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Turn scattered grants and schemes into a planned funding mix

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Many organisations apply for the scheme they know and miss instruments that would fit better or apply alongside it. That is rarely carelessness. It is that nobody has sight of the whole landscape. Potential rarely goes unused because no suitable scheme exists. More often the full overview is missing: which instruments fit the project, which exclude each other, and in what order they should be applied for.

3D Spark
Heineken
UltiMaker
2R
Coolblue
ABN AMRO
Folienwelt
KPN
qlero
Vattenfall
PostNL
mm lab
ProRail
NS
Deutsche Firmenkredit Partner
Jumbo
ANWB
ENTIAC
Bynder
selecta one
Universiteit Utrecht
Nedap
DC Smarter
VDL
Gasunie
ZWF
Fugro
Unit4
Unternehmensgruppe Albert Weil
Zeeman
Basic-Fit
fierythings

What a funding mix is not

A funding mix does not mean stacking several schemes onto the same project. It usually arises across the whole roadmap: different projects, different phases, different instruments.

The risk arises mainly after the award: through unmet conditions, project changes, ineligible costs, missing evidence or missed deadlines. In a combined mix the documentation therefore has to be cleanly separated from the outset.

What shapes your funding mix

Which instruments are open to you depends on three factors. Together they decide what is available at all.

01

Size

Size determines access. Many schemes are open only to SMEs, others are size-independent, and some carry a higher funding rate for smaller companies.

Young companies and start-ups. Often without meaningful tax liability or a long history. Instruments that work independently of profit or creditworthiness matter most here. Note that tax-based instruments generally require employees on the payroll.

SMEs. The widest choice. Here the question is rarely whether funding exists, but through which instrument and with what delimitation.

Larger companies. Fewer schemes are open, but the volumes are larger. Delimiting the eligible share becomes more important.

02

Project phase

Feasibility, development, demonstration, investment and market entry each follow their own funding logic. A project that is too early for one instrument can be exactly right for another.

03

Sector and location

The sector sets the emphasis. In most sectors development funding carries the largest share, complemented by investment and environmental schemes. The location additionally decides which regional schemes are open.

What a funding mix looks like in practice

Funding follows work as it matures: one instrument per project and phase, rather than several for the same costs.

The initial study to determine whether the process is feasible is funded by a feasibility or innovation grant: MIT Feasibility in the Netherlands, kmu-innovativ or a ZIM feasibility study in Germany.

The subsequent R&D is eligible for the R&D tax credit, WBSO in the Netherlands or Forschungszulage in Germany, which reimburses a portion of the development costs monthly or through the tax assessment.

Building the production line is matched to an investment incentive: EIA or MIA/Vamil in the Netherlands, GRW or KfW financing in Germany.

A software company building a new platform over the same period

The early feasibility of a new platform or algorithm is matched to a feasibility or innovation grant, for example MIT Feasibility in the Netherlands or a ZIM or kmu-innovativ study in Germany.

The ongoing development is eligible for the R&D tax credit, which covers software work that resolves genuine technical uncertainty.

A larger innovation or cross-border step is matched to a programme such as the EIC Accelerator or Eurostars, or a national collaboration grant: MIT R&D in the Netherlands or ZIM Cooperation in Germany.

How we work

We assess the whole landscape rather than one scheme, and we do it before the project starts. We also look at what has already been carried out and whether anything is still possible there.

Map the project portfolio.

Completed, running and planned projects are recorded and ordered by phase.

Match the instruments.

Each project is matched to the right instrument at regional, national and European level.

Set the sequence.

Deadlines, submission windows and dependencies decide what is applied for first.

Delimit the costs.

The same costs may not be funded twice. That delimitation is built into the application, not into the accounting.

Figures you can hold us to

95%

Success rate

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Resources & Insights

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A family business with 650 employees, 49 stores and the conviction that the person behind the product is what counts. Together with Ignite Group, Schuurman Schoenen translated that vision into its own academy, more…

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I only need to supply the necessary documents and Ignite Group takes care of the rest. It gives us the freedom to focus on developing our technology and selling our products.

Eric Pellis Co-owner and Managing Director, INUTEQ
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Rather start with your industry?

Every industry has its own programmes, deadlines and priorities. Find funding along your sector rather than your objective.

FAQs about funding advisory

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Many customers come to us alongside their existing advisers. The difference is coverage and specialisation: we track thousands of programmes across grants, subsidies, tax and financing, we plan them as a coordinated mix rather than in isolation, and we manage the full lifecycle through to audit. That tends to find and protect more than a generalist can.

Not for the same costs. Different cost elements of one project can run through different instruments where the delimitation is clean. More often the mix arises across different projects anyway.

That depends on the instrument, and it is not always a payment. Grants are paid after approval and drawdown. Tax-based instruments work through tax, reducing the burden rather than paying out cash. Loans and guarantees work through terms and availability. We order the instruments by when they actually ease your liquidity.

Usually yes, because even a single project runs through several phases. The larger gain arises once several projects run in parallel.

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