A successful Horizon Europe project begins with more than just a strong proposal. It starts with building the right consortium. Your consortium is not only a formal requirement but also a major factor influencing your proposal’s evaluation and eventual success. Horizon Europe reviewers scrutinise the consortium’s composition to assess whether it can realistically implement the project’s objectives.
This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to construct a high-performing consortium for Horizon Europe projects by prioritising functionality, strategic partnerships, and balanced management.
Why a Strong Horizon Europe Consortium Matters
Consortia lie at the heart of every Horizon Europe collaborative project. While the research concept drives the vision, the consortium determines whether that vision is realistically executable. Reviewers evaluate whether the team is cohesive, complementary, and capable.
A consortium that reflects functional logic and project-specific needs not only increases your evaluation score but also reduces implementation risks down the road.
Horizon Europe Consortium Requirements: Who Can Participate?
Before inviting any partners, it’s essential to understand the minimum eligibility requirements for forming a Horizon Europe consortium:
- At least three independent legal entities from three different eligible countries
- One of these must be from an EU Member State
- The others can come from Associated Countries (e.g., Norway, UK)
The European Commission encourages diversity, interdisciplinarity, and balance across sectors, including universities, SMEs, NGOs, and public institutions. While the minimum is three partners, competitive projects often involve 10–15 participants spread across multiple work packages. In such projects, the Project Coordinator usually leads the proposal process and manages grant administration post-award.
Common Consortium Mistakes to Avoid in Horizon Europe Projects
One of the most frequent pitfalls in consortium formation is relying too heavily on pre-existing contacts. While trusted collaborators can add value, forming a team based solely on prior relationships may lead to gaps in expertise or overlapping functions.
Mistake 1: Relying on Your Friends
While trust is important, a friend without the right skills can create redundancies or add administrative burden. Choosing partners based on just familiarity rather than project needs often results in redundancy or administrative burden.
Mistake 2: Misaligned Partners
Even highly capable organizations can underperform if their expertise doesn’t directly support the project functions. When two partners share similar responsibilities without justification on why both are needed, reviewers may reduce your score under the “Implementation” criterion. Choosing familiar collaborators without aligning them to the project’s functions is a frequent error.
Pre-Award Strategies: Building a Consortium for Horizon Europe Success
At the pre-award stage, your focus should be singular: design a consortium that perfectly aligns with the project’s objectives and logic. In other words, begin by focusing solely on what the project needs to succeed, not who you know.
1. Start with Project Functions, Not People
Don’t look for people first. Instead, break down your proposal into core functions:
- Coordination,
- Data management,
- Dissemination & exploitation,
- User needs,
- Technical implementation,
- Technical and SSH research,
- Clinical studies,
- Policy recommendations,
- Training,
- etc.
2. Discuss early who materializes impact
When shaping your consortium, it’s essential to identify early on which partners will lead on impact.
One of the most common mistakes in Horizon Europe proposals is treating impact as synonymous with project results. However, impact, according to the European Commission, is not just about what your project produces, but about the broader value these outputs create after the project ends. This includes societal, economic, environmental, or policy-level change. To align with this expectation, it is essential to clarify which partners will actively drive this value creation.
These are often:
- consultancies that translate research into policy or systemic change,
or
- commercial partners who turn results into market-ready products and services.
For example, at Future Needs we play a dual role:
- drafting the Impact section at the proposal stage and
- ensuring during implementation that all partners follow through on dissemination, exploitation, and long-term value delivery.
If you’d like support defining your project’s impact logic or identifying the right impact-driving roles, feel free to schedule a short call with our expert team to explore how we can help.
Tip: Discussing this openly in the pre-award phase ensures your consortium structure demonstrates a credible pathway to real-world impact, exactly what Horizon Europe reviewers look for.
3. Map Entry and Exit Points and Visualize Logic Flow
Reviewers want clarity on how and when each partner contributes.
Define:
- Task entry and exit points
- Interdependencies
- Milestones and deliverables
Use a Pert chart rather than relying only on a Gantt chart. Pert charts clarify the logical progression and dependencies of work packages and tasks.
Tip: The “Implementation” section of the proposal accounts for 33% of your score, based on the equal weighting of the three evaluation criteria (excellence, impact, implementation) used by Horizon Europe reviewers. Logical clarity and role fit are critical.
Mapping Project Functions to Ideal Consortium Partners
Once the core functions are established, you can start transforming them into partner profiles.
Step 1: Role Definition
Translate functions into job descriptions.
For instance:
- Data Work Package Lead → Data privacy compliance, FAIR data principles, prior H2020 experience
- Dissemination Partner → Science communication background, media connections, policy influence
Tip: Draft role descriptions as if you were hiring: “Seeking SME with IoT deployment experience and prior EU funding participation.”
Step 2: Categorise Needs
To avoid functional gaps and overlaps, each partner should serve a clear purpose that links directly to a work package or deliverable. To ensure that, group your needs by function type:
- Core Research
- Technical Development
- Societal Impact
- Dissemination and Communication
- Coordination and Quality Assurance
Outcome: A clear matrix mapping work packages to partner profiles.
If you’re unsure how to turn your project structure into this kind of functional map or how to translate that map into real partner roles, this is something we routinely support in proposal development. Schedule a short call with our expert team to explore how we can help.
How to Recruit the Right Partners for Your Horizon Europe Project
Once you know what you’re looking for, it’s time to start recruiting strategically.
Best Channels to Find Project Partners:
- EU portals (e.g., CORDIS, Funding & Tenders Portal)
- Horizon Europe NCP networks
- Horizon Europe brokerage events and thematic webinars
- LinkedIn, academic networks and ResearchGate groups
Balance the Consortium:
Diversified consortia perform better in evaluation. Balance:
- Combine academic excellence (universities, RTOs)
- Applied innovation (SMEs, Big industry players)
- Societal relevance (NGOs, clusters, policy makers)
Tip: Use open Expression of Interest (EOI) calls with clear criteria to attract ideal candidates beyond your network.
Post-Award Management in Horizon Europe Consortia
After winning the grant, the focus shifts to execution. Managing a large, diverse team becomes a challenge if not carefully structured.
Resolve Role Clarity Early
Avoid miscommunication by defining lead organisations for each work package and deliverable in the Grant Agreement Preparation (GAP) phase.
Limit Non-Essential Partners
Avoid including “nice-to-have” partners. Each should play a defined, necessary role.
Clarify Governance Early
Negotiate the Consortium Agreement during the grant preparation phase to define:
- Voting rights
- Data sharing and IP policies
- Roles in conflict resolution and financial management
Conclusion: Building a Consortium That Wins Horizon Europe Funding
Building a consortium is both art and strategy.
The key is to start with the project’s functional needs and then select the right partners to deliver them. Avoid the temptation to rely on familiarity or past collaborations alone. A well-structured, logic-driven consortium not only increases your chances of funding but also ensures smooth project implementation. Invest the time upfront to map functions, design roles, and recruit strategically.
The return is a more competitive proposal, higher reviewer scores, and an implementation-ready team.
About the authors
Anna Palaiologk, the founder of Future Needs, is a Research & Innovation Consultant with 18 years of experience in proposal writing and project management. She has worked as a project Coordinator and Work Package leader in 30+ EU projects and has authored 50+ successful proposals. Her research background is in economics, business development and policy-making. Email Anna at anna@futureneeds.eu.
Chariton Palaiologk, the Head of the EU Project Management Team, is currently leading the project management of 10+ EU-funded projects. He has a background in data analysis and resource optimisation, having worked at the Greek Foundation for Research and Technology. Email Chariton at chariton@futureneeds.eu.
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