The Grant

AI and EU Funding – Is the System Reaching Breaking Point?
With Annika Jaansoo

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AI has made proposal writing faster and more accessible.
But what happens when thousands of applicants discover the same thing?
In episode #249, I’m joined by Annika Jaansoo, an EU funding professional with more than three decades of experience in cross-border cooperation, to look beyond the individual applicant and ask what AI is doing to the funding system itself.
We discuss rising proposal numbers, increasingly compressed success rates, evaluator overload and the growing feeling among applicants that producing an excellent proposal is no longer enough. Annika argues that AI has not simply created a new problem – it has revealed weaknesses in a system built around the assumption that the ability to write a convincing proposal is a useful proxy for the quality of the underlying idea.
We also look at possible alternatives. Some Interreg programmes are experimenting with hearings and pitches, while Annika has created monthly roundtables where practitioners discuss these challenges and turn their conclusions into policy briefs for EU institutions.
The question is no longer whether AI belongs in EU funding.
It is how the funding system needs to adapt now that AI is here.

Time codes:
02:19 Guest introduction and fly in
11:43 AI and the Proposal Explosion
39:50 Are We Evaluating the Right Things?
01:00:47 Reflections and advice
01:01:30 The toughest challenge

From Newcomer to Strategic EU Partner – The BLOXHUB Journey
An in-person conversation with CEO Torben Klitgaard

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For episode #248, I visit BLOXHUB in Copenhagen to meet CEO Torben Klitgaard and follow an unusually complete EU funding journey: from entering the field as a newcomer to making EU projects a strategic part of the organisation.
It started with the New European Bauhaus. BLOXHUB mobilised its network, assembled a European consortium and coordinated the DESIRE lighthouse project. Another successful project followed, and EU funding increasingly became a way of connecting BLOXHUB’s community with international companies, cities, researchers and other stakeholders.

But experience changed the strategy. BLOXHUB no longer wants to coordinate major EU projects or write proposals itself. Instead, it is increasingly positioning itself around areas where it has strong competencies and can contribute as a partner or work package lead. Torben explains why running several EU projects simultaneously must be treated as professional business, not an activity organisations simply add on the side.

Time codes:
00:00 Campaign Announcement
00:28 Arrival in Copenhagen
04:02 Guest introduction and fly in
06:47 Bloxhub - An introduction
12:30 The Projects
32:31 EU Projects as Strategy
54:41 Learnings, reflections and advice
57:01 The toughest challenge

Supporting Startups and SMEs into EU Funding
With Lise Pape and Rasmus Mørk

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In my earlier field recording with Lise Pape from Walk With Path, we touched on the support she had received from Greater Copenhagen EU Office. This time, I bring Lise together with Rasmus Mørk, who has been supporting her, to look more closely at what that support actually involves.
Rasmus explains how he works with startups and SMEs to understand their product-development plans, identify relevant EU funding programmes, assess whether an opportunity is worth pursuing and develop the first outline of a potential project. Lise shares how that has worked from the company side—from discovering calls she might otherwise have missed to discussing consortium composition and whether a particular opportunity really fits the company. #248 Supporting Start Ups and S…
And there is an important reality check throughout: EU funding is high-hanging fruit. Not every innovative company should apply. Sometimes the best support is helping a company realise early that its time and resources would be better spent elsewhere.

Time codes:
02:03 Guest introduction and fly in
06:55 Supporting Walk with Path
21:14 How CopenVirk Supports Companies
36:05 Reflections

Experienced Exploitation – From Results to Real-World Value
With Carmen Bianca Socaciu

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Exploitation is ultimately about what happens to the results of an EU-funded project beyond the project itself. In episode #246, I’m joined by Carmen Bianca Socaciu, who has worked with exploitation for more than a decade, to explore what that process actually looks like in practice.

We move from identifying results and developing value propositions to understanding customer needs, business models, market conditions and the people inside partner organisations who can actually make decisions. Carmen also explains why exploitation is as much about trust, curiosity and human relationships as it is about business tools.

And we look at the difficult cases too: sustainable technologies that cannot break even, market conditions that change during a four-year project, results that are ready for market but have nobody willing to pick them up, and the uncomfortable gap between publicly funded R&D timelines and commercial reality.

Time codes:
02:20 Guest introduction and fly in
06:35 Understanding Exploitation
12:01 From Project Results to Real-World Use
24:37 Sustainability, Regulation and Long-Term Impact
40:11 Becoming a Strong Exploitation Partner
47:56 Reflections and advice
50:42 The toughest challenge

The RM Framework Quality Label – Making Training Comparable
RM Framework Series #11 with Blanka Csite from EARMA

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Research management training across Europe comes in many different forms—from accredited university programmes to short professional courses, micro-credentials and training delivered by professional associations. In episode #11 of the RM Framework Series, I’m joined by Blanka Csite from EARMA to explore how the project’s proposed Quality Label could help bring more transparency to that landscape.
Blanka explains why the current approach is voluntary, developmental and proportionate rather than pass-or-fail, and how self-assessment can help training providers reflect on their purpose, target group, learning outcomes and links to RM Comp competencies and proficiency levels. We also look at what the Quality Label could mean for research managers themselves: clearer information about what different programmes actually offer, making it easier to identify training that matches their own professional development needs. The concept is still being refined through pilot feedback and wider consultation with the European research management community.

Time codes:
02:13 Guest introduction and fly in
04:17 Introducing the Quality Label
09:59 Developing the Quality Label Approach
19:06 Supporting Training Across the ERA
25:13 From Development to Testing
29:05 Reflections