The Grant

EU Funding in the Western Balkans – The View from Albania
With Luziana Hoxha from the Agricultural University of Tirana
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In this episode, I’m joined by Luziana Hoxha from the Agricultural University of Tirana to look at EU funding from the perspective of Albania and the Western Balkans. Albania is associated with Horizon Europe, so on paper its universities and researchers have broad access to the programme. But access and competitiveness are two different things. Luziana explains the challenges of joining established consortia when other European universities may have decades of experience, mature project offices, stronger research infrastructure and long-standing international networks.
We also talk about how European programmes can gradually change that position. Erasmus+, earlier Tempus projects, mobility, Widening instruments and participation in international networks have helped universities build administrative capacity, modernise curricula and laboratories, and develop researchers who are increasingly able to write and lead proposals themselves. Luziana shares her own journey—including succeeding with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship after previously doubting whether an Albanian researcher could compete at that level. It is a conversation about funding, but equally about visibility, confidence, relationships and becoming a trusted part of the European research ecosystem.

Time codes:
01:55 Guest introduction and fly in
05:39 The View from Albania – What Opportunities Exist?
16:08 The Challenges of Competing in European Funding
32:18 Building Capacity Through European Collaboration
47:03 From Participant to Contributor
58:42 Reflections and advice
01:04:34 The toughest challenge

How RTOs Turn Research into Impact – The Spanish Model
With Patricia Castillo, Director of Impact at Eurecat

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In this episode, I’m joined by Patricia Castillo, Director of Impact at Eurecat, to explore what research and technology organisations actually do and why they occupy such an important place in Europe’s innovation ecosystem. RTOs sit between universities, companies, start-ups and public authorities. Their purpose is to help move technologies beyond promising laboratory results and towards something that can be manufactured, scaled, financed and used by companies in the real world. Patricia explains why that process is not a simple linear transfer from science to market, but a continuous interaction between researchers, industry and society.

We also examine the distinctive Spanish model, where RTOs are private non-profit organisations with limited baseline support and must combine competitive public funding with industry contracts and services. That creates a difficult but productive tension: responding to companies’ needs today while investing in the knowledge, people and infrastructure that may be required ten years from now. We discuss impact management, responsible technology development, long-term research capacity, tacit knowledge, falling success rates and why generic AI-written sections on impact, gender and dissemination are becoming increasingly easy for evaluators to recognise.

Time codes:
01:39 Guest introduction and fly in
05:15 Understanding the RTO Model
16:06 The Spanish Context
26:41 Living with the Challenge
49:09 The Book - Capturing Knowledge Before It Disappears
01:01:17 Reflections and advice
01:03:17 The toughest challenge

Rethinking Impact – From Funded Projects to Real Adoption
With Christopher Adlung from TU Delft

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In this episode, I’m joined by Christopher Adlung, a PhD researcher at TU Delft and a medtech entrepreneur, to rethink what impact actually means in EU-funded research and innovation. Christopher studies the adoption and scaling of telemedicine in low-resource settings, and that adoption perspective shapes our entire conversation. A technology can perform brilliantly in a laboratory or pilot project, but real impact only emerges when the wider ecosystem can and wants to use it. That includes not only researchers and end users, but also procurement teams, administrators, investors, technicians, managers and everyone else whose decisions shape implementation.

We also question whether Europe’s increasingly large and complex collaborative projects are always the right mechanism for innovative SMEs. Could smaller, simpler grants involving fewer partners create faster and more focused progress? Could new structures connect universities, companies and public authorities without forcing them into temporary consortia with very different incentives? Christopher also shares examples from telemedicine in Bangladesh, where innovation has grown from practical constraints and combines digital consultations, mobile health teams, diagnostic devices, pharmacies and local access points. It becomes a wide-ranging conversation about funding design, ecosystems, sustainability and why impact should be measured through adoption and long-term consequences rather than activity alone.

Time codes:
01:39 Guest introduction and fly in
04:37 The Traditional Funding Model – Where Does It Fall Short?
22:20 Beyond Silos – Do We Need New Ways of Organising Innovation?
36:47 Inspiration Beyond Europe
47:46 Rethinking Impact in Future EU Projects
59:00 Reflections and advice
01:06:11 The toughest challenge

WIN4SMES – Supporting Young Entrepreneurs and Young Professionals with Disabilities
Two pilot stories from Hungary and Lithuania

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In this episode I return to the WIN4SMES universe with a closer look at two pilot stories that deserved their own spotlight. In the first half, I speak with Tamas Rettich from the Hungarian Association of Craftsmen’s Corporations about a one-week entrepreneurship camp for highly talented young innovators. The camp helps participants move from strong technical or scientific ideas toward real entrepreneurial thinking through business planning, finance, marketing, innovation management, leadership and teamwork. What I especially like here is the emphasis on collaboration: the young participants do not just refine ideas on their own, but learn that innovation also depends on trust, communication and shared problem-solving.

In the second half, I speak with Egle Lizaityte from the Lithuanian Association of Hotels and Restaurants about a pilot focused on getting young people with disabilities into the hospitality sector. Through collaboration between schools, employers and sector organisations, the project helps companies understand how to create inclusive workplaces and helps young people gain internships and jobs. The conversation is a strong reminder that workplace innovation is not only about technology or productivity. It is also about changing attitudes, widening the talent pool and building systems that allow people to contribute in ways employers may never have considered before.

Time codes:
00:18 Introduction to the episode
02:11 Supporting Young Entrepreneurs in Hungary
11:15 Young Disabled Professionals in the Hospitality Sector

EU Funding in Culture and Creativity
With Paolo Montemurro from Matera HubCheck out the episode website

In this episode I’m joined by Paolo Montemurro from Materahub to open up the European funding landscape for culture and creativity. This is a conversation I’ve wanted to do for a long time, because if you cover EU funding broadly, the cultural and creative sectors are too important to leave untouched. Paolo explains why the European Union invests in culture and creativity not only because of their economic contribution, but also because of their role in democracy, social inclusion, European values, mobility and innovation. We talk about how this recognition has grown over time and why the creative and cultural sectors now sit much more clearly inside the wider European policy and funding architecture.

We then move through the actual opportunities. We start with Creative Europe as the main go-to programme, but also look at Erasmus+, Horizon Europe, Interreg and other relevant corners of the funding landscape. Paolo shares how Matera Hub has worked across these schemes since 2011, using culture and creativity as both a sector in its own right and as a methodology that can connect to entrepreneurship, skills, cultural heritage, innovation, audience development and social transformation. It’s an introduction episode, but a rich one — especially for anyone in the cultural and creative sectors trying to understand where to start and how broad the European opportunity space really is.

Time codes:
01:47 Guest introduction and fly in
05:11 Why Does the EU Invest in Culture and Creativity?
18:57 The Funding Landscape
50:28 Looking Ahead
56:50 Materahub's Experience Across Programmes
01:15:21 Reflections and advice
01:19:15 The Toughest Challenge