One of the most important points that proposal and grant application writers should master is to create innovative ideas and approaches. This is relatively difficult even for experienced grant applicants that are required to come up with innovative ideas and practices as the cornerstone for winning European funded projects.
In this blog, I am providing a well-established approach based on my work and coaching with highly innovative and creative people that have been successful in developing successful European research and innovation grant applications (namely FP6, FP7, Horizon 2020) and pretty soon on Horizon Europe.
In principle, there are 6 steps in a virtual cycle that should be followed in a continuous way.

- Challenge the status quo
- Have joint meals
- Associate
- Note/Observe
- Generate questions
- Experiment
For more details, please check my video below
For adding further value to what you have learned from this article/video, you can now register in my Funding Expert Accelerator Programme that in addition to have exclusive access every month to unique in-depth trainings on EU funds that I deliver nowhere else but only in this programme, you can also have an one-to-one live session with me remotely where I can guide you specifically on any challenges you are facing (e.g. your strong and weak points and how to work for becoming a great funding expert, which funding programmes can support your idea or your organisation’s mission, how to get involved in proposals as partner, how to deal with specific issues in regards to a grant application or a funded project that you are involved, etc.) You set the agenda for our discussion and coaching session according to your own needs.