What is a partnership-based innovation project?

Partnership-Based Innovation Project, Definition:

A partnership-based innovation project, or collaborative innovation project, is an innovation project involving multiple stakeholders. These stakeholders are referred to as “partners” and form a “consortium.” These different types of organizations collaborate over a defined period to achieve specific shared objectives, such as pooling R&D expenses or sharing the risks associated with development.

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One of the key strengths of partnership-based innovation projects is that they provideaccess to partial—or, in some exceptional cases, full—financial support. This support can range from a few thousand euros to several million.

Funding organizations, or “funding agencies,” such as Horizon 2020, InnoEnergy (formerly known as KIC InnoEnergy), Eurostars, FUI, ADEME, etc., operate at the European and national levels. They regularly launch funding programs. This financial assistance, in the form of grants and/or repayable advances, supports innovation projects based on the nature of their activities, such as R&D, industrial investments, industrial demonstration projects, etc.

Beyond financial support, collaborative projects are, above all, powerful tools for accelerating your growth and opening up new opportunities for collaboration and business. In fact, through these collaborative innovation projects, your company will be able to forge strong business relationships with its partners. These collaborations can extend even beyond the project’s lifespan, securing your business through trusted partners or end users who participated in the project.

Each partner contributes according to its own expertise and resources. The goal of collaborative projects is to provide each partner with the expertise and tools it lacks internally, thereby creating genuine synergies. Smaller organizations, such as startups, can benefit from the expertise of large corporations that would have been out of reach had they not participated in a collaborative research and development project, and thus gain access to actionable results more quickly than they could on their own.

The Benefits of a Partnership-Based Innovation Project

• Collaborative projects make it easier to develop innovative projects by leveraging the combined expertise of the companies working together.
• Gain access to expertise and tools that you don't have in-house.
• Secure funding for your project more easily and quickly by applying to European and national collaborative programs and calls for proposals.
• Pool your research and developmentexpenses.
• Share the risks associated with your development projects.
• Launch the marketing phase (collaboration with beta testers and future customers, commercial agreements with partners, etc.)

Companies involved in partnership-based innovation projects

These projects and funding opportunities are open to all types of organizations, whether private or public. But be aware that each call for proposals has its own specific requirements regarding the types of partners expected.

For example, some calls for proposals do not provide funding to large corporations, while others are reserved exclusively for SMEs (such as the SME Instrument under the Horizon 2020 funding program). It is therefore important to carefully review the various calls for proposals to ensure your project is eligible before you begin preparing your application.

Example of an Innovation Project in Partnership

One of the prime examples of our support is the PRESTIGE project.

PRESTIGE is a European project led by the CEA (French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission) under the H2020 framework, one of Europe’s largest investment programs. Carried out in collaboration with Dynergie, this project focuses on the development of new, highly functional printed materials for mass-market applications to address the contemporary challenges of urban life. The result: a project approved for €6 million in funding, involving sixteen partners — each possessing a key technology— spanning eight countries: Finland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Greece, the United Kingdom, and France. These sixteen complementary partners have been working hand in hand for the past 18 months, using a design-based methodology with an ambition of international scope.

Innovation partnership projects are open and accessible to everyone, provided that participants are well prepared. Above all, they serve as powerful catalysts for accelerating your development and opening up new opportunities for collaboration and business.

Would you like to learn more about collaborative projects? Check out our white paper for examples and key points to consider before getting started.

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