Mauri Aikio, Principal Scientist
We have worked with an innovation consulting organisation on various research proposals related to natural resources and won two large-scale collaborative proposals with their support: X-Mine (IA with a budget of €12.1M) and Goldeneye (IA with a budget of €10.8M). In both cases, the critical success driver was the quality of the final document, and in particular, the attention to details. There are many reasons for evaluators to disqualify a proposal, when the difference between success and failure is only 0.5 out of 15 points, so winning an EC grant requires a proposal to be outstanding in all criteria.
VTT is involved in the preparation of many collaborative research project proposals every year. Our experience is that collaborative proposals often fail due to the lack of efficient processes to collect and structure input under time pressure. We often see partners procrastinating until a few days before the deadline, when it is too eventually too late to provide any meaningful input.
To avoid this issue, the consultants set up a structured process immediately at the kick-off meeting, with clear rules and responsibilities. This ensured the timely contribution of all partners and increased the quality of the final documents. Their professional management skills were critical to make all 17 partners work together in the Goldeneye proposal across multiple time zones (including Australia!)
VTT is very skilled in writing grant proposals. However, outsourcing a large part of the proposal work to a consultancy allowed us to focus on the core innovation idea, and increase the technical excellence of the project. The organisation also brought its own networks and recruited partners in Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Israel, Ukraine and Australia, which strengthened the Goldeneye consortium.
Even for leading RTOs like VTT, writing and winning EC collaborative proposals is a very challenging undertaking. Consultancies can provide valuable support services in the critical and time-constrained writing phase. A proposal that would have taken us 6 months to develop was completed in less than 3 months.
VTT is involved in the preparation of many collaborative research project proposals every year. Our experience is that collaborative proposals often fail due to the lack of efficient processes to collect and structure input under time pressure. We often see partners procrastinating until a few days before the deadline, when it is too eventually too late to provide any meaningful input.
To avoid this issue, the consultants set up a structured process immediately at the kick-off meeting, with clear rules and responsibilities. This ensured the timely contribution of all partners and increased the quality of the final documents. Their professional management skills were critical to make all 17 partners work together in the Goldeneye proposal across multiple time zones (including Australia!)
VTT is very skilled in writing grant proposals. However, outsourcing a large part of the proposal work to a consultancy allowed us to focus on the core innovation idea, and increase the technical excellence of the project. The organisation also brought its own networks and recruited partners in Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Israel, Ukraine and Australia, which strengthened the Goldeneye consortium.
Even for leading RTOs like VTT, writing and winning EC collaborative proposals is a very challenging undertaking. Consultancies can provide valuable support services in the critical and time-constrained writing phase. A proposal that would have taken us 6 months to develop was completed in less than 3 months.
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Company: VTT
Type of organisation: Research organisation Location: Finland Services received: Consortium building, Proposal elaboration EAIC member that provided support: Zaz Ventures |
