These small grants funded by the EU are becoming increasingly common. But setting them up is hard work
Photo credits: European Union
Cascade funding, trickle-down money from big EU projects, is bringing more small players into Horizon Europe. But setting up these mini-grants is anything but simple.
After being around in one form or another for years, cascade funding has become increasingly common in Horizon Europe. Officially known as Financial Support for Third Parties (FSTP), cascade funding gives lump-sum grants to small organisations who would otherwise not be able to compete in big, time-consuming EU research funding competitions.
“Not every organisation has the capacity to do a Horizon Europe project as a project partner on their own,” says Martin Baumgartner, team leader for legal and financial aspects of EU research programmes at the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). With cascade funding, “it's possible to get work done by small SMEs you would not reach with the standard calls.”
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