Why receiving funding for your project application is just the icing on the cake

Innovation funding can invigorate critical business strategies in companies. Participating in a funding application process empowers you to make the most of this.

Three questions to ask

• Does your innovation project fit within your company’s strategic roadmap and longer-term business planning?
• Do you start your project with a clear view on the project implementation, required resources and related project costs?
• Do you consider the external point-of-view and the evaluation criteria of funding authorities while writing the funding application?

From our extensive experience in guiding companies and organizations through complex application processes of a broad range of funding instruments, one of the most remarkable findings is that companies and organizations experience the entire project application process itself as very valuable.

At first, because you are forced to slow down during the application process, to think ahead and well beyond day-to-day operations and take a critical look at your innovation strategy. In commercial terms, you are forced to ask yourself: Is there a market for my innovation? Do I have a mature project plan to develop my innovation? What do I need in terms of resources to realize my plan? Later on in the procedure, you are forced to explain your innovation to other people which will yield valuable feedback from funding authorities and/or external evaluators.

In the following segments, we highlight the different steps to go from an initial idea to a mature funding application. We explain the challenges and added value of each of these steps.

Step 1: Identifying the most appropriate funding strategy for your business plans

Finding the right funding instrument for your specific innovation project at the right time is not always easy. A broad and diverse range of funding instruments exists.

These instruments:

• are organized by different governmental levels: European, national, regional, provincial
• target different audiences: from single applicants to large consortia, from small startups to large multinationals
  
• are meant for different stages of innovation, the so-called Technology Readiness Level or TRL

Additionally, some instruments will focus on specific topics (artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, sustainability, health, …), while others are open for any topic. Some instruments operate on a call basis, while others are open for applications at any time. Lastly, there are differences in the application process (single-stage versus multiple-stage applications, …) and in terms of success rate.

Continuous change

Always keep in mind that funding instruments are the tool of choice for governments to incentivize specific behavior. This implies that as government policies change over time, funding instruments are also subject to continuous change. Today, several funding instruments are driven by the objectives of the EU Green Deal and the EU Recovery plan.

For companies, this makes it very challenging and time-consuming to keep up with the latest trends and regulations and understand the different funding instruments’ specifics in admissibility and eligibility criteria, consortium requirements, evaluation process and selectivity, typical project budget, success rate, …

On top of this, the administrative and reporting requirements are important for companies to know. Some companies with various tracks regarding research and development activities also want to understand whether different instruments can be combined, or which instruments are suitable one after another (e.g. a feasibility study followed by a development project).