First-Hand Insights On EU Grants
Showing 6 articles
The EU Grant Landscape: What Startups Need to Know in 2026
The European grant landscape has transformed dramatically over the past few years, and if you're still thinking about EU funding the way founders did in 2020 or even 2023, you're missing critical opportunities—and walking into some significant pitfalls. I've been watching this evolution closely, both as a beneficiary o…
Rejection Analysis: Interpreting Feedback and Improving Your Next Application
My first application to the Seeds of Bravery program was rejected. I remember opening the Evaluation Summary Report with a mix of dread and hope—dread because rejection stings no matter how much you tell yourself it's just part of the process, and hope because maybe, just maybe, the feedback would tell me exactly what…
Evaluator Perspective: How Your Grant Application Is Actually Scored
I became a grant evaluator almost by accident. After successfully winning an EIC Accelerator grant for my startup, I was invited to join an expert panel reviewing applications in my technical domain. I accepted, partly out of curiosity and partly out of obligation—I'd benefited from the system, so I should contribute b…
Impact vs. Innovation: Balancing Your Grant Application Narrative
I remember the moment my grant application strategy fundamentally shifted. I was on a call with an evaluator who'd agreed to give me feedback after my second rejection from an EIC Accelerator application. She said something that stopped me cold: "Your technology is genuinely innovative. That wasn't the problem. The pro…
The Hidden Costs of Grant Applications: Time, Resources, and Opportunity Costs
Nobody talks about the grants that didn't happen. You hear the success stories—the startup that landed a million-euro grant and launched their breakthrough product. What you don't hear about are the three months they spent on a failed application six months earlier, or the customer deal they lost because their CEO was…
My First EU Grant Application: What I Wish I'd Known
Start early, choose the right call, write for evaluators (not yourself), prove impact with evidence, and treat the budget, risks, and work plan as core parts of your story—not afterthoughts. I applied for my first EU grant because our startup was building high-risk, high-impact technology that VCs considered “…