TIME TO MONEY AT SPRIND

SPRIND aims to distinguish itself by fast, unbureaucratic and high-quality funding decisions. The process is designed to be very low-threshold, streamlined, and as fair as possible for innovators.?

SPRIND uses a top-down approach with the Challenge programs, highly standardized and competitive, and an open call for project applications, tailored to the individual circumstances of the applicants.

From a total of 2.251 Project submissions that were evaluated, 167 received funding in the range of about 100k to 90m Euros, in either Challenges or open call project funding.

Time to money (TTM) is defined as the time in days from the receipt of the application/submission to the final funding decision. The average TTM for Challenge applications is 28 days overall, while for Open Call Projects it is 84 days in more than 50 % of all submissions. TTM has decreased continuously since SPRIND’s start of operations in 2020.

Speed matters in innovation. While the current performance at SPRIND is probably best-in-class, there is always room for improvement. Let’s dive into the details.

Challenges

SPRIND Challenges are innovation competitions that start with the publication of a call for submissions as well as the publication of the contract all successful participants will sign with SPRIND. Each call has a deadline for applications defined and states the timeline for the selection process as well as subsequent stages of the Challenge. As of November 2024, SPRIND has launched 10 Challenges. From hundreds of applications a total of 77 teams were selected and receive(d) funding. The amounts for the first stage of a Challenge vary between 70k and up to 1,5m€ so far. Usually, the funding for subsequent stages of a Challenge increases and the number of teams receiving funding decreases.

In the selection process, the SPRIND team, consisting of analysts and innovation managers, creates a shortlist of applicants based on the decision criteria described in the call for submissions. Teams that made it on the shortlist are invited to pitch at SPRIND HQ in Leipzig in front of a jury which takes the final decision which teams are accepted into the Challenge and receive funding. This jury consists of the responsible SPRIND innovation manager and external experts, with a total of up to 8 members. Pitch days last between one or two days. The jury makes their final decisions at the end of the pitch day(s). Teams are informed immediately, the SPRIND Directors, Rafael Laguna de la Vera and Berit Dannenberg, sign the (standard) contracts which were published alongside the call. The teams receive their signed contract as soon as the next day. The teams then sign the contract, send an invoice and receive their funds in a matter of a few days.

TTM, as measured as the time between the deadline of the call and the day the jury makes the funding decision, ranged between 11 and 46 calendar days for 9 Challenges (one call is still open), with an average of 28 days across all Challenges.[1]

After having established the Challenge program, SPRIND was able to accelerate the decision times with the 4 most recent Challenges having a TTM of 13 days on average.

Open Call Project Funding

Applications are typically submitted through SPRIND’s website. The application form is based on the DARPA “Heilmeier Catechism” and streamlined to 15 questions. Applicants can use their existing materials for the project application, so the overhead is answering the questions and clicking a few buttons on the SPRIND website.

SPRIND - as a federal agency - makes decisions on project submissions using objective scientific, economic, and social criteria, documenting each decision and communicating outcomes promptly to applicants. Each project is evaluated based on several factors, including: disruptive potential, economic impact, social implications, economic and technical risks, competition and team.

Each submission is reviewed by at least one SPRIND analyst. If the analyst team believes a project has breakthrough potential, an innovation manager gets involved and further analysis is warranted. If the analyst team does not believe in the breakthrough potential, a recommendation for rejection is made, and is independently reviewed by two innovation managers and the scientific director.

If further analysis is warranted, the project is analyzed more thoroughly, involving external experts as needed. After completing the final analysis, the project is presented for discussion to the project committee (consists of all innovation managers and both directors of SPRIND). The committee then makes a final decision on whether the project proceeds to funding or is rejected, requiring a simple majority to do so.

In the process outlined above, more than 1,500 project submissions were analyzed, resulting in 90 funded projects (as of Nov 30, 2024). A first analysis and therefore a first recommendation conducted by the scientific analysis team was made in between 5-10 weeks after submission during the last 4 years.?

SPRIND has reduced the TTM[2] from an average of 205 days in 2020 via 113 days (2021), 70 days (2022) and 114 days (2023) to an average of 83 days in 2024. In the future, the goal is to further accelerate this to an average of 45 days.

[1] After the jury decision, contracts are immediately sent out to the teams. Therefore, the crucial steps until teams have the funding in their bank account consist of the teams' signing of contracts and sending an invoice to SPRIND and are therefore beyond SPRIND's control.

[2] Time to money (TTM) here is defined as the time in days from the receipt of the submission to the final committee decision.

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