EU funding expert support for strong applications

In principle, any legal entity established in an EU Member State or an associated country can participate: private companies (including SMEs and startups), universities and research institutes, NGOs, municipalities, hospitals, and public bodies. For Horizon Europe, most calls require a consortium of at least 3 independent organisations from 3 different eligible countries — but this is a minimum, and many strong proposals involve 6 to 10 partners. For Digital Europe, eligibility varies per call and some actions are open to single applicants. For Erasmus+, universities, vocational training providers, youth organisations, and companies can all be lead applicants or partners.

What matters far more than formal eligibility is the quality of the consortium and the relevance of your project idea. A technically strong idea with the wrong partner combination will fail. INTERALTER helps you assess your eligibility in full, identify the right programme and call for your specific situation, and — critically — build a consortium that maximises your score across all evaluation criteria. Our network of pre-vetted European partners allows us to accelerate consortium formation for clients who do not yet have international research relationships. If you are not sure whether your organisation qualifies, request a free evaluation and we will give you a concrete answer within 48 hours.

A well-prepared, competitive proposal for Horizon Europe or Digital Europe typically requires 3 to 5 months of focused work. This timeline covers four major phases: (1) Concept development and call analysis — identifying the right call, matching your idea to the evaluation criteria, and defining the project scope; (2) Consortium building — identifying and onboarding partners, negotiating roles and responsibilities, and drafting letters of intent; (3) Technical writing — the core work of writing the proposal narrative, including the project description, methodology, workplan, exploitation and dissemination strategy, and impact arguments; and (4) Budget and administrative preparation — constructing the budget, completing the eCPIC submission forms, and running final quality checks.

Many organisations underestimate this timeline and start too late, producing rushed proposals that score below the threshold. INTERALTER begins working with clients as soon as a relevant call is identified — often 4 to 6 months before the deadline. Our structured preparation process, which includes writing templates, peer review, and mock evaluation scoring, consistently produces proposals that exceed the threshold across all evaluation dimensions. If your timeline is shorter, we have also helped organisations prepare fundable proposals in 6 to 8 weeks — but early engagement always produces better outcomes.

EU programmes offer some of the most generous public funding rates available anywhere in the world. In Horizon Europe, research and innovation actions (RIA) fund 100% of eligible costs for all types of participants — companies, universities, and public bodies alike. Innovation actions (IA), which are closer to market, fund 100% for non-profit entities and 70% for for-profit companies. This means that for a Greek SME participating in a Horizon Europe consortium with a budget allocation of €500,000, the EU grant covers €350,000 with no repayment obligation.

In the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), co-funding rates typically range from 50% to 75%, with some strategic deployment actions reaching higher rates for SMEs. In Erasmus+, funding is provided as lump sums calibrated by country and activity type, covering the bulk of staff, travel, and project costs. In all cases, the grant is non-repayable and does not dilute equity — making it the most cost-effective form of external financing available to organisations of any size.

Beyond direct funding, successful EU project participation generates significant indirect value: peer-reviewed publications, intellectual property, new international partnerships, and the credibility of being an EC-funded organisation. INTERALTER provides full budget planning services to ensure your organisation maximises its eligible cost recovery within EC rules — an area where incorrect planning often leaves significant funding unclaimed.

Most EU funding consultancies operate as generalists: they know the application process but lack deep knowledge of the technologies their clients are working on. INTERALTER is built differently. We are first and foremost a technology company — our founding team has hands-on expertise in Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and the Internet of Things. This means we do not just format your technical content into a proposal template; we actively contribute to the technical design, help identify gaps in your methodology, and write the sections that evaluators — who are themselves technical experts — find most compelling.

Second, we offer genuine end-to-end support. Many consultants hand over a first draft and leave the client to manage revisions, partner communications, budget negotiations, and submission. INTERALTER remains actively involved from the first stakeholder call to the moment the project is submitted and evaluated. If a project is funded, we can also support project management, reporting, and audit preparation throughout the project lifetime.

Third, our team includes Professor Emeritus Leonidas Papakonstantinidis as Special Advisor — an academic with over 30 years of experience in EU programme design and evaluation who has served on EC advisory panels. His involvement adds both strategic insight and academic credibility to proposals in the social sciences, economics, and policy areas.

Finally, our track record speaks clearly: a 30% approval rate in a programme where the European average is 23% means that choosing INTERALTER measurably increases your probability of funding. We are selective about the projects we take on — we only commit when we genuinely believe your idea is fundable — so when we say a proposal is ready, we mean it.

Starting is simple and carries no obligation. Fill in the Free Evaluation form on this page or email us at info@inter-alter.com with a short description of your organisation and your project idea. You will receive a personal reply within 48 hours — not an automated response, but a substantive assessment from one of our senior consultants.

If your idea appears fundable, we schedule a 60-minute consultation call at no cost. On that call, we discuss the specific programme and call that best fits your project, the consortium configuration we would recommend, the budget structure, and the realistic timeline to submission. You leave the call with a concrete roadmap regardless of whether you decide to work with us.

If you decide to proceed, we formalise the engagement with a straightforward service agreement that defines deliverables, timelines, and fees. Our fee structure is transparent: we charge a fixed preparation fee based on the complexity of the proposal, and no success fees or hidden charges. We do not charge on a percentage of the grant — an industry practice we consider ethically problematic and practically misaligned.

From contract signature, you are immediately assigned a dedicated project lead who will be your single point of contact throughout the process. You will have access to our project management workspace, a shared writing environment, and regular check-in calls to track progress. Most clients describe working with INTERALTER as the clearest and most structured process they have experienced in the EU funding space.