Today Schuman Associates attended the info day in Madrid on second Interreg Europe call. Both, the EU Funds Unit from the Spanish Ministry of Public Affairs and the Interreg Secretariat, shared with the audience key information and advices to help Spanish participants in the process of preparation of competitive proposals for this second round.
If you are interested see below our post in Spanish.

From connectivity and digital skills to public services, EU countries have made progress since last year which marked the launch of the Digital Single Market Strategy by the European Commission. Yes, the EU is progressing, but slowly.

Due to the high specialisation of each organisation, it is crucial to collaborate with other bodies to benefit from synergies and from  different expertise.  But how to find the right partner for the right project? This is a big challenge for every instituion involved in Horizon 2020 projects, might it be industries, research organisations, SMEs, or universities.

Distinct from the well-known Brussels-based institutions, decentralised agencies are another important component of the European Union ecosystem. These bodies have been set up by the EU in different Member States to carry out technical, scientific or managerial tasks that help institutions make and implement policies.

The SME Instrument under the Horizon 2020 has since its launch in 2014 attracted more than 10.000 individual applications, but only 12% of them are good enough to be considered for funding.

In February 2016 Schuman Associates Brussels Headquarters and local offices gathered together for the annual «Away Day» to share best practices, reflect on company's values and present the business strategies for 2016.  

  Schuman Associates is proud to have been selected by the European Commission to work as advisors on the setting up of the Broadband Competence Offices (BCO) network. The objective is to accelerate the roll out of broadband infrastructure using EU funds in Member States. Through its specific experience in this sector, Schuman Associates will contribute to the exchange of best practices and recommendation on implementation structures for Broadband investments in Member States and Regions. Read more on: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/broadband-competence-offices

The European Commission will invest almost €16 billion in Research and Innovation in the next two years under Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation funding scheme. The full package of 2016-2017 Work Programmes is available for downloading below, including the SME Instrument Work Programme.

We assist H2020-proposers in preparing competitive, high-quality proposals. Make a difference. Increase your chances of winning and leverage the feedback of experienced, independent experts; As if evaluated – but in time to help make your proposal outstanding and leading edge! The ExPERT™ service is conducted in compliance with the EC-evaluation procedure by H2020-experienced experts. Its purpose is to provide you with independent, more detailed and more specific expert's feedback based on the official evaluation criteria S/T-Excellence, Implementation and Impact. It complements the Commission’s Proposal Pre-Check Service with an individual, constructive, criteria-based feedback. The ExPERT™ Feedback is based on our experts’ in-depth subject matter expertise as well as knowledge and experience preparing, assessing and managing EU projects. Our pool of experts is representative of an academic, industry and SME-perspective. This is a joint initiative of Dr. Andreas Weser and Schuman Associates. To learn more download ExPERT brochure or check our website.

The European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM) organised last 2nd and 3rd March a workshop on EU funding for NGOs.

We are delighted to announce that Schuman Associates has further expanded in Europe with the opening of our new Greek presence.

Leading Brussels EU consultancy, Schuman Associates have teamed up with top Hungarian business management and consulting group OTP Hungaro-Projekt in order to pool their expertise and network for the benefit of both companies and their clients in the sphere of Horizon 2020.

27 November, 
The Nickel Institute hosts important debate in European Parliament with MEP Paul Rübig on 'Europe 2020: impact and challenges for SMEs'