Romania has excellent ideas and successful examples of securing funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC), but there is a need for more high-quality funding applications, given that projects from other countries benefit from better preparation—including support from universities and government agencies—Momchil Sabev, Director of the EIC and SMEs Executive Agency, said on Monday.

'It is true that European Innovation Council funding is not concentrated in Eastern Europe, but this is because we are looking for the best. We fund the best of the best, and this sometimes means funding more applications from other countries. It is not because there is a lack of excellent ideas here, but simply because the preparation is far superior elsewhere; applicants there receive the necessary support—whether from universities or government agencies—to prepare their applications in a way that better aligns with what we are looking for,' Sabev stated at a specialized event.

He emphasized the need not only to increase the number of submitted projects but, above all, to improve their quality.

'We need to get the message out: apply and take advantage of the opportunity to seek funding from us. While we already have some excellent examples in Romania, we need to receive more high-quality applications—not just a higher volume, but applications of high quality—to ensure their success. I believe this requires a combination of our support and, crucially, support at the local level—whether from universities, National Contact Points (NCPs) for the European Innovation Council, or government agencies,' he explained.

In his view, Romania possesses excellent researchers and ideas, yet one of the challenges lies in the transition from research to the actual development of startups and their subsequent scaling—a process requiring support, including through funding mechanisms.

Referring to accessing EIC funding, Sabev pointed out that the selection process is rigorous.

'We have a very low support award rate—under 4% across all instruments—simply because, as I mentioned, we select the best of the best. However, we evaluate companies not only based on technology but also on viability and organizational structure; we analyze the team members to see if they appear to be the right people to implement the project, as well as commercialization—which is extremely important—the probability of success, the potential market, development strategies, and so on,' he stated.

Sabev also drew attention to the need for startups to choose a funding instrument appropriate for their stage of development and to carefully verify their eligibility before submitting an application.

'This is not just any EU funding; it has its own specific requirements and characteristics. That is why it is crucial to conduct an assessment to identify the right funding program and to evaluate whether you—and your startup—are ready for it, thereby ensuring a much better chance of success and securing the funding you need,' explained the EIC official.

According to him, founders do not always accurately assess the level of project readiness for accessing European instruments.

'What we observe is that companies and founders who passionately believe in their inventions sometimes fail to accurately assess their projects' eligibility and readiness for our applications, and, unfortunately, we reject quite a few of them. So, after verifying eligibility—naturally—prepare and apply. Make sure to follow our application guidelines very carefully,' added Sabev.

He also mentioned the use of artificial intelligence in preparing funding applications, recommending that it be used for aspects such as proofreading, formatting, or improving the presentation, rather than for generating the applications in their entirety.

'Use it if it helps you with typos or presentation. (...) Use it, but please do not over-rely on artificial intelligence—ensure the applications aren't generated by AI. (...) If it's a matter of formatting, typos, presentation, more persuasive wording, or better English expression, then it's fine,' added Momchil Sabev.

European funding opportunities for the development and expansion of deep-tech startups and scale-ups were presented on Monday in Bucharest at an event attended by experts from the European Innovation Council (EIC) and the European Commission. The event was organized by the European Innovation Council in partnership with the Ministry of Investments and European Projects (MIPE), Techcelerator, UEFISCDI, and Endeavor Romania. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Nicoleta Banciulea;EN - writing by: Catalin Cristian Trandafir)