On Brightlands' Moneyday, Boukje.com presented several funding instruments for SMEs and Startups. This presentation covers the Eurostars instrument for research performing SME's

1. Money day
funding options for SME’s
Online webinar
28 April 2020

2. Who am I?
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3. Boukje.com Consulting
Consultancy:
• EU grant writing
• Project management
• Training of staff
Participating in (EU) projects :
• Dissemination and outreach: translating results
to policy domain or general public
• Intellectual Property Rights/ Exploitation
• Urban design and architecture knowledge ↔
sustainable living
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4. Eurostars

5. Eurostars basics:
• Funds European research and development projects.
• Can address any technological area, with civilian purpose
• Aimed at the development of a new product, process or service.
• Collaboration between at least two participants (legal entities) from two different
Eurostars participating countries.
• The main participant must be a research-performing SME.
• Regular deadlines, twice a year; next deadline: September 3rd 2020
• More info: http://www.eurostars-eureka.eu
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6. Eurostars: who is it for?
R&D-performing SMEs to develop new products, processes and services,
and/or access to transnational and international markets
• SME:
• R&D performing:
- At least 5 /10 FTE dedicated to R&D (<100 employees/ >100 employees)
- Or: dedicate at least 10.00% of their FTE to R&D activities
- Or: dedicate at least 10.00% of their turnover to R&D activities
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7. Eurostars projects: what is it for?
• International collaborative research
and innovation between Eurostars
countries.
• Technical activities &
market/business development
• Within two years after the project,
the product should be ready for
launch onto the market.
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8. Eurostars: how is it funded?
• National funding rules apply
• Each country has their own rules regarding Eurostars
• The Netherlands:
- Maximum funding for Dutch partners together: € 500.000,-
- SME: max 45%
- Large company (other participants): max 35%
- University / Research insitutes: max 50%
National funding bodies may require more information before funding
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9. Eurostars: additional criteria
• At least 50% of the project’s core activity should be
carried out by SMEs.
• No participant or country to invest more than 75%
of total project costs.
• Maximum duration 3 years
8This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

10. Eurostars: average project
• 3 to 4 Participants
• 2 to 3 Countries involved
• 29 Months duration
• 1.4 M€ funding
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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

11. Eurostars: how to apply?
• Register on the Eurostars website
• Main participant fills out information there based on evaluation criteria:
Basic Assessment Technology and Innovation
Market and
Competitiveness
• Well balanced partnership
• Added value through cooperation
• Technological capacity
• Managerial capacity
• Methodology and planning
• Cost and financial structure
• Financial commitments
• Degree of technology
maturity and risk
• Technical achievements
• Technical progress of SME
• Degree of innovation
• Geographical/sectorial
impact
• Market size
• Market access and risk
• ROI
• Market potential for SME
• Time to market
• Strategic importance of
project
• Visibility
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12. Eurostars evaluation: how does it work?
• Eurostars Secretariat organises overall ranking of all projects
• National funding agencies will fund projects until their budget is depleted
- It is possible that a lower ranked proposal will get funding, because their national
funding agencies did not run out of budget yet
- Check who you work with, some countries are more popular than others
• In case one partner (country) does not get national funding, the project can
continue if this partner is willing to participate without fundings
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13. What if I saw an interesting funding instrument?
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14. How am I ever going to be successful?
• Stay close to your core business, your passion
- Do not try to fit your idea into a funding instrument, there has to be a
good match to start out with
• Write!
- Talking about your idea, and what is needed is different than writing
• Admit that you may need to practice
- Many business owners talk to many investors, but ask for public
funding only once
• Do what you love and have fun doing it
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15. What makes a successful grant?
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WORTHWHILE FEASIBLE
... in terms of:
• Need for the development
• The grant leads to clear benefits
• Suitable methods will be used
to conduct the R&D&I
• Benefits can be harvested after
the project: impact
…in terms of:
• Scope and scale of the
project
• Time and money
• People and organisations
implementing it
• Suitable planning and risk
assessment procedures

16. Grant writing:
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Hurray: funding
opportunity for a
new idea! 😄
Oops, more
complicated than I
thought 😥
With some
help, I can
do this! 💪
So much to do, so
little time! 😱
Yes, I submitted!
🤩
I’ll never
do it again!
😭
This was so
worth it!
😎

17. What can Boukje.com do for you?
• Guide you through the jungle of instruments
• Help you jump the administrative hoops
• Translate the templates: what do you write where
• Improve your text: writing in the right tone to appeal to
the reviewers
• Find partners in Europe
• Review documents, give you ideas and critical feedback
• Develop infographics that say more than 1000 words
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18. Our perfect customer …
• Has an exciting idea, that (s)he is passionate about
• Likes dialogue to develop and improve ideas
• Knows when to ask for help
• Is not afraid to try something new
• Is willing to put thoughts on paper, risking critisism
• Realises that public funding has at least 6 months throughput
time
• Respects our expertise and boundaries
• Realises we don’t work for free
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19. Thank you for your
attention
boukje@boukje.com
0610647847