Innovation Europe

Innovation Europe > News > Innovation EU Vol2-1 > Finding the right EU funding for you

Logo of website section Finding the right EU funding for you

Finding the right EU funding for you

A wealth of EU funding is available for businesses, but it is not always so easy to track down. Richard Scrase guides you through the money maze

There is a vision in Europe that sees Europe out-competing the US, Japan and now China and India by promoting and co-ordinating research, development and innovation.

In particular, the European Commission believes in supporting small business as a cornerstone of the EU’s drive for growth and jobs. Their argument is that because 99% of all EU companies are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), accounting for 67% of jobs, what’s good for SMEs is good for Europe’s economy.

Europe is faced with the paradox that although it has a very large share of scientific publications, it has a low number of patents and a limited share in the trade in high-tech products. It is this paradox that EU innovation policy and programmes seek to resolve.

Image related to: Finding the right EU funding for you EU funding

But how do the European institutions do this? To begin with, they spend money: €50bn a year on research; €3.6bn on innovation networks; €86bn on the “Cohesion Policy” that contains elements for research and innovation and €6.2bn on the Lifelong learning programme.

But how do organisations access EU funding? In this article, we can only hope to create an overview of an organisation as complicated as the EU, but we do hope to signpost the way to some of the EU funding opportunities available to business.

Fortunately, the very complexity of the EU has given rise to intermediary organisations that help businesses and other organisations to access EU funding and make relationships with potential partners throughout the EU.

EU funding programmes

The European Union possesses several key funding instruments to support research and innovation, including the Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund, which funds the Research Framework Programme as well as the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme.

So the EU commits millions of euros to funding projects every year, whether through huge programmes, such as that supporting R&D in the Union, or through highly specialised projects such as:

The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme is probably the most important EU funding in regards to stimulating innovation. However, the issues these EU funding instruments address cut across many domains of European Commission policy, such as energy, transport, agriculture, environment and developing an information society, and it might be worth considering funding from what might, at first glance, seem an unlikely source.

So where do you start?

There are two approaches that can be taken to finding potential sources of EU funding. First, you can do it yourself. Your organisation can gain an overview of potential EU funding instruments from EU websites such as CORDIS (www.cordis.europa.eu), find the instrument or funding stream that seems appropriate, and make an application.

Within CORDIS, for example, there is an interactive mind-map that gives a refreshingly clear overview of EU funding (www.cordis.europa.eu/eu-funding-guide/mind-map_en.html).

Another starting point for tracing grants available from the Commission is the Grants, Funds and Programmes page (www.ec.europa.eu/contracts_grants), which has all the basic principles, such as who can request a grant, set out.

The current EU financial period and programmes will run until 2013. For the first time ever, EU research grants are being made available to individual researchers. An overview of the current financial rules and an introduction to EU funding opportunities can be seen at www.ec.europa.eu/budget/library/publications/financial_pub/pack_rules_funds_en.pdf.

Second – and this is the approach we recommend – your organisation can approach an intermediary organisation or agency that specialises in accessing EU funding for innovation. The following examples are for illustrative purposes.

Organisations that help you access EU funding

The European Information Association (www.eia.org) is a well-established, membership-based, not-for-profit charity that started life in the pre-internet age, when simply finding official EU documents could be a difficult task. It provides not only access to information about the EU, but also to expertise in its workings, so that users can benefit from gaining a clearer picture of what the EU is and how it works.

The EIA has a funding page that brings together and regularly updates EU funding information. It aims to add the details of “Calls”: Calls for Proposals and Calls for Expressions of Interest as they are published in the Official Journal. It also aims to keep you up to date with new proposals, adopted Decisions and news from the Commission and its various departments. The EIA also lists links to EU funding information on the same page.

All EU countries have a local European Enterprise network (www.enterprise-europe-network.ec.europa.eu). These organisations are co-funded by the EU and regional governments to assist businesses in making the most of EU funding and the European marketplace (see box).

For example, in the case of businesses in London, Enterprise Europe Network London offers tailored advice and resources such as the online Innovation Audit Tool (www.london-innovation.org/innovation/index.php?audit=start). This tool is specifically designed to identify possible sources of EU funding. Its online audit takes around 20 minutes to complete and helps to identify possible sources of EU funding and investment, as well as business partners and centres of expertise that can be approached to help strengthen a firm’s enterprise and innovation.

The last examples we will give here are the EU National Contact Points (www.cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ncp_en.html), which not only provide advice and assistance in all EU member states, but also administer some EU funded (ERDF) grants.

Success stories

Partnership: In East Anglia, a partnership between InCrops and the John Innes Centre at the University of East Anglia received an ERDF Grant of £1,153,500 to establish an enterprise hub in Alternative and Non-food Crops. The aim is to co-ordinate the locally strong plant bioscience sector to create new low-carbon bio-renewables products derived from plants.

EU Funding: In London, business start-up Digital Forming, received £50,000 R&D funding following support from the London Innovation Network. Digital Forming was set up in 2008 as a software development company specialising in mass customisation and distribution of consumer products. Its mission is to create a platform for product design using rapid manufacturing techniques. It has developed 3D software solutions for retail organisations that will allow consumers to determine the design, colour, and even physical layout of their products. It partnered with London Metropolitan University and University College London to secure £50,000 of their £100,000 R&D budget.

Match-making: In 2004, three Cambridge University students founded Owlstone, a nanotechnology company that had developed a novel chemical detection system. The sensor, which uses a chip 100 times smaller and 1,000 times cheaper than existing technologies, can detect a broad range of substances at very low quantities and with high accuracy.

When Owlstone sought a partner with access to new markets for its innovation, it turned to Dave Reynolds, European technology adviser with the Enterprise Europe Network at Business Link. Reynolds had advised Owlstone’s founders since their student days, and used the Network’s resources to spread the word about the company and its new technology. Through the Network Owlstone was introduced to IEE, a Luxembourg-based global leader in safety sensors for the automotive industry. Nearly three years after meeting, the companies signed a technology transfer deal.

Conclusion

EU funding is often unclaimed because of a lack of information as to which EU funding streams are available and for what purposes, and because the application process is frequently bureaucratic and complex. Perseverance is the key.

We hope that this article guides you to making full use of what, after all, is provided by our taxes.

USEFUL ORGANISATIONS

CORDIS

The European Commission Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) provides a practical guide for EU funding through the three main funding instruments.

Vist: www.cordis.europa.eu/home_en.html
www.cordis.europa.eu/eu-funding-guide/mind-map_en.html

ENTERPRISE EUROPE NETWORK (EEN)

The Enterprise Europe Network has 572 member organisations across the EU and helps small business to make the most of the European marketplace.

Visit: www.enterprise-europe-network.ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

The starting point when searching for EU funding.

Visit: www.ec.europa.eu

THE EUROPEAN INFORMATION ASSOCIATION

Not-for-profit charity that provides not only access to information about the EU and EU funding, but also to expertise in its workings.

Visit: www.eia.org

Added 05 July 2010 in category Innovation EU Vol2-1