What to keep in mind when putting together a consortium for the Eurostars grant
Check the video for short discussions on consortium structure and more Eurostars related issues - more details below of what to keep in mind when creating a consortium for a Eurostars grant application.
Before applying
First, these are the consortium conditions on the Eureka website in October 2023 - the consortium must be:
Led by an innovative SME from a Eurostars country (definition below).
Composed by at least 2 entities independent of one another.
Composed by entities from at least 2 Eurostars countries, with at least 1 coming from an EU or Horizon Europe Associated Country.
Have at least 50% of total project cost, excluding subcontracting, coming from SMEs from Eurostars countries.
Have no single participant or country responsible for more than 70% of the budget of the project.
Second we at Horizon Partners recommend that you as main applicant choose consortium partners that will actually provide value into the consortium so that the €300k-€500k grant received by each of the consortium members will work towards making the final product, which you can own the IP for, more valuable.
This way, although your company can only receive a €300k-€500k grant amount, if the others are enhancing the product just as you would, and if three of them get say a €400k grant amount, it’s almost like you are getting the equivalent of a €1,6m grant - or at least that’s the money going towards enhancing a product that you can be the main or exclusive owner of if that’s how you decide to negotiate with your partner.
A quick note on negotiating IP: Sometimes partners are equally committed in preparing the grant application. In this case there may be a partial split of IP rights of the outcome of the project. Other times the main applicant may do most of the preparation work and they may also be in the role of convincing others to join. In this case we have sometimes helped the main applicant draft an IP agreement where they keep all or most IP rights, there’s nothing wrong with that if the bulk of the risk and preparation work lies with the main applicant and the rest may be in more of a supporting role.
Third, keep in mind that when you write the application there is one part to be filled out for the consortium as a whole, and another part where you need to fill out partner specific questions for each of the partners. These are questions about finances, core business, contribution to the project (listing out tasks inside work packages that each partner needs to carry out), impact of the project to each partner organization and more.
Fourth, and this is important, call or e-mail each of the local grant providers in the country where your planned consortium members are located, to check if they are “funded” for this current Eurostars grant cut-off date (the Eurostars grants are always handed out by local grant providers, although there is Eureka too the central body).
We once failed to do this for a five member consortium and after we got a YES from Eureka, two out of five countries didn’t have funds. We managed to get those two consortium members to sign a statement of self financing (they would still take part in the consortium but without getting a grant) and that way the grant could still be handed out to the remaining three members. Without such a statement the grant would have been canceled for all members of the consortium.
After you get the grant
Keep in mind that after you get the grant there is significant amount of reporting to be done, and to multiple grant bodies. We at Horizon Partners are currently managing one Eurostars grant where there are three consortium members, let’s have a look at how it’s done for these particular countries.
First, after receiving a yes from Eureka, a consortium agreement must be drafted and turned in to Eureka. Here is a link to a Eureka template for this purpose, we ended up with a 16 page document outlining most of what’s asked in the template. Then a grant agreement must be made with each of the local grant bodies, which is a completely different form between countries and sometimes quite a comprehensive document.
Second, there is regular reporting during the project period:
(1) Eureka, the central grant body. Here we need to deliver a report every 6 months. It requires each of the consortium members to login to their central Eurostars reporting area and fill out several details and answer questions such as “Give a short description of your activities in the reporting period” and “Reflect on your participation in the project, including planning compared to initial plan, challenges during the period” and more”
(2) Innoviris, Belgium. The Belgian partner needs to fill out a report every 6 months outlining project progress and plans for next phase etc., it’s a big document that needs to be delivered to Innoviris. Innoviris pays out the grant to the Belgian partner in mostly three installations over the course of the project which typically takes 3 years.
(3) Vinnova, Sweden. The Swedish partner needs to fill out more reports than the Belgian partner, but smaller ones. Payments are divided into 11 relatively similar payouts with 2-4 months between them.
(4) Rannís, Iceland. The Icelandic partner, also the main applicant, must fill out a progress report mid way through the year and a yearly report at the end of the year, for each of the years that pass during the project period. The grant is paid out 40% at the start of the year, 40% mid way, and 20% at the end of each year.
All in all there is considerable work involved in writing the application, agreements and reports, before and during a typical Eurostars grant. But if you as a main applicant (the one who’s deciding if you should apply and encourage these other partners to join you) make sure to acquire partners that will actually provide value into a consortium where you can possibly become the sole IP owner of all project output, the actual stakes are much higher than just the amount received by you - instead of the €300k-€500k grant per company you could be looking at a €1m - €2m total grant working towards developing a product that eventually will belong to you - and the success ratio for those who apply for a Eurostars grant is 29%, according to the Eureka website.
Definition of Eurostars countries
Eurostars countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.
Eurostars countries that are not a European Union Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country: Canada, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom and European Commission reached political agreement on 7 September 2023 on the UK’s association to Horizon Europe. In agreement with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Innovate UK, within the current Eurostars-3 call for projects (closing September 2023), there are no changes to existing eligibility requirements relating to the United Kingdom. Consortia with United Kingdom participants will be able to participate in the programme and receive national funding.
Source: https://www.eurekanetwork.org/countries/iceland/eurostars/eligiblity