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Problems and possibilities of multiple funding streams
In certain circles near or at the top of research funding and policy, ‘synergies’ is a term that is used a lot. The casual listener—a researcher or research manager—may be forgiven for thinking it was a buzzword without meaning and with little relevance to their own work.
But is this correct? At the European Commission’s Research and Innovation Days conference in Brussels in March, senior figures and experts sat down to discuss their experience with funding synergies, and some of what was said could indeed have wider relevance to those searching funding for smaller-scale innovation projects. Here are key points from that session.
One-stop shop
‘Synergy’ may be overused, but it is not without meaning. Speakers agreed that the concept is about making connections: between different funding programmes for research and innovation; between the funding that exists at national and regional level, and between public- and private-sector investors.
Put simply, there is no one-stop shop. As Rosalinde van der Vlies, Clean Planet director in the European Commission, said, the rules of the game are very different when applying for EU rather than private funding. This makes it difficult to apply successfully for multiple funding streams at once.
This has clear relevance to those looking for lower-level research funding. This was mentioned during the session: if you apply for a Horizon Europe grant, the conditions for submitting a proposal are not the same as if you were looking for funding from innovation funds.
However, making use of synergies between international, regional, intersectoral and staged funding can facilitate research and innovation projects.
Also, times are changing. The emphasis on synergies is growing within the Horizon programme, and expected to become a large part of the next research funding framework. If research proposals can primarily be written to address a larger societal issue, rather than conform to the expectations of a particular scheme or funder, they can more easily present value for multiple funding streams.
Start early
The session concentrated on research and innovation in the green-tech sector. Christoph Kuhn, director of business planning and mandate management at the European Investment Bank, said that clean tech often has challenging features for financing that require combining different sources of funding packaged in a way that can finance complex projects.
At the EIB, the Breakthrough Energy programme looks at projects they would like to finance from the beginning; it then tries to package the financing so it can catalyse investment in the project to accelerate it.
“Usually, if you present convincing packaging that derisks, suddenly you mobilise private-sector capital, and it is able to be big enough to really become a cornerstone funding partner. Usually, [that approach makes it] much easier to bring in the private sector,” Kuhn said.
Ecosystem synergies
Konstantin Bojinov is head of the Anrav project. Anrav aims to be the first ‘full-chain’ carbon-capture, utilisation and storage project in Eastern Europe. ‘Full chain’ means a complete system from power generation through to deep storage. Anrav links CO2 capture facilities at the Devnya cement plant, in Bulgaria, through an onshore and offshore pipeline system, with permanent storage in a depleted gas field in the Black Sea.
Bojinov said that Anrav had to make use of financing from across the research and innovation ecosystem. That means funding for basic research, for early stage innovation and for market-ready technologies.
Anrav did not draw funding from Horizon Europe but preferred to get it from private sources, Bojinov said.
This way, it was able to bring a greater financial impact and help keep Anrav competitive. However, the basic research for several technologies Anrav uses were funded initially by Horizon Europe.
Bojinov said: “Horizon started more as a front door [for us], as it was oriented more towards academics, startups and technical companies that are focused on developing certain technology, while the industry stands aside.”
For most projects, Bojinov said the logical next step—after traditional research funding—would be the ‘innovation funnel’. Here, research ideas are whittled down to those that can be moved forward by businesses and propelled towards commercialisation.
Funding from the European Commission could play a role in this, he added. “If we want to keep European industry competitive, and in place, we have to do the best to connect all the dots to get the best results.”
Here he echoed van der Vlies, who, earlier in the day, had said that the necessary direction of travel for the EU to enable funding synergies was clear.
“We don’t have time to have different instruments with parallel rules of the game,” she said. “We need to become much better at connecting the dots to move faster together in a team Europe approach.”
This is an extract from an article in Research Professional’s Funding Insight service. To subscribe contact sales@researchresearch.com