Research projects to be proud of

- There are now more EU projects than ever before. The networks are more developed. Companies have done a great job building strategic networks and founding their partners, says Christophe Pinck, leader of international relations in the Eyde Cluster.  

More projects during the corona times

The corona situation has been a boost for companies to join projects, and to think differently. This, on the other hand, has also made it a little more difficult to get EU fundings, in a world where even more projects are applying for fundings. When the number of applications increases in an already competitive environment, as 2020 is an unprecedented year. 

 "It´s a tough system to maneuver, and to succeed with the application, we have to deliver top results to succeed" notes Pinck. 

Yet, the graph is rising for assigned EU fundings in the last 5 years. 2020 is a year with a striking amount of research projects supported by both Innovation Norway, The Research Council of Norway, and EU.

The Incubis project is the first EU project The Eyde Cluster secretariat is joining. The project has altogether got 3 Million euros, where 2,6 of these are disposed of by Eyde Cluster. Christophe Pinck and Stine Skagestad, leaders of circular change, are attending from the cluster secretariat.

The members of the Eyde Cluster have have secured around 400 MNOK of the H2020 fundings in conjunction with their international partners. 

Entrepreneurship in clusters 

Christophe Pinck, at this time, is most proud of one of the other projects he is joining, but not yet accepted by any EU fundings, despite its «excellent» ratings from the EU commission. He thinks this is a good case for EU fundings when new possibilities show up in Horizon Europe. It´s about Cluster-based entrepreneurship in the supplier companies, connected to big process industry environments. The focus is on carbon capture, separation processes, cleaning processes, energy savings, and other possible making technologies which can keep the values in the value chain, and at the same time make for a greener industry. The project is in cooperation with three other strong cluster environments in Europe.  

- We hope for more support on this, little by little. We are in collaboration with the best minds in the industry from France, Netherland and Norway, says Pinck. 

Make contact for support

Pinck suggests that companies make contact with him, if they need assistance maneuvering, through what can be a daunting task, navigating the EU funding process. Pinck also thinks it would be most advantageous for inexperienced partners to partner with companies that are more familiar with the EU funding systems. There will be more possibilities coming this Autumn 2021, and it would be a good idea to get the ball rolling, sooner than later,  and look for suitable partners. 

- This is a cooperative innovation. It's  a very exciting time. I  would like to see new companies, who are seeking for new and challenging endeavors take part in the EU funds, that are readily available, says Pinck.