The Grant

I start to have quite some research organisations that have passed through The Grant and it is always very interesting to dig into how they are working. It also means I can start to move into some more specific topics instead of a general conversation about how they work with EU funding. One of my old colleagues from PNO now works for the French public research organisation INRAE. This organisatio...

I start to have quite some research organisations that have passed through The Grant and it is always very interesting to dig into how they are working. It also means I can start to move into some more specific topics instead of a general conversation about how they work with EU funding. One of my old colleagues from PNO now works for the French public research organisation INRAE. This organisatio...

I have decided to make a short format to offer more concentrated episodes, but still with the same elements you already: Insights – Help – Support – Guidance – Advice – Reflections…and a few laughs along the way Once per month I will release episodes in this format and I will start out with batches of three episodes per release. In the first months I will zoom in on my career and the different rol...

This is the second of the three first episodes of The Grant Shorts. I zoom in on my time in the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation and you have just listened to a general introduction to that work. In this second episode I zoom in on my role as National Contact Point. The episode focus on how you as a beneficiary can get support from the National Contact Points and it is divided...

This is the third of the three first episodes of The Grant Shorts. I zoom in on my time in the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation and you have just listened to the first two episodes with a general introduction to that work and resuming the things that National Contact Points can help you with. Here in the last episode on my work in the agency I zoom in on the role as Programme C...

Building up an EU funding approach from scratch in a research institute can seem like a monumental task. And it is. Especially if you are more or less one person to start it off. How do you attack that? How do you get the research teams involved? How do you secure some sort of results coming in not to late? And how do you build up the international and - not least – the Brussels network? Stephanie...

Startups and EU funding is unfortunately not a very successful match. Both sides struggle a lot to meet the other one, but the meeting most often results in frustration, anger and misunderstanding. This episode’s guest, entrepreneur and startup founder, Violetta Bonenkamp, wrote a blogpost about the horrors of getting involved in EU R&D funding. And she slams both the proposal phase, the evalu...

I have an endless amount of contacts from my many years working within this field. And they all have interesting things to share. One of my dear old contacts is Blaz Likozar from the National Research Institute for Chemistry in Slovenia. I dragged him into several of my proposals in the past and he became a much appreciated contact of mine. Of course I have invited him into The Grant to share how...

Some of the contacts I have acquired over the years are of big interest for many of you. This episode’s guest is surely one of them. He is the godfather of the brokerage concept. Thomas Roeblreiter, Consultant, FFG in Austria developed together with a contact the well-known company b2match which almost monopolized the market for brokerage and matchmaking event services. I used to work on a proposa...

One of the key concerns for all proposal writers is the evaluation of their proposals. Or more: HOW they will be evaluated. Whenever I have been asking guests for requests on who they would like to be on The Grant, most of them have replied “an evaluator”. Well, this week I have a treat for you all. I have not only one, but three evaluators in the virtual podcast studio to solidly reply to your re...

One of the key concerns for all proposal writers is the evaluation of their proposals. Or more: HOW they will be evaluated. Whenever I have been asking guests for requests on who they would like to be on The Grant, most of them have replied “an evaluator”. Well, this week I have a treat for you all. I have not only one, but three evaluators in the virtual podcast studio to solidly reply to your re...

The LIFE programme is one of the most popular EU funding schemes. Administered by European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency the programme is funding primarily 1) pilot and demonstration activities related to sustainable technologies and 2) securing that EU sustainability measures is integrated in national, regional and local policies. Many working with Horizon Europe within...

The LIFE programme is one of the most popular EU funding schemes. Administered by European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency the programme is funding primarily 1) pilot and demonstration activities related to sustainable technologies and 2) securing that EU sustainability measures is integrated in national, regional and local policies. Many working with Horizon Europe within...

One of the core missions of this podcast initiative is to open up the complex world of proposal development and project implementation for everybody in this community and share approaches and ways of doing things. Presenting how to manage a Horizon Europe proposal has been in my list for as long as I have done this podcast. It has proven more difficult than expected, but I finally managed. The RED...

Coordination of EU proposals and projects is one long line of prioritization of tasks and, not least, uncomfortable tasks. And the uncomfortable tasks often seem like they are endlessly coming onto your coordinator desk. This week’s guest in The Grant podcast has a solution for coordinators: Eat the frog. Isabel Burdallo, Senior Researcher at RISE in Sweden, has lots of experience working with bot...

This is a quite special episode. Some months ago I was approached by one of my regular listeners with a request: If I would write a recommendation for the back cover of her soon-to-be-released book about collaboration in EU projects. Truth is that I was silent for a while. Being a podcaster indeed sometimes takes you places you had never imaged you would go. Then, of course, my reply was a BIG “ye...

Research organisations are – naturally – very strong on research. That’s what they do. However, for getting access to big chunks of the Horizon Europe requires that research organisations have an innovation and impact-related focus also. Alas the difference between generating new knowledge through investigation and applying this knowledge to improve concrete products, services or processes. Some s...

This is an episode I have been wanting to do since I started planning this whole podcast thing out back in 2020. Why? Because the National Contact Points are a vital component in the support structure to get more beneficiaries onboard approaching the EU R&D funding schemes. The National Contact Point – or NCPs – are the extended arm of the EU Commission reaching out to take beneficiaries in th...

It is time for another episode under my segment Consultants Corner where I invite in private consultancy companies working with EU R&D funding schemes to share their approach, their business models and conditions in that peculiar shadow sector. Updates from EMDESK often pops up in my LinkedIn feed. The company has developed a tool for funding proposal developers and project managers that makes...

I slowly build up information and content on different funding schemes. I started out with Horizon Europe Pillar II and have moved into European Defence Fund, ERC and Erasmus+. More is to come. The next two weeks I will be looking into proposal preparation within the Erasmus+ funding scheme. As regular listeners will know I have developed The Timeline Series that goes through the proposal preparat...

I slowly build up information and content on different funding schemes. I started out with Horizon Europe Pillar II and have moved into European Defence Fund, ERC and Erasmus+. More is to come. The next two weeks I will be looking into proposal preparation within the Erasmus+ funding scheme. As regular listeners will know I have developed The Timeline Series that goes through the proposal preparat...

Being an innovative SME is a rough job. The founders are die-harders that have worked the lower part of their back off to build up their company. But they can’t sit still even when they have passed the first dangerous years – they have to keep moving on improving their technologies and solutions and fend off competitors and large industrial companies that might go into their market. The EU Commiss...

Ocean energy is one the technologies that has been long under way. And is still under way. The has traditionally been quite research heavy, but over the last years a certain level of private industry involvement has occurred. The area is facing the big paradox that energy from the different ocean energy technologies could provide substantial and sustainable energy to the continent, but the researc...

One of my goals with this podcast is to shed light on the Brussels eco-system and open it up, take out the mystery and share how the different organisations work and how you can get involved. Some time ago I recorded a special on the Circular Bio-based Europe Infoday with Programme Officer & Call Coordinator Dieter Brigitta representating the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking. Of cou...

One of my goals with this podcast is to shed light on the Brussels eco-system and open it up, take out the mystery and share how the different organisations work and how you can get involved. Some time ago I recorded a special on the Circular Bio-based Europe Infoday with Programme Officer & Call Coordinator Dieter Brigitta representating the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking. Of cou...