Investigating European Grants and Funding for SME’s, included in the NextGeneration EU-Plan 2021-2027

Interviewing @Nektar Baziotis, representing Evolutionary Archetypes Consulting SL, operating from Los Angeles and Barcelona.

1. EU Grants and #SME's

From several conversations with SME institutes working with the government and local municipalities, I came to understand that governments have made funds available at municipality level, to advise and support businesses. I came also to understand that there are grants available to Reskill and Upskill employees to prepare the transition of industries. There are also grants available to support (breakthrough) innovation.

At EU level a NextGenerationEU Plan for 2021 to 2027 (See full document here: Next Generation EU (europa.eu)) has been set up to repair the economic and social damage caused by the pandemic and steer the "Build Back Better" transition (This plan states: a transition towards a modern, sustainable and resilient Europe; a greener, more digital, more resilient, better fit for the current and forthcoming challenges. ).?

This plan has a budget of 750 Billion euro; from this budget 433,2 billion will go into grants and 250 billion will go into loans. See below how this is built up:

?????Source Next Generation EU Plan 2021-2027. ( Next Generation EU (europa.eu))

This information is not (yet) widely covered by the media. Hence SME entrepreneurs are not aware of the availability of these funds. Qualifying for these funds is also not completely predictable; your application could be accepted or refused. The process is not transparent.

This is basically our tax money that is being redistributed to refuel and rebuild the economies. It is essential that SME entrepreneurs (employing between 50 to 90% of the working,?tax paying, county population),?become aware of these resources and engage in constructive discussions to understand how they can leverage them to help rebuild the economy!

In this article we will be talking to an Expert in the Field of EU Grants and Funding, who will tell us more about this subject. Our Intention is to give insights to #SME entrepreneurs in how to get access to the available funds to transition and scale-up their businesses, drive innovation and help rebuild the economy.?

According to @Nektar Baziotis, what we know for now is that there are several funds dedicated for innovation available now. The EIC Accelerator is the largest of funding per company. It is challenging for entrepreneurs to find out the details as the program has been active since early 2020 and the 2021. The deadlines are known, but not publicly available.

2. Interviewing @ Nektar Baziotis ?of EA Consulting about the subject

Nektar Baziotis, Welcome! Could you tell us more about yourself and your business?

My name is Nektar and I am the President of Evolutionary Archetypes Consulting, known as EA Consulting. ?We offer consulting services both to boost business international development and to get EU grants for SMEs, Universities and Organizations.

We have a consulting and expert writing team of seven, coordinated by Chris, composed of Europeans for the subject matter expertise, and Americans for the writing and business skills. Our business development and marketing team consists of three. We also have a strong internal IT dept of five in-house experts and four consultants, in the field of Custom Platforms, E-Learning and AI. The businesses come from all across the EU and US, and we are proud to say that the people we work with come from all around the world!

With which mission did you set up been your business?

With my partner Chris, we founded the company on 11-11-11 in Barcelona, Spain as a tool to offer our skills. Chris is a business writer at heart, and I have always specialized in business development and strategic expansion. ?We put our talents together and first worked mostly as subcontractors to other big consulting firms. That’s where we learnt about the writing and sales consulting industries, experienced some best examples that we emulate, and some of these showed us what not to do.

Initially, we set up EA as business consulting company and, last year, we specified our mission into an innovation and entrepreneurship research and consulting company. We help our clients to innovate, communicate their values, boost sales and receive EU grants funding to become the undeniable future leaders in their industry.

Could you tell us about your Services and added value in the Erea of Grants, Funding?and Tenders ?

When it comes to soft funding, we specialize in the EIC Accelerator and what we refer to as collaborative proposals. Regarding the EIC Accelerator for SMEs, we have helped 100s of companies get innovation grants and investments, to fund Feasibility Studies and to boost their prototype into a full product. Our current success rate is 20% to Step 2. We charge an upfront fee and a commission. If the collaboration turns out to be inspiring for both the client and us, we help them to apply for other smaller innovation funds like NL Net or NGI.

Concerning collaborative proposals, we participate in the writing in exchange for being a partner. We are interested in consortia led by the academic thought leaders and that have an innovative concept. During proposal writing, our contribution ranges from leading the writing and consortium composition to filling the gaps. As a consortium partner, we can take care of communication exploitation, social science research and e-learning responsibilities.

What is it that you would like to achieve in 2022 with your business and what would you need for that?

Our goal for 2022 and on, is to identify, connect and collaborate with the leaders of the future. ?As a business generation, we are moving into an era that sees kinder, more compassionate and empathetic leaders. We believe that the newest generations that are now in primary school will lead us into a world of true equality, wealth, and happiness.

But due to the situation we are facing with global warming and pandemic, the world needs a Hail Mary and rise above ignorance, selfishness, and resentment. One way to change the course of humanity is with technological and soft innovation. This is the moment to transform impossible to “I’m possible”.

What have you learned working in the field of European Grants, Funding and Tenders?

Our key take-away is that despite the high risk-high return nature of the EIC Accelerator program, anyone should try at least Step 1. What I mean is this: with high-risk, high-return, I am referring to the fact that less than 3% of all applicants get funded and that the work to apply is quite heavy. It is split into three steps:

Step 1 is a pre-selection and consists of a pitch deck, pitch video and answering around 20 questions in an online form, referred as the AI Tool.

Step 2 is the actual proposal with 200-300 questions and 6 attachments. It’s a lot of work but it’s not rocket science. It reminds me a little bit of doing homework for my MBA.

Step 3 is the interview.

To the point I made earlier, Step 1 is manageable, and it will provide SMEs with feedback they can use to evaluate their chances and to decide whether to continue adding work into this.

In the Next Generation EU Plan for 2021 to 2027, 433,2 billion has been allocated to grants and 250 billion will go into loans. Could you tell us what you know about that?

We specialize in the EIC Accelerator, innovation funding and collaborative proposals. The Next Generation EU Plan for 2021 to 2027 is an enormous package with lots of additional and large programs. The focus and direction of the program is still being paved.

Could you share with us which Grants and Funding are being offered by the EU and Which ones could be expected? And for which SME businesses are they relevant? ??

As mentioned earlier, the EIC Accelerator is what we recommend, at least Step 1. Then, there are opportunities in smaller innovation and collaborative calls. There are some good web sites out there that summarize it, and we are also working on providing more details through our own. We are planning to launch this late February at "ea.consulting" to the public. Interested parties may do a screen call and select what is best for them.

Could you share with SME entrepreneurs Who should and how they should act on the availability of these grants and Funding and when? ?

There are many writers like us and many levels of government support. What we recommend first is for anyone to talk to their National Contact Point for the EIC. Just google National Contact Point Horizon Europe and then select your country and European Innovation Council. They will provide free and impartial information and are the most likely to know about both European and national funding.

Could you tell us how the process of requesting grants and Funding works?

As I mentioned previously, the process of the EIC Accelerator. But all grants have the following in common:

a) writing a proposal,

b) administrative steps,

c) understanding the specific conditions of the funding requirements.

Keep in mind that every word in the call documents actually means something specific. Like the “small prints” in contracts.

?

Could you tell us about the models available in the market for requesting Grants ?and Funding?

There are all kinds of offers on the market but most of them are either no cure no pay or a combination of retainer and commission. Obviously, typically, the commissions are significantly higher in a no cure no pay model than in a combined model. Whilst no cure no pay looks attractive at first sight as the applicant has no risk, due to the higher commissions, applicants that are more confident in their potential success would opt for combined models as the amount of euro’s going to the consultant would be significantly lower.

In any case, for the EIC Accelerator, our entire writing team collaborates in different roles, and we charge an upfront fee to pay a stable salary, so that our writers can focus on creativity and getting the message across rather than writing a ton of proposals just to get a chance at a writing and success fee.

When it comes to collaborative proposals, we do those just for the goal of becoming a consortium partner ourselves. That way, we have a chance at directly making our small imprint on Europe’s future.

How can Entrepreneurs increase the probability of getting a grant and Funding? ?

Any entrepreneur should focus on sales first. Businesses have the first goal of being profitable. And having revenues and profits is not only needed for business success, it also increases the chances in getting grants. For the EIC accelerator, it proves willingness to pay and for collaborative proposals, there are financial checks in place that look at the financial health of SMEs.

Any entrepreneur should focus on sales first. Businesses have the first goal of being profitable. And having revenues and profits is not only needed for business success, it also increases the chances in getting grants. For the EIC accelerator, it proves willingness to pay and for collaborative proposals, there are financial checks in place that look at the financial health of SMEs.

Which obligations follow getting grants or funding and how should they comply to these obligations?

Usually, SMEs have two kinds of obligations: ?First, they need to deliver the technical deliverables on time. These are mostly reports and their point is to prove that the work has been done. These deliverables are already set in the proposal. For instance, if the SME gets the funding for a Feasibility Study and the deliverable is a Feasibility Study, that’s what has to be delivered at the agreed timing. Second, they need to do their financial deliverables. That’s like bookkeeping for the annual tax return just in more detail and with more burden of proof.

Is there any additional advice you want to share with SME entrepreneurs?

Follow your dream. Innovate and create a better future! ?Then, focus on sales. Try and get soft funding like grants or investment to help you get more sales faster. The common denominator of success is always sales and traction.

?Follow your dream. Innovate and create a better future! Then, focus on sales. Try and get soft funding like grants or investment to help you get more sales faster. The common denominator of success is always sales and traction.

Is there something you want to offer to SME entrepreneurs in our network?

We will be offering a 30-minute discovery call to explore the options an SME might have. For us this is also an understanding of the person behind the company, the motivation and the drive they have. We see the passion and determination of success. We build on that. We provide them with advice on how they can bring their innovation to the next level and succeed.

Please use this link to request your Free discovery call: https://share.hsforms.com/1_XE4XlZ3TD-TUVsWr_jn0g5kltd ??

Closing remark

Thank @nektar baziotis ?? for taking the time today to go with us through the EU Grants and Funding And thanks for the offer to my network. Much appreciated!

Wish you all the best with the realisation of your mission?and the realisation of your goals for 2022... and beyond.?

All the best!

Madiha