Why us
We do one thing.
EU Funding Partners advises on large-scale European public funding — IPCEI and the State-aid instruments around it — and nothing else. Generalist consultancies scan hundreds of programmes. We work full time on the one procedure where a single company can secure from a few million to over a billion euros, as a grant — not a loan, not equity.
IPCEI is decided by economics. So are we.
An IPCEI is not a grant call. It is a State-aid procedure, and the Commission’s assessment turns on economic questions: the funding gap, the counterfactual, the distortion of competition. Law firms argue compatibility; we quantify it. Our funding-gap models and counterfactuals are built by economists and stress-tested against Commission precedent before the Commission ever sees them.
We know the questions before they are asked.
Every notified file faces a long list of Commission questions — companies report hundreds of queries per project. We maintain a structured base of DG COMP questions and answers across IPCEI waves, from health and microelectronics to cloud, batteries and hydrogen. Your answers are drafted before the questions arrive.
We execute. We don’t just advise.
We draft the project portfolio, build the funding-gap file, prepare the market and competition chapters, sit in the ministry meetings and answer the Commission until approval. Your team keeps building the project; we carry the file.
Multi-country is our home ground.
Rules, budgets and calendars differ across Member States — sometimes for the same IPCEI. We have handled files across Member States throughout Europe and maintain working relationships with national administrations and the Commission’s State-aid unit. Where to file, with which entity, in which consortium: we answer that before you commit.
From before the call to after the cash.
The cheapest way to influence an IPCEI is before it officially exists — and an award in Brussels is not yet cash in your account. We work both ends: scope and expression-of-interest strategy upstream; grant agreements, disbursement and compliance obligations downstream.
Even the biggest buyers of IPCEI advice don’t need it. You might not either.
The largest IPCEI beneficiaries have internal teams that have been through several waves. They could file the next application without anyone’s help — and they still hire expensive advisers. Why? Because an external economist’s name on a funding gap carries more weight than a number a company asserts about itself. They are buying a third-party stamp, and for them it is worth the price. The adviser then shows their logo to the next client as proof of being indispensable. Don’t read those lists that way. And don’t pay stamp prices if what you need is help — or a full package if you only need one thing.
Pay for what you need.
We support the full mission — from project design to Commission approval — when that is what you need. But we also work ad-hoc: a review of your funding-gap file before submission, a workshop for your team on the FGQ or spillovers, support on the Commission’s questions only, a second opinion on instrument choice. And we train your internal team to do this work without us — we would rather leave capability behind than dependency. Our pricing follows what you need and your financial situation, not a standard package.
Our incentives are yours.
Part of our remuneration is tied to the aid actually notified. And a large part of our fees can qualify as IPCEI-eligible costs — meaning the grant itself can carry much of the cost of obtaining it.
