Innovation athletes in European consortia

We have a strategic technology in which we have full confidence, and we want to see it implemented. However, national funding is not adapted to the characteristics of our project or is not sufficient.

Faced with this situation, we have the need and the motivation to make our way into the European funding environment and to be part of European consortia, but we feel vertigo in the face of this leap into the void.

My advice is, to overcome this barrier, to become innovation athletes. So far, we have competed in regional and national circuits, and now it is time to compete in the professional circuit. The key to success is to have a good training plan.

How does this training start?

By setting our goal, which is to position ourselves in the innovative ecosystem of European consortia. This implies that, in the medium term, we will not be the ones looking for and knocking on the door of the best, but the other way around. We will be invited to participate in consortia, we will be invited to lead them, and we will be in contact with the most renowned innovation athletes.

In this long-distance race we must overcome important milestones on the track:

Search for topics

We must define the topics or themes that are important for my company, in which I can really demonstrate that I have the capacity or that I can contribute a differential value.

As athletes, we do not have the same performance in a 100-metre race as in a 1,000-metre race, so we must stick to the race in which I can show an excellent performance, both when presenting the proposal and when carrying it out. Let us not forget that we are in an extremely competitive environment, with a success rate of only 17%.

Contact

Our goal is clear, now we need to know who can accompany us on this journey. As we are not positioned, the big players are not knocking on our door. This is why we need to investigate which consortiums have participated in comparable topics and who are experts in the field because it is likely that they are already working on similar proposals.

Once we have the list, we will have to contact them through the usual channels, looking for the appropriate interlocutors (European project managers, strategic alliance managers, international cooperation managers, etc.). Arranging a meeting with them is not usually a problem, as they are open to new collaborations.

Promoting myself

The calendar marks the day of the meeting, when I have the need and obligation to demonstrate the necessary capacity and experience required by the topic.

We will have a presentation prepared with the resources/capabilities/experiences we have, with previous references that validate them.

If we are asked for previous experience in European projects and we do not have it, we must highlight and promote the experience we do have in regional or national projects. And of course, the proactivity and freshness that we can bring with a more enthusiastic vision, as opposed to that of potential partners who are more experienced but also more comfortable with the European circuit.

Staying the course

We may have participated in a long-distance race that lasted two or more years, and we may feel that we have already crossed the finish line when we succeeded in participating in a European consortium. However, we have not yet crossed it, because the real goal is to position ourselves, to be remembered, to be invited to new projects… To achieve this permanence and prestige over time, the first projects are crucial, we must perform at our best in them and be very agile collaborators.

In the training and the long-distance race to position ourselves in the European ecosystem, we have a key tool that brings us closer to success: Kaila. This innovation platform helps us to gather a lot of information in a brief time, define which areas of interest are strategic, find potential partners and keep an eye on what the competition is doing.

And in this training, with important levels of difficulty and wear, Zabala Innovation can help you with its knowledge and great previous experience in European projects and its role as a companion and facilitator of the entire process… Good luck in the race!