The experience of applying for EU grants has shown that each submitted Horizon Europe proposal needs to carefully address multiple aspects, from technical development and innovation to market impact and implementation strategy. Nevertheless, the market impact (Impact Section) is often higher than the technology and innovation themselves (Excellence Section) when evaluating and scoring a Horizon Europe proposal.
This is mainly because a novel technology must have societal, environmental, financial, and/or business impacts to demonstrate its value. Without this, it will just be another solution that will stay on the shelf, soon to be forgotten. This is precisely why the European Commission, through the European Horizon programme, focuses on the market and broader impact of projects before deciding how to allocate the available EU funding. The EC wants to see and promote projects and ideas that will change our society.
Before getting into the details of how applicants shall build their Impact Sections, it is very important to clarify the relationships between the project objectives and the project’s impacts, as well as what lies in between. The project objectives are the technological and commercial goals that each applicant expects to achieve during the Horizon Europe project. To achieve these goals, several activities (Work Plan, Work Packages, Tasks, and sub-tasks) will be conducted, leading to the predefined results (KPIs – Key Performance Indicators). These exact project KPIs will lead to the project’s expected internal (for the applicant) and external (for the society) impacts.
The Impact Section of a Horizon Europe proposal is like a well-drafted business plan
But what exactly is this Impact Section, and what kind of information shall the applicants include in their proposals? The Impact is like a preliminary, but substantial, business plan of the applicant and the project. It needs to cover multiple sections to convince the evaluators of the market potential of the respective technology or idea. The commercial aspect (market) of each project is always tat he forefront of the Impact Section, but not only. Societal and Environmental impact are also highly significant for specific programmes. For example, in the recent Green Deal, the environmental impact of the proposed solutions is equally important.
At the end of the day, the Impact Section needs to convince EC that the budget they distribute to each project is worth the money and the effort in the long term. As mentioned above, each Horizon Europe Programme requires a different level of information. Programmes where the innovation is still at a low R&D stage may require a more generic commercial approach than programmes that start at a higher Technological Readiness Level (TRL). Below, we will try to cover all the topics that each proposal asking for an EU Grant shall include.
How to define relevant expected impacts
Almost all programmes require a detailed analysis of the so-called expected impacts of each project. This can include:
- A description of how the project will contribute to several fields, such as the specific impact mentioned in each work programme, scientific and/or technological progress, and societal and additional environmental impacts (there is some newness in the Horizon Europe programme in this regard, explained in the following paragraphs). It is important to note that in environmental-related programmes (e.g., the Green Deal), each project has an apparent environmental impact, always aligned with the equivalent work programme. However, it is pretty standard for these projects to have collateral environmental impacts. Finally, demonstrating how the project will enhance the partners’ innovation capacity and strengthen their competitiveness in collaborative projects is a must.
- It is crucial to know who is your customer and end-user of your solution. Adding a quantitative and qualitative section on your potential customers’ willingness to buy your final product/idea is essential, as is comparing your solution with the current State-of-the-art using a cost-benefit analysis.
- Which is the main market you aim to enter and impact, along with its primary segments, market trends, and potential barriers? What is the current value of the market and its expected growth in the next five to 10 years? Which region/country is the current leader, and which one is hoping to face the most rapid growth? All this data will include a brief yet solid market analysis. Moreover, EC always welcomes projects that can either create new markets or reshape the existing ones, thus providing data that will always add value to your proposal.
Practical tip: Always try to link the most geographically interesting markets to the ones you aim to enter during the project’s commercialization period.
- Show the economic relevance of your solution, namely the impact it will have on your company or on all partners of the project (in case of collaborative projects). What are the revenues and profits each entity will generate as a result of the project, employment creation, market share, return on investment, and any other collateral benefits?
- As EC funding is usually just the beginning for each applicant entity to start moving forward with the development and the commercialization, it is also important to elaborate on your capital investment policy for the years to follow the end of the Horizon Europe project, indicating further funding requirements, how you will achieve them, and what you need them for.
- It also adds value to show the evaluators that you have studied well the marketplace you aim to enter and have foreseen potential barriers and obstacles you may face, as well as framework conditions that may endanger the project’s success. At this stage, we need to differentiate commercial barriers (e.g., potential copying of your idea by competitors or strong opposition from renowned players in the market you aim to enter) from implementation risks (which are usually included in the Implementation Section).
Practical tip: Be specific and provide the exact information that justifies your project and its objectives. Mentioning generic impacts (e.g., how your photovoltaic technology will support the global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources and combat climate change) is a good introduction, but it cannot stand as an argument by itself. Try to personalize each impact and use quantified targets and indicators whenever possible to differentiate your solution from similar ones clearly.
Impact newness in the new Horizon Europe programme
A significant innovation in the Impact Section for a Horizon Europe proposal, compared to Horizon Europe, is the new approach through nine Key Impact Pathways (KIPs). The KIPs are an essential part of the Horizon Indicator Framework. EC’s key goal is to assess the impact of EU funding for Research & Innovation (R&I) on citizens, legislators, and budget authorities. Overall, there are three impact areas, with three KIPs each, namely:
- Scientific impact: (1) Creating high-quality new knowledge; (2) Strengthening human capital in R&I; (3) Fostering diffusion of knowledge and Open Science
- Societal Impact: (4) Addressing EU policy priorities & global challenges through R&I; (5) Delivering benefits and impact via R&I missions; (6) Strengthening the uptake of R&I in society; and
- Economic / Technological Impact: (7) Generating innovation-based growth; (8) Creating more and better jobs; and (9) Leveraging investments in R&I
As such, proposals shall aim to cover as many of the above-mentioned KIPs as possible.
How to maximize the impact of a Horizon Europe project
After describing the expected impacts your project will have, the evaluators want to see potential measures to maximize them. This sub-section usually includes three topics:
Dissemination and exploitation plan
Namely, the description of a credible path to deliver the innovation to the market and contribute to the entity’s scale-up. This includes a business plan (business model, pricing strategy, commercial strategy, geographical expansion) and the potential external partners (stakeholders) you may need to involve to reach a successful commercial exploitation.
Communication activities
Namely, how you will promote your work during the period of the grant (raise awareness via conferences and industrial expos, publication in magazines and journals, workshops, etc.)
Intellectual property, knowledge protection, and regulatory issues
This is a significant topic that various applicants underestimate. The last thing EC would welcome is to invest in a project that is not commercially protected, or whose success depends heavily on regulations in the target markets that are subject to change.
Therefore, the proposal shall include all measures necessary to ensure the project’s commercial exploitation. These could be:
- Industrial Property Rights (IPR) – describe the key knowledge items of your solutions, filed and/or granted patents, what they cover, and in which countries/regions they apply. It is also essential to show the evaluators that you have at least conducted a first patentability study to identify potential IPR issues with existing technologies and patents. You could easily use renowned patent libraries such as the EPO or WIPO to identify patents covering similar technologies and clearly explain the differentiation points.
Practical tip: In case of IT, platform, or mobile app projects where patentability cannot be achieved (at least at an EU level), try to expand further how you will protect your idea from the competition (trademark, first-to-the-market, commercial agreements with key players in the market)
- Future strategy for knowledge management and protection, such as the objective to file new patents that will come as a result of the project (in case of collaborative projects, it is essential to clarify who will be the owner of any innovation that will arise or if it will be a joint patent) or to follow other protection paths, such as trademarks; and
- Analysis of the regulatory requirements you need to follow and the regulations you need to comply with at local/national, European, and global levels. Here, you can also add standards (e.g., ISO) and potential certifications you may need to secure to support the project’s commercialization, along with how you will secure them (e.g., possible collaboration with legal partners).
- Last but not least, it is also good to include a brief data management plan.
If your proposal covers, justifies, and personalizes all or most of the above topics, then you have put a solid base for a quite positive evaluation of your proposal.
Creating an outstanding dissemination and exploitation plan for your proposal
Read this article to know what evaluators expect to see in the dissemination and exploitation plan of your Horizon Europe proposal, as well as why the promotion of the project’s results is so important and what the difference is between communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities.
Why should one include a business plan in a Horizon Europe proposal?
Do not underestimate the importance of including a preliminary business plan in your Horizon Europe proposal. In this article, we’ve collected the key points of such a business plan and put together tips on how to present a solid, attractive profit and loss statement (P&L).
