Finding An Industrial Partner for Your Horizon Europe Project

Finding and convincing the right industrial partners while building a Horizon Europe project can be hard for academic researchers. Many factors can cause this.

Most SMEs and large companies deal with more professional networks than academic researchers; therefore, finding the right contact point can be pretty challenging. Also, companies are different from academic labs. Industrial companies focus more on business opportunities instead of providing humanity with new scientific discoveries. Furthermore, a Horizon Europe project aims at innovation which is not the same as making scientific discoveries.

Another factor is that many companies do not understand the grant application process for Horizon Europe compared to academics. Frequently, these companies get stuck in the administrative labyrinth of Horizon Europe. A lot of companies assume that it is not efficient to work with academics. Publication-oriented goals, which is a significant aspect, are usually seen as not compatible with a patent-oriented strategy.

Is Renouncing Essential for Building a Strong and Successful European Consortium?

Absolutely not!

Recently, the EU requires integrating one or several industrial partners in a Horizon Europe consortium; this helps boost the proposal score of a project and improve the chances of getting the grant. 

This post discusses all you need to identify and integrate industrial partners in your consortium quickly and smoothly.

Why Does the European Union Want the Integration of SMEs And Industrial Partners in A Horizon Europe Project?

Industrial partners add value only when you correctly integrate them into your project. Giving your industrial partner an inadequate role reduces your chances of getting the grant. 

Reasons why the European Union want integration of companies in a Horizon Europe grant proposal includes;

1. Bringing an Entrepreneurial Mindset to A Horizon Europe Consortium

Integrating an SME in your Horizon Europe consortium ensures that an entrepreneur alerts you when something that can be valorized comes up. Industrial partners innovate and exploit an idea, making it come to life.

An SME mission perfectly matches the European Union’s goals. Academics produce the gold while SMEs dig and find ways to exploit it until they can make jewels out of it.

2. Refocusing A Project Towards Profitable Market Outcomes

Although publications and worldwide competitiveness can measure the success of scientific outputs, the EU observed that only a few of these outputs could be pushed into society. Therefore, Innovative Europe is one of the three pillars of the Horizon Europe program, putting many new funding schemes in place and encouraging research outcomes for society.

Turning research into actual products that can save lives is a win for everybody. The EU citizens win through the project’s economic and societal impact while the partners (the universities and companies) get their return on investment and the notoriety of the research team.

3. Acting as A Valorization Partner in Your Horizon Europe Project

SMEs or big companies in your consortium are good candidates for taking care of the valorization aspects of the consortium’s exploitable results. Valorization is an essential feature for the EU, ensuring that money invested in a Horizon Europe project becomes an economic activity requiring a correct intellectual property strategy, such as patenting before publishing.

4. Incorporating Engineering with Industrial Partners

Factually, basic research work is not the forte of industrial partners. There are several reasons for this. A significant reason is that companies need profits, and they have a different timeline, thus, pursuing short-term deadlines to achieve long-term strategies. On the other hand, private sector methods work in engineering, especially in providing functional and industrialized systems.

 5. Incorporating Industrialization with Companies

A significant role of a company in a consortium is industrialization. Because companies think about valorizing a technology, they must ensure that their early prototypes will be scalable. Furthermore, companies make the right partners when it comes to quality procedures regarding industrialization.

It may be challenging to find the right industrial partner to integrate smoothly into your project and add value to your consortium. Fortunately, the following section discusses some tips. 

How Can You Find an Industrial Partner for Horizon Europe Consortium?

There are several methods of finding industrial partners for a Horizon Europe consortium. Some methods are swift, while some are exhaustive. Furthermore, some methods are selective, enabling you to ideally target the right skills and mindset necessary for your project.

A good start is using specialized Horizon Europe websites to search for SMEs and industrial partners. Usually, large companies and SMEs open to Horizon Europe collaboration put their profile on their partner search websites.  

Also, apart from the European Commission’s official portal, you can find the ideal partner profile to suit your consortium on some websites. Ensure that you add your profile to help your prospective partners contact you. Furthermore, take enough time to check the database for industrial partners’ profiles and directly contact them.