Innovation Funding Catalyst
Overview
The Innovation Funding Catalyst (IFC) is an initiative by EIT Manufacturing Innovation Program to support members and innovators in the manufacturing sector to identify and apply for EU funding.
The IFC aligns with the scope of EIT Manufacturing to bring together manufacturing actors across Europe to integrate innovation and education for an entrepreneurial and sustainable Europe.
The aim is to support and accelerate the growth of innovative ideas and projects in the manufacturing sector, connecting organisations and providing guidance, with the goal to increase the chances of success in securing funding.
The initiative will allow EIT Manufacturing to support the participation of its community members and other European manufacturing organisations in different calls and funding schemes, for example, Horizon Europe, building trust and paving the way to future innovation.
FAQs
The EIT innovation framework is focused on market-oriented business solutions at TRL6 level or above. Activities needed to achieve the broader strategic goals, such as research and early innovation, cannot be funded by the EIT Innovation Program. For this reason, EIT Manufacturing launched the Innovation Funding Catalyst (IFC) to support members and innovators in identifying and applying for EU funding and achieve a broader spectrum of activities.
Once one or more calls are identified, EITM will build an informal group to foster the creation of consortia and competitive proposals, supporting the matchmaking and networking of cutting-edge innovators around Europe.
EIT Manufacturing will act as facilitator in the consortia building. It will support the discussion, organize thematic tables, and promote the matching of expertise needed.
EIT Manufacturing may aim to participate in specific projects seen as strategic compared with its goals and mission. In such cases, projects will be in any case led and managed by other organisations different from EIT Manufacturing.
The IFC will initially focus on EU-level funding calls, mainly under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. EIT Manufacturing will analyse the work programmes to identify forthcoming calls aligned with its Strategic Objectives and community’s R&D funding needs.
Participation within the IFC is not restricted. The intent and purpose of the IFC is to support manufacturing community with lower TRL innovations through other funding schemes, building trust and paving the way to future innovation activities to be potentially funded within higher TRL calls such as EIT Manufacturing ones.
EIT Manufacturing will act as facilitator in the consortia building. As such, EIT Manufacturing will never be responsible for accepting or rejecting a consortium member. EIT Manufacturing will support the discussion within the informal groups and promote requests. Any organization that meets the role/skills/functions needed for the identified topics may propose themselves.
EIT Manufacturing will not join all the consortia.
In specific cases, EIT Manufacturing may work together with the consortium members, participating as beneficiary in specific proposals or providing letters of support as well as having a seat in the advisory board.
Expression of Interest form
EIT Manufacturing periodically review and analyse EU opportunities and has already identified target calls for the IFC. If you would like to express interest in one of these calls and join the IFC initiative, you can submit your contact details and a one-pager summarizing your project idea or contribution here.