest in non-EU countries.

- EU Clusters – excellence (2018) of COSME to strengthen cluster management excellence and facilitate exchanges and strategic partnering between clusters and specialized eco-systems across Europe, including through implementing a new “ClustersXchange” pilot scheme. As high-quality cluster management and strategic connections between clusters are key elements of world-class clusters, the call aims to foster SME competitiveness and assist companies to successfully access global markets by exploiting the innovation and growth potential that clusters can offer.

- The ClusterXchange pilot (2020) to facilitates transnational cooperation, peer learning, networking and innovation uptake between actors of different industrial clusters. It is implemented with support from cluster organizations that have teamed up in the European Cluster Partnerships | Excellence.

Additionally, during the period 2015-2020, INNOSUP-1 aims to support 2,000 SMEs directly (€ 130 million) and 30 projects were funded.

To help in the implementation of the updated industrial strategy, the European Commission will launch around 30 cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary and trans-European strategic Joint Cluster Initiatives to be called ‘Euroclusters’. The EUROCLUSTERS will contribute to the implementation of the European Commission’s New Industrial Strategy for Europe, as well as its updated Strategy that was published in May 2021 and the SME Strategy for a sustainable and digital Europe adopted in March 2020, by building resilience and accelerating transition to green and digital economy.

Euroclusters should put forward proposals for how to initiate, develop and maintain an EU-level long-term strategic partnership between companies of different kinds and sizes (with an emphasis on SMEs), and other organizations such as research and knowledge institutions, science and technology parks, business support organizations, financial service providers, non-profit organizations and related public bodies across different EU Member States and COSME participating countries, bringing together a critical mass of firms and societies in geographical and functional proximity, which are economically and socially interdependent.

They will be expected to demonstrate how they will work together effectively with other support actors and networks such as the European Cluster Collaboration Platform, Enterprise Europe Network, and European Digital Innovation Hubs. Euroclusters must also support SMEs and they will be expected to demonstrate how they will organise such support in line with the overall Eurocluster long-term strategy.

Proposals must aim at achieving all of the following specific objectives, with the focus on at least one leading objective:
- Network for resilience to improve the resilience of the EU industrial ecosystems by developing value chains interlinkages in the EU Single Market.
- Innovate for strategic autonomy to build capacity in the most critical supplies and technologies of their ecosystems.
- Adopt processes and technologies to reinforce transformation into a greener and more digital economy.
- Train to foster up- and re-skilling of the workforce whilst attracting talents.
- Go international to boost access to global supply and value chains.

Also, the proposals should be focused on one of the following 15 strands:
- Open Strand: this strand invites proposals focused on cross fertilization of various industrial ecosystems with no specific focus on one industrial ecosystem.

14 Industrial Ecosystem Strands:
Tourism,
Mobility-Transport-Automotive,
Aerospace & Defense,
Construction,
Agri-food,
Energy Intensive Industries,
Textile,
Creative & Cultural Industries,
Digital,
Renewable Energy,
Electronics,
Retail,
Proximity & Social Economy, and
Health.

Target audience: cluster organizations and cluster networks (for more information and definitions please refer to the call text, section 6) or other types of organizations supporting green and digital transitions and building EU resilience and the available budget is EUR 42 000 000.

Currently have been open the call for SMP-COSME-2021-CLUSTER-01: Euroclusters for Europe's recovery (SMP-GFS - SMP Grants for Financial Support) with deadline 30th of November 2021.

The Commission have planned an info day for the ‘Euroclusters’ initiatives at 20th of October 2021.

Next Generation EU & Horizon Europe: working hand in hand to facilitate the EU’s fast recovery

6/10/2021

To amortise the pandemic aftermath in 2020, the European Union provided a stimulus package worth EUR 2 trillion. The package consists of the EU’s long-term budget for 2021 - 2027 of EUR 1.2 trillion, enhanced by NextGenerationEU at a value of EUR 807 billion. This budget is split into two types of fundings: grants and loans, some EUR 338 billion will be provided in the form of grants, while EUR 386 billion will be used to provide loans from the EU to individual Member States with favourable conditions.

NextGenerationEU is a European instrument specifically designed to help repair the immediate economic and social damage caused by the coronavirus. Its long-term goal is to make the EU greener, more digital, more resilient and better prepared for the forthcoming challenges. The cornerstone of Next Generation EU is the Recovery and Resilience Facility – an instrument that provides grants and loans to support necessary reforms and investments within EU Member States. The funds from the instrument will be distributed according to national recovery and resilience plans set up by individual member states, in cooperation with the European Commission and in line with an agreed allocation key. The European Association of Innovation Consultants (EAIC) has released its first collective report “A Guide to Next Generation EU for industry to better understand and seize its opportunities.” The guide currently covers 21 countries, however, EAIC intends to regularly update this guide and incorporate new sections to facilitate the identification of opportunities for industry. The purpose of the guide is to help EU industry, present in multiple EU countries, identify the priorities to facilitate the recovery of each member state. Although national plans are usually available in each local language, the guide summarises the plans in English and allows for more transparency.

One of the traditional programmes, funded under the multiannual financial framework for the next 7 years, is Horizon Europe 2021-2027. It is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of over EUR 95 billion. Its main goal is to tackle climate change and accomplish the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, while boosting the EU’s competitiveness and growth. The main research and innovation missions are Adaptation to climate change mission;, Cancer mission, Climate-neutral and Smart Cities mission, Soil deal for Europe mission and Restore our oceans and waters mission. Horizon Europe views digital transformation and green transition as priority objectives, which can be identified as the most important cross-cutting priority areas, along with NextGenerationEU. While Horizon Europe (2021-2027) is is framed within the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), NextGenerationEU (2021-2023) is a temporary recovery instrument put in place to boost, through investment and reform financing, the recovery of Member States' economies in the wake of the pandemic.

NextGenerationEU has a temporary investment role and it covers a wider field of priorities such as the green transition, digital transformation, smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth, social and territorial cohesion, health and economic, social and institutional resilience and policies for the next generation, children and the youth, such as education. Its focus is placed on seven key features: Power up, Renovate, Recharge and Refuel, Connect, Modernise, Scale-up, Reskill and upskill.

Furthermore, NextGenerationEU will strengthen several existing EU programmes and policies:

REACT-EU, Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe;
Just Transition Fund, directed to guarantee that the transition to climate neutrality works well for all;
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, aimed to further support farmers;
InvestEU, designed to support the investments;
rescEU, safeguards for the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to respond to comprehensive emergencies;
Horizon Europe, aimed to make sure the EU has the capacity to fund excellence in research.

Financing
To avoid immediate pressure on member states’ national finances, the EU will borrow from the markets to finance NextGenerationEU, with the repayment period taking place until 2058. Approximately 50% of NextGenerationEU’s budget will be spent on research and innovation via Horizon Europe, the Just Transition Fund, the Digital Europe programme, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, RescEU, and EU4Health.

Below, a detailed breakdown of the NextGenerationEU 2021-2023 and the regular Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 is shown:

Around 30% of the long-term budget and NextGenerationEU will be spent on fighting climate change. These funds are part of a major investment plan that the EU will put in place for a sustainable green economy. It will combine EU and national public funds, but also public and private investments to support the EU on its path to climate neutrality by 2050.

The remaining 20% of the Recovery and Resilience Facility funds will be invested in the digitalisation of the EU. These funds support investments in supercomputing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced digital skills and the wider use of digital technologies across the socioeconomic spectrum.

Horizon Europe (HE) has a budget of EUR 95.5 billion from 2021 to 2027. This amount includes EUR 5.4 billion from the NextGenerationEU instrument. HE’s budget is divided among four pillars and 15 components, creating a programme that will support all the areas of Research and Innovation: excellent science (ERC, MSCA…); global challenges & industrial competitiveness (health, creative, digital, space,…); innovative Europe (EIC, EIT,…) and widening participation & strengthening the European Research Area.

In conclusion, the two funding programmes are closely interlinked. First, they have similar objectives and challenges that are urgent in the wake of the SARS-CoV-2 virus situation. Second, they are financially related, since NextGenerationEU’s extraordinary funds will reinforce the regular Horizon Europe funds for the period 2021-2023.

Press Release "EAIC appoints Marie Latour as Secretary General"

23/9/2021

Today, the EAIC, (European Association of Innovation Consultants) is celebrating its two-year anniversary. It was initiated parallel to the first edition of the Research and Innovation days back in September 2019, when the founding group of consultants decided to unite in a Working Group that aimed to represent them towards EU institutions.

Marie Latour has been part of the core team of consultants that have set up and structured EAIC over the past 2 years. She has acquired solid experience in the innovation consulting industry, having led ZABALA Innovation’s Brussels office for the past 7 years. She also has substantial experience with European associations and platform management: for 5 years, she led the European Technology and Innovation Platform Smart Networks for Energy Transition (ETIP SNET); prior to that, she was Head of European Projects at SolarPowerEurope, where she started her career in Brussels in 2002.

“My intention is to make the European Innovation Consulting profession recognised for its true value. Innovation consultants are essential players who facilitate the innovation process of the European Industry, informing them and ensuring their active participation in EU-funded projects; it is the EAIC’s role to make this responsibility more visible and recognised,” said Marie, when her nomination was announced publicly.

Download Press Release

2021-2027: EU Funding instruments for projects close to market (FTI call no longer available)

7/9/2021

In the frame of European funding initiatives for the development of technologies and products close to the market with a high degree of innovation, and given that the H2020 Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) instrument is no longer available, two instruments currently stand out:

EIC Accelerator:
The European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator is designed to support ambitious companies with radically new ideas to develop and commercialize innovative products, services and business models that shape new markets and drive economic growth. Ideally, bringing the Innovation to market which can have high societal and/or environmental impact.

The EIC Accelerator programme, and its previous version, the SME Instrument, aims to promote those small and medium-sized companies that want to lead in their sector in Europe with an idea with great potential for innovation and growth. This instrument is one of the most successful calls in Europe thanks to its financing conditions: SME Instrument fund the 70% of the project budget of SMEs (up to 2.5 million euros). In addition, this program allows a CAPEX contribution of up to 15 million Euros in Equity format (dilutive funding) after the completion of the development project. This equity phase is designed to support RD & I intensive SMEs in scaling, internationalisation, and access to large markets to guarantee their competitiveness and guarantee a return on investment

The EIC Accelerator Pilot is for individual, non-bankable European SMEs with breakthrough innovations. Support from the EIC Accelerator is supposed to bring these innovations to the European (and global) markets, bigger and faster. By doing so, this should help to drive economic growth in Europe and lead to the creation of new R&D jobs.

As regards the readiness of the Innovation, the grant component only applies to activities with a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 5/6 to 8. The technology should at least be validated in an industrially relevant environment (TRL 5), and during the project it should demonstrate the technology (TRL 6), improve and optimize the prototype in an operational environment (TRL 7) in order to complete and qualify the system (TRL 8). Activities above TRL 8 can only be funded as equity through blended finance option.
This instrument is structured in three phases:

1-Short application: a 5 pages document plus a 10 slides deck and 3 minutes video evaluated remotely. If at least two evaluators positively evaluate all the criteria, the proposal is invited to full application stage. This stage has been implemented in order to select the best applications and avoid oversubscriptions in the full application phase.

2-Full application phase; a 30 pages document plus a pitch deck and financial annex which are remotely evaluated by three evaluators. All criteria from the three evaluators must be positively evaluated by each of them.

3-Pitch. Only the applicants with the highest overall assessments are finally invited to pitch to a panel of jury experts. The panel consists of around 15% business angels, 20% entrepreneurs, 20% venture capitalists, with other experts coming from larger corporates, innovation hubs and accelerators. The pitch consists in a face-to-face or online interview in English and which lasts 30 -minutes.

EUREKA EUROSTARS:
EUROSTARS is a funding programme to support R&D-intensive SMEs in the development of market-oriented transnational projects. This funding program counts with the participation of up to 34 European countries that are members of the EUREKA network, and since 2016, Canada and South Africa have participated. The EUROSTARS budget for the 2014-2020 period were 1,150 million Euros, of which 25% corresponds to the contribution of the European Commission, and the remaining 75% corresponds to contributions from the EUROSTARS countries through their corresponding funding agencies.

Since 2014, more than 1,400 R&D&I projects have been funded for more than 200 million euros, with a success rate of near 28.5%. Regarding the type of participants, up to 72% correspond to R&D&I intensive SMEs, with universities, research centres and large companies being able to participate, with a minimum participation in a consortium of at least two partners from two countries of the EUREKA network.

As regards readiness of the Innovation, the grant component only applies to activities with a TRL of 5/6 to 8. The funding rates per country varies from 25 to 60%, depending on the nature of the applicant organization (SME, large industry, RTD) and the corresponding national funding agency.
The project preparation process consists of the following steps:

1- Submission of applications, including the technical report segmented into the sections of excellence, implementation and commercialization and market uptake, together with administrative and financial documentation required by the EUREKA secretariat and the national funding agencies.

2- European evaluation phase, including a technical evaluation carried out by an international panel of experts and an evaluation of the financial capacity of the companies.

3- After passing the European evaluation phase, each partner will apply to its corresponding national financial agency, for the financing of its corresponding part in the consortium's budget.

Article courtesy of EAIC Member, Euro-funding

Professional management of collaborative projects: why consultants are essential

24/8/2021

If you have already been coordinating or participating in an EU Research or Innovation collaborative project, you are probably aware of the complexity of such a task.
Over the years and throughout the various framework programmes, some elements and processes have been simplified. For instance, from 2021 and with the new Horizon Europe programme but also with other EU programmes, there will be a single method of calculating the cost of personnel, which will simplify the life of many accountants and financial officers within the beneficiaries of funded projects.
However, despite some simplifications, the rules remain rules and fulfilling them is extremely important to ensure you properly justify how you are spending European public funds. This is where the professional management of EU-funded projects comes in.

Professional management of projects
Professionally managing a project requires

Knowing the legal rules and ensuring all partners are aware of them and comply with them,
Ensuring a constant financial follow-up of the project to make sure the project stays on track with the available grant,
Having a deep understanding of knowledge management, Intellectual Property rights and how these should be addressed if your project is going to generate future commercial products,
Following-up closely on the activities and warning the granting authority of any deviation to make sure it is accepted on time or that they are properly notified through an amendment to the grant agreement,
Regularly communicating with the EC or its agencies and gaining the project officer(s)’ and reviewer(s)’ trust and confidence …

The European Commission and its executive agencies consider that project coordinators should be knowledgeable about how to manage an EU project, how to use the participant portal, which elements should appear in a consortium agreement or how to prepare an amendment. However, understanding all the nitty-gritties of the functioning of the participant portal or EU project jargon might be a complex exercise, which requires experience, expertise and time.

Therefore, many beneficiaries of EU funds request the support of EU innovation consultants for their expertise in project management. Thanks to their vast experience and the variety of projects and cases they encounter, they have, through time, set clear procedures to professionally support the partners in the various phases of the project from the negotiation, to the project management until its closure. When a project involves over 20 partners from 10 countries, guidance is essential. Although experienced companies or research centres working with EU projects may have internalised the experienced resources; however, newly established companies that perhaps work with EU projects on a lesser scale, might want to hire professional consultants with the required experience to advise them.

EAIC member companies can offer valuable support to EU projects
Within the EAIC, a large number of members offer this service of project management support. Today, management of EU projects cannot officially be subcontracted; it must either be subcontracted unofficially through a company’s budget or request these consultants to step on board or joint projects as a partner. This prohibition to subcontract such activities is stipulated in the new Grant Agreement Model in Article 7. It says the following, with regards to the obligations of the coordinators:
“The coordinator must
(i) monitor that the action is implemented properly (see Article 11)
(ii) act as the intermediary for all communications between the consortium and the granting authority, unless the Agreement or granting authority specifies otherwise, and in particular:

submit the pre-financing guarantees to the granting authority (if any)
request and review any documents or information required and verify their quality and completeness before passing them on to the granting authority
submit the deliverables and reports to the granting authority
inform the granting authority about the payments made to the other beneficiaries

(iii) distribute the payments received from the granting authority to the other beneficiaries without unjustified delay (see Article 22).
The coordinator may not delegate or subcontract the above-mentioned tasks to any other beneficiary or third party (including affiliated entities).”

Few exceptions now exist in Horizon Europe: public entities can delegate the role of an intermediary for communications or the distribution of payments to some affiliated entity; sole beneficiaries benefit from more flexibility as well.
Hence coordinators are the ones who must take care of the tasks listed above, which often refrains some experienced companies or industries from daring to coordinate as they don’t see themselves in the position to have an in-house expert able to perform or dedicate time to all these tasks in a professional manner. An alternative to ensure that industry is leading EU-funded projects is to obtain assistance from consultancies or other partners to support the management of the project.

Our Manifesto to support Professional project management in Horizon Europe has the following objective: it aims to alert the EC about the proper consideration of project management for the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. When we launched our Manifesto in 2019, while Horizon Europe’s rules were being defined, we were seeking for a better recognition of the impact of real expertise in management - whether this expertise be internal or external, public or private:
- By allowing the participation of other partners, not just the coordinator, in Project Management activities.
- By allowing the subcontracting of management tasks to professional experts with proven track records.

Today, with the launch of Horizon Europe and the publication of the Common Model Grant Agreement, we feel our first request was partially heard; however, we continue to insist on the essential role innovation consultants can play, particularly in making EU framework programmes more attractive to EU industry.
Today more than 270 people have signed our Manifesto: your signature to show your support to our initiative can help raise our voice. You can read the full manifesto and sign it here: https://www.eaic.eu/manifesto.html.

Article courtesy of EAIC member, ZABALA Innovation

New Members Announcement

29/7/2021

We're pleased to welcome two of our newest members:

artica Ingeniería e Innovación (Spain) is a technical consulting and engineering service company with over 25 years of experience, reinforced by a staff of over 45 professionals. artica+i provides continuous engineering solutions for the improvement of different processes, working on specific aspects of industrial companies: process technology and productivity, digitalisation and 4.0, energy efficiency and renewables, to name a few.

CRIDO Business & Innovation Consulting (Poland) cooperates with companies from different sectors, such as Life Science, ICT, Automotive & aviation; Chemistry; Manufacturing; Food and Agriculture; Environment; Transport & Logistics. CRIDO offers support services at the stage of project implementation and settlement, linked to innovation or high-risk research and development.

View our full list of members here.

Press Release "Next Generation EU made easy"

20/7/2021

download press release

Today, the European Association of Innovation Consultants is releasing its first collective report “A Guide to Next Generation EU for industry to better understand and seize its opportunities.”

The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to an unprecedented health and economic crisis in our society. Companies of all sizes and entire sectors have been impacted by the pandemic. To overcome this crisis, strengthen and transform our economy, making it greener, more digital and more resilient, creating new opportunities and more jobs, the Commission has launched a temporary instrument, called “Next Generation EU,” which raises the European Union's budget to €2.018 trillion in current prices, the largest economic stimulus ever funded by the EU.

Gender equality in Horizon Europe’s research and innovation activities

19/7/2021

Women make up about half of the population and voters in the EU, but they are still under-represented in high-level positions, whether in elections, public administration, corporate boards or academia. The European Commission has committed itself to promote gender equality in research and innovation (R&I). Horizon 2020 was the first framework programme to make gender a cross-cutting issue, and one of the key objectives was to integrate the gender dimension into R&I content. With Horizon Europe, the Commission has promised to reaffirm its commitment to gender equality in R&I.

Horizon Europe sets gender equality as a crosscutting principle and aims to eliminate gender inequality and intersecting socio-economic inequalities throughout R&I systems, including by addressing unconscious bias and systemic structural barriers. By considering sex and gender dimension in the whole research & innovation process we can prevent for example gender or racially biased AI products due to a lack of diversity in the AI training data.

Anne Pépin, Senior Policy Officer from European Commission presented the key aspects and novelties regarding gender equality in Horizon Europe in a webinar on 21 April 2021. There are three levels with three different aspects that should be taken into account when preparing a proposal for Horizon Europe.

Eligibility: Gender Equality Plan (GEP) is required for calls with deadlines in 2022 and onwards. Having a GEP will be an eligibility criterion for all public bodies, higher education institutions and research organisations wishing to participate in Horizon Europe.
Award Criteria: Integration of the gender dimension into R&I content is an evaluation criterion evaluated under the excellence criterion for Research and Innovation Action (RIA) and Innovation Action (IA), unless the topic description explicitly specifies otherwise.
Ranking Criteria: increasing gender balance throughout the programme is another objective, gender balance among research teams set as a ranking criterion for proposals with the same score. Another target is to have 50% women in Horizon Europe related boards, expert groups, and evaluation committees.

When sex, gender and intersecting factors are all considered in the design and delivery of R&I, it can leads to added value of research in terms of excellence, societal relevance, creativity and business opportunities. It creates in-depth understanding of all people’s needs, behaviours, and attitudes, and with this understanding it is easier to make goods and services that are better suited to the needs of all people.

“In business, politics and society as a whole, we can only reach our full potential if we use all of our talent and diversity. Gender equality brings more jobs and higher productivity – a potential which needs to be realised as we embrace the green and digital transitions and face up to our demographic challenges.” – EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025

Article courtesy of EAIC member, Spinverse.

Pillar II - The largest share of Horizon Europe funding

12/7/2021

Horizon Europe, the long-awaited successor to Horizon 2020, and the world’s largest transnational research and innovation programme, is finally ready to take off!

The programme is designed to support European competitiveness by creating new growth and jobs based on scientific knowledge and technological development, all the while tackling societal challenges and helping to sustain European socio-economic models and values.

So, how does it work concretely?

The programme has been built on three main Pillars, each of them having a different objective:

Pillar I - Excellent Science: aims to increase the EU’s global scientific competitiveness. It supports frontier research projects driven by top researchers through the European Research Council, funds fellowships for experienced researchers, doctoral training networks and exchanges through Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, and invests in world-class research infrastructures.
Pillar II - Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness and Innovative Europe: supports research relating to societal challenges and reinforces technological and industrial capacities through thematic clusters. It sets ambitious goals for EU missions. It also includes the Joint Research Centre which supports EU and national policymakers with independent scientific evidence and technical support.
Pillar III - Innovative Europe: aims to make Europe a frontrunner in market-creating innovation via the European Innovation Council. It also helps to develop the overall EU innovation landscape through the European Institute of Innovation and Technology which fosters integration of the knowledge triangle of education, research and innovation.

Source: EC

Implementing Impact in Horizon Europe proposals

29/6/2021

Beyond accumulating new knowledge, developing new technologies or increasing European competitiveness, Horizon Europe aims to achieve tangible benefits for European citizens related to the main challenges addressed by the programme (Digital transition, Ecological transition (Green Deal), Health resilience, Economic resilience and recovery).

Horizon Europe is evolving into an impact-driven framework programme, based on a new holistic monitoring approach.

This new Horizon Europe programme will be monitored as a virtuous circle to design (Intervention logic at the level of clusters, destinations, missions), implement (at the level of strategic Plan, Work Programme Proposal template, Project reporting) and assess the programme’s impacts (through Monitoring Key Impact Pathways, Management & Implementation Data, Interim and ex-post evaluation).

For maximising impact at the level of the programme, new features have been introduced, among them, enlarged international cooperation, an in-depth open science policy, missions orientation and citizens’ involvement, to name a few.

The Horizon Europe Legislation has defined 3 types of impacts, tracked with key Impact Pathways (KIP).

The impact logic of the programme is framed by Key Impact Pathways (KIP) detailed in the figure below and defined by Horizon Europe legislation.

Figure 1: HORIZON EUROPE Legislation defines three types of impact, tracked with Key Impact Pathways, from "Paving the Pathways to Impact," European Commission, DG Research & Innovation (Angelica Marino, DG R&I-G2)

Horizon Europe: professional support, your best chance for success!

22/6/2021

The Research and Innovation days will open tomorrow, marking the long-awaited launch of the first Horizon Europe 2021 calls. Thousands of companies, research centres and SMEs with existing experience in collaborative European Research and Innovation (R&I) projects, as well as other applicants, new to this programme, are in the starting blocks. European Innovation Consultants as well.

This week will see the opening of the first calls under Pillar II of the Horizon Europe Programme. Horizon Europe’s total budget for the next 7 years amounts to the record amount of €95.5 bn, of which half will address global challenges and European industrial competitiveness. Over 700 topics (collaborative projects to be funded by the European Commission) will be published in the next 2 years, funding thousands of projects involving various partners (industrial partners, research centres, SMEs, or non--profit organisations, etc.) for several years. Each project will require excellent coordination and management skills to ensure public funds provided by the Commission are spent efficiently to develop novel solutions. From a maturity point of view, projects will span from basic research to applied innovation, ready to be commercialised when the project is finalised. Ambitious exploitation strategies (i.e. what will happen with the research and innovation beyond the project lifetime) will have to be included in funding applications to convince evaluators.

In 2019, Innovation Consultants across Europe decided to strengthen their collaboration through EAIC, the European Association of Innovation Consultants. The purpose of the association is to allow for better recognition of their work and contribution to the support of many actors, such as industry and research organisations, who are willing to be part of EU projects to develop breakthrough innovations but have limited expertise and/or time to access these funding instruments. Consultants advise them on how to develop their innovation process as well as on how to access public funding needed to bring their innovation to market.

With the new Horizon Europe collaborative calls now opening, Innovation Consultants are ready to support projects based on their previous experience and track records with the previous framework programme. EAIC now includes more than 40 members across the EU with a vast experience in R&I programmes but also in alternative funding opportunities for the private and public sectors in Europe.

Under Horizon 2020, the predecessor of Horizon Europe for (2014-2020), the average success rate of 11% has decreased in the last years of the programme as budgets ran out and consortia competed for the remainder of the funding. Many companies and research centres have used the support of innovation consultants, to increase their chances of success , to drive the proposal writing process under time pressure, to find the right partner and support them in the professional management of projects when approved.

The members of EAIC have decided to sign a code of conduct which is a prerequisite to be part of the association, which ensures that they respect deontological principles, such as impartiality, e.g. they cannot write proposals and be part of the evaluation committee at the same time.

On 21st June, EAIC elected a new board of members composed of 12 company representatives; you can find the composition of the new board here: https://www.eaic.eu/about-eaic.html

Consult the full list of EAIC members here: https://www.eaic.eu/members.html

View the Horizon Europe calls that have already been announced through the official Work Programmes of the EC here.

About EAIC
The European Association of Innovation Consultants (EAIC) gathers active Innovation Consultants in the field of European research and innovation projects. The group aims to facilitate the exchange and promotion of best practices and success stories, as well as to uphold professional skills and expertise in European RDI projects. Today, the group gathers 46 members, active in more than 24 countries around Europe.

www.eaic.eu

Survey: Help us measure the cost of preparing collaborative EU projects

9/6/2021

The Horizon 2020 oversubscription issue and the low overall success rate is having an important impact in terms of costs for the brave players that accept the challenge of preparing a collaborative proposal. Unfortunately, Horizon Europe is not proposing adequate solutions to this issue.

The European Association of Innovation Consultants (EAIC) is preparing an assessment about the impact of the low success rates of H2020 for potential beneficiaries. In order to have an estimation of the impact of the oversubscription issue in terms of time - effort, the EAIC invites you to answer the survey in the link below.

It will only take a few minutes and your feedback will be very valuable for our study.

Funding Innovation under the Green New Deal

8/6/2021

The European Union’s (EU) Green Deal is the EU’s main new growth strategy to transition the EU economy toward a sustainable economic model. The proposed financing of the EU Green Deal is set out in the EU Green Deal Investment Plan.

Several funding mechanisms were created to facilitate the EU Green Deal, totalling over €1 trillion. Over 50% of the budget, €528 billion, will come directly from the EU budget and the EU Emissions Trading System.

The rest will be sourced through the InvestEU programme, which combines €279 billion from public and private sectors to 2030 and €114 billion from national co-financing. It will provide an EU budget guarantee to allow the EIB Group and others to invest in higher-risk projects, enabling private investment.

Source: EC Website

EAIC Members speak at the Horizon Europe Virtual Summit

4/6/2021

During the Horizon Europe Virtual Summit, 31 May - 4 June, EAIC Members, Louis Papaemmanuel (My EU Consulting), Silver Toomla (Invent Baltics), Nadège Grabowski, Xavier Aubry (Zaz Ventures) and Lucie Guilloteau (Euronovia) shared their expertise through speeches on creating winning EIC Accelerator, Pathfinder and Transition applications, as well as tips and best practices for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships.

More about the event

The Horizon Europe Virtual Summit is an online event featuring world-class experts in European Research & Innovation. The free event aims to increase the success rate of the Horizon Europe proposals and is organised over 5 days, with 30+ Masterclasses, Interviews and Training Sessions from top Horizon Europe experts.

Read more about the event here.

New Member Announcement

4/6/2021

We are delighted to announce that the European Association of Innovation Consultants continues to grow, with BOR&BAR (Germany) having joined us this month.

BOR&BAR offers a wide array of consulting services to help clients optimise their strategic engagement with grant funding programmes. We know its expertise will be invaluable in meeting the association's objectives and we're excited about this new chapter. - Welcome to the EAIC!

Expand your networks and check out our full list of members here.

We are hiring!

26/5/2021

We are offering a part-time Secretary General position with a freelance status or equivalent. The mission will last 6 months. We expect to extend the mission beyond this period in case of successful collaboration, and to increase the position to a full-time role in the future.

Deadline for applications: 20 June 2021
Please send your application to the following address: jobs@eaic.eu

Download the PDF below for the full job description.

EAIC Job offer - Secretary General.pdf
File Size:	194 kb
File Type:	pdf

EAIC, partner of the SMARTSPEND online conference on “Access to Risk Finance for Clean Energy Technologies”

14/4/2021

We are pleased to announce that the European Association of Innovation Consultants (EAIC) is a partner of the SMARTSPEND project’s high-level online conference and matchmaking event on “Access to Risk Finance for Clean Energy Technologies” that will be held on 25-27 May, 2021.

This conference will showcase the EU’s funding and financing offers for clean energy demonstration projects and will allow private financing providers to present their involvement in new energy technologies. It will also provide matchmaking opportunities to clean energy technology developers, investors and funding experts.

Who should attend the conference?

Clean energy solution providers from research & private sector that develop new technical solutions to enable the clean energy transition in Europe
Public funding programme authorities in the clean energy sector who propose public funding schemes, through grants or loans, in the clean energy sector at the EU, national or regional level
The private cleantech finance sector ready to fund clean energy technology solutions with high potential.

The conference’s 4 main sessions include the following topics, amongst others:

The EU’s funding and financing offer: new tools for a new decade
National/regional funding opportunities: exploitable synergies to accelerate the clean energy transition
Unlock Private Funding for clean energy demonstration projects
How to successfully access funding schemes to achieve clean energy transition and the EU 2030 climate targets?

For more information and registration, visit this link.

10 years of celebrating Women Innovators

8/4/2021

In its 10th edition, the EU Prize for Women Innovators celebrates the women entrepreneurs behind game-changing innovations. In doing so, the EU seeks to raise awareness of the need for more female innovators, and create role models for women and girls everywhere.

The prize is awarded to the most talented women entrepreneurs from across the EU and countries associated to Horizon Europe, who have founded a successful company and brought innovation to the market. The prize is managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, and the winners are chosen by an independent expert jury.