Insights

What does it mean for me that the European Union budget decisions are finally taking a remarkable step forward? The EU budget negotiators are discussing the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027, which also includes a big share of the innovation funding of EU. Now that we almost have a financial framework, we can start making decisions about the parts in it, including, for example, the Horizon Europe programme. As another positive result, the EP budget negotiators secured an additional 16 B€ to reinforce the flagship programmes.

The European Association of Innovation Consultants (EAIC) was launched on 5 November 2020. What originally started as an informal working group in September 2019, was formalised by the members as an association that now gathers more than 40 members active across Europe. The aim is to foster the discussion on common interests with a possibility of future collaboration and actions. Founder of Spinverse, Pekka Koponen, was one of the founding members of the earlier working group and we are glad to see him elected as President of EIAC.

Partnering up to solve grand challenges is the only way to go. You spread the risk, access new perspectives, open up new resourcing models, and tap into scalable R&D. It is not easy, but it is becoming easier thanks to new types of European and national funding instruments combined with more acceptance across ecosystems of organisations. Siloed approaches to creativity of new products and services tether the imagination to the organisation chart and short-term measurements.

We are glad to introduce our newest experts to the growing family of Spinverse. Our new colleagues complement our already strong expert teams with their expertise on forestry, bioeconomy, advanced energy sources, forestry, EU policies, and health tech – all very hot sectors in today’s industry landscape. Meet Jyrki, Anna, Sonja, Heli, and Jayden.

Due to the unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, the organisers of CTO of the Year Europe - Orgalim, EIRMA and Spinverse - have decided to arrange the next award voting and event in 2021. The dates for a rescheduled award event will be announced in the course of 2021. 

We are all waiting for more news on the progress of Horizon Europe, the next big European framework programme for research and innovation for the years 2021-2027. Here are some updates to the current situation regarding decisions and timeline of Horizon Europe and some other European funding instruments for you to be able to start the preparations for your project proposal.

The Chalmers researcher Kasper Moth-Poulsen's unique solar energy system, MOST, has been granted just over 4.3 M€ in funding from the prestigious EU programme, Future Emerging Technologies (FET) within the Horizon 2020 framework. "This project would not have been possible without IMCG's professional help. IMCG was involved from the start and helped me to identify funding options, how to find good partners, how to structure the project and how to present all this in the proposal," Kasper says.

Spinverse has accumulated years of experience on professionally leading and orchestrating innovation ecosystems with varying levels of complexity and size. Recently our experts Laura Koponen, Markku Heino and Sari Kola joined forces with Ulla Koivukoski to share their experiences in a brand-new Ecosystem Handbook. Spinverse also offers a renewed service portfolio to help with the inevitable challenges of working in ecosystems. Read here how we can help you and your company to succeed in ecosystems and make a real impact together with your partners!

The Finnish economic success has been based on high-quality education and research. However, Finnish companies are currently investing significantly less in research and development than ten years ago. In 2010, the Finnish government began to decrease its annual support for cooperation between universities and companies by 250 M€. Read here our summary of an article by Swedish Yle where, among other experts, our managing director Laura Koponen was interviewed.

Horizon Europe, the EU’s next framework programme for research and innovation, is approaching fast after the policymakers are returning from their August holidays. The work has already commenced in Brussels — next steps are being taken to finalise the Horizon Europe programme. We are sharing here our insight into how Horizon Europe evolves at the moment and how some other interesting funding opportunities, such as the new New Generation EU, await innovative and sustainable industries.