A strong business case for your Eurostars-3 application
22nd February 2023 at 4:00 pm
One way to make your Eurostars project stand out and convince the evaluators is to describe your specific business case and the market potential of the project results. The impact section of your Eurostars application will be assessed against five evaluation criteria:
- Market size,
- market access and risk,
- competitive advantage,
- clear and realistic commercialisation plans, as well as
- the economic, environmental and societal impact of your results.
With 29% of applications to Eurostars being funded, chances of success are already high. However, a strong business case will increase your chances.
A brief guide to getting the best out of your business case
To help you get an overview of what steps to consider when creating a solid business case for your project, we have created a short but informative step-by-step guide. In six steps we follow the Eurostars-3 guidelines on ‘How to complete an application’, so you can apply them directly to the application and demonstrate what your project is trying to achieve. Build on your existing business plan – if you do not have one it is high time now.
- Project results – a vague idea will not get you far. Make sure you know what the product(s), process(es) or service(es) are that you intend to develop within the project. Make a SWOT analysis and condense them into a TOWS analysis.
- Market analysis – know your market(s) and talk numbers. Think about the possible market segments you want to reach or you might even establish a whole new market. Show the size of these markets and the significance of your innovation. Describe possible barriers to market entry by looking into regulations, IPR and market acceptance tendencies.
- Competitor analysis – check out the competition. Describe the major players and what solutions there are already available on the market or will become available in the foreseeable future. Where does this leave openings for your business?
- Target customers – define your target customer segment(s) and make a detailed outline of how you will reach them including sales and distribution networks. Visualise it in a stakeholder matrix and add it to the project annexe.
- Financial plan – quantify what it will cost to bring your service or product to market within 24 months of the project’s completion. Make predictive calculations of both your own and foreign capital investments. Make a five-year plan, which combines timely and realistic goals with a thorough financial plan.
- Roadmap for commercialisation – tie all the knots from the previous steps. Be strategic and continuous in your plans to commercialise your results and enter the market space. Consider how to market, promote, distribute, and sell your innovation and give a timeline for the steps you need to take. Describe how you and your project partners each not only benefit from the project but also how they contribute to your commercialisation plan.
Moreover, start-ups that do not have balance sheets from the past two financial years are required to submit their Business Plans as part of the project application. A good way to show your business case in the application is to include a business model or other business-relevant elements attached to the proposal. This attachment is required to be a PDF document (up to 10 MB) that can be submitted with the completed application form.
Are you ready to start the application process?
Read our blog on the complete application process from start to submission. Your next application opportunity is on 13 April 2023, with another deadline expected in autumn 2023. We from accelopment have been involved in EUREKA Eurostars projects since 2010, most recently in the ongoing AirToxMonitor project, and are looking forward to supporting your Proposal Writing as well.
