On Brightlands' Moneyday, Boukje.com presented several funding instruments for SMEs and Startups. This presentation covers the Horizon2020 instrument: Fast Track to Innovation (FTI)

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

2. Who am I?
1

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
2

4. Fast track to innovation

5. Fast track to innovation: basics
• Funds European co-creation for to advance innovation
and enter the market within three years
• To test, demonstrate and validate your innovation with
users before full commercial roll-out
• Technology at least demonstrated in relevant
environment (TRL 6)
• Can address any technological area, with civilian
purpose
• Deadlines: 9/6/ 2020 and 27/10/2020
4

6. FTI: who is it for?
• Consortia working on ground-breaking innovation
• Companies that want to collaborate to put innovation
in the market
- Along a value chain
- Supplier – launching customer(s)
- Combining different technology / content into one
novel product
5 5
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

7. FTI: what is it for?
Activities undertaking innovation from the demonstration stage through to
market uptake, such as:
• piloting
• test-beds
• systems validation in real-world working conditions
• validation of business models
• pre-normative research
• standard-setting.
6

8. FTI: how is it funded?
• Through the Horizon2020 Framework Programme from the European
Commission
• 70% funding for companies and 100% for non-profit research organisations,
for eligible costs:
- Personnel costs (gross-gross salaries)
- Other direct costs (consumables, travel, depreciation of equipment)
- 25% overhead on the direct costs
- Subcontracting (for specific minor tasks, no research)
7

9. FTI: additional criteria
• Participation of three to no more than five different legal entities, independent of
each other, in a consortium
- From at least 3 different EU member states or in countries associated to Horizon 2020
- All consortium members from EU member states or in countries associated to Horizon 2020
• Allocation of
- at least 60% of the overall budget to consortium partner(s) from industry
- or a minimum of 2 industry partners out of a consortium of 3 or 4
- or a minimum of 3 industry partners out of a consortium of 5
• Requested EU contribution not more than €3 million
8

10. FTI: how to apply?
• Register at the participant portal from the EC to receive a PIC
• Fill out Administrative Forms
• Fill out the “Part B” template
Excellence (25%) Impact (50%) Implementation (25%)
• clear objectives
• credible, realistic and optimal
development of innovation
• add substantial value to Europe
• a high degree of novelty & high risk
• market take-up within 36 months
• significantly higher innovation than
current state-of-the-art solutions
• time to initial market take-up
• enhanced innovation capacity
• create substantial demand
• strengthen growth/ scale-up
and competitiveness of
partners
• return on investment
• impact at the EU level
• coherent effective work plan
• cost-effective plan
• complementarity of the
consortium
• groundbreaking innovation
• fast, wide market uptake
• risk mitigation plan
• clear and efficient decision
making/ organization structure
9

11. FTI: evaluation how does it work?
• All proposals will be reviewed by experts and ranked
according to the evaluation criteria
- All proposals will receive an Evaluation Summary Report
• A proposal has to pass a minimum threshold to be funded
• The highest ranking proposals will receive funding
• Information on the outcome: maximum 3 months after
the corresponding cut-off date
• Signature of grant agreements: maximum 6 months after
the corresponding cut-off date
10
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND

12. What if I saw an interesting funding instrument?
11

13. 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
12

14. What makes a successful grant?
13
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

15. Grant writing:
14
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!
😎

16. 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
15

17. 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
16

18. Thank you for your
attention
boukje@boukje.com
0610647847