When we are asked whether we could coordinate a Horizon Europe proposal, the first thing to settle is which of two jobs is meant. They share a title and most of the work, and they put the coordinator in a different position in the consortium.
We have written before about finding partners and negotiating the consortium agreement. This piece is about the coordinator's own role, and the two tools we rely on to keep a proposal honest while it comes together.
One way allows a level of independent oversight of the work. The other gives the coordinator technical skin in the game.
Two ways to coordinate
Coordinator only. We help build the project proposal, assess its likelihood of success, shape the arguments and build a balanced consortium to deliver it. If the project goes ahead, we carry on with project management and coordination, and we can support dissemination and project close-down.
Coordinator and executing partner. All of the above, plus direct involvement in the work packages where we can add value.
An argument can be made for either, and it depends on the project. The first gives the consortium a level of independent oversight of the work: the coordinator is not delivering the technical work it oversees. The second embeds the coordinator more deeply and gives it technical skin in the game.
Finding the gaps with organisational personas
A proposal can start from the germ of an idea or from something more fully developed. Either way, the first job is to explore its fit to the target call. Then, as the consortium comes together, we examine the proposal and its concepts for quality, for likelihood of success and for technical gaps.
Some gaps can be filled by partners already in the room. For the rest we write an organisational persona: a description of the kind of organisation that would fill the gap. We agree the personas with the rest of the consortium and then go scouting for the missing roles. In many cases the missing role can be filled by an organisation already in an existing partner's network. Sometimes it takes more outreach. It depends on the project and the need.
The persona turns "we need another partner" into a description the whole consortium can agree and search against.
Stage gates, worked back from the deadline
All of this runs against a tightly scoped timeline, worked back from the submission date for the call. Three things go into it:
- Go/no-go stage gates along the way, so that nobody's time is wasted on a weak or incomplete proposal
- A buffer before the submission date, to allow for slow partner responses
- A backup plan based around the next anticipated call, in case the proposal is too slow in coming together
A no-go at a gate does not end the idea. It moves the effort to the next anticipated call.
There is more to the process than this, but these are the parts we start from. Our research services page sets out the programmes we work in. If you are putting a Horizon Europe proposal together and want to talk through the options, get in touch.
