I AM BRIDGE: How an NGO Earned Its Place in Horizon Europe, not as a Placeholder, but as a Strategic Partner

ART+INN, a member of the Impacto network, has just secured a Horizon Europe project with an outstanding score of 14.60 out of 15 and full marks for Impact. Although this is not a Cluster 2 project, it belongs to the European Innovation Ecosystems programme, the lessons they shared speak directly to anyone considering entering Horizon Europe. We thought they were worth sharing.

Throughout this issue, we have repeated one idea that we believe is fundamental: Horizon Europe explicitly seeks civil society organisations and SMEs as strategic partners, not as decorative additions.

But ideas become much more convincing when supported by real stories.

That is why we invited ART+INN – VSI Menas ir Inovacijos, one of the Lithuanian members of the Impacto network, to share the experience behind their recent Horizon Europe success.

A note for transparency: I AM BRIDGE is not a Cluster 2 project.

It was funded under HORIZON-EIE-2025-02-CONNECT-01, part of the European Innovation Ecosystemsprogramme within Pillar III – Innovative Europe.

Nevertheless, both we and ART+INN felt that the lessons learned, from consortium building to the structural role of NGOs, the strategic value of international partners and evaluator feedback, are relevant across Horizon Europe and highly applicable to Cluster 2.

The same principles, viewed from a different angle.

The Project in Brief

I AM BRIDGE (Innovating through Additive Manufacturing by Building Relations, and Increasing Dialogue for a Greener Europe) connects European regions at different stages of adopting industrial additive manufacturing in order to co-develop a long-term action plan for more sustainable and inclusive industrial development.

The project addresses a coordination gap.

Although additive manufacturing can reduce material waste by up to 90% and significantly lower energy consumption compared with conventional manufacturing, only around 5% of European manufacturers have integrated it extensively into their production systems.

Leading regions continue to advance, while moderate and emerging regions struggle to keep pace, and no shared governance framework currently exists.

The consortium consists of nine beneficiaries from five countries (Italy, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Bosnia and Herzegovina), supported by eight Associated Partners in-kind.

It is almost a textbook example of the type of partnership Horizon Europe aims to support:

• three universities (Università Politecnica delle Marche as coordinator, TU Ilmenau and Kaunas University of Technology);

• two public authorities;

• one technology park;

• two NGOs—including ART+INN;

• one industry association.

The total project budget amounts to €999,997.50, funded at 100%.

ART+INN’s share is €76,160, representing 7.62% of the total budget.

The allocation is proportionate to ART+INN’s responsibilities and reflects its strategic contribution to the implementation of the project.

How ART+INN Joined the Consortium and Why It Matters

This is the point we explored most thoroughly, because it illustrates the difference between becoming a placeholder partner and becoming a co-architect of a proposal.

ART+INN did not submit an unsolicited expression of interest.

Instead, they were directly invited by the coordinator (UNIVPM), building on professional relationships established through previous collaborations.

This perfectly reflects the message we shared in our previous article about long-term networking.

The organisations already active in Horizon Europe are often your most valuable gateway into the programme.

For ART+INN, that gateway was UNIVPM, who already knew their work and specifically sought a partner with their expertise.

Even more importantly, ART+INN was invited for a clearly defined role from the very beginning, not as a generic consortium member.

Three responsibilities were agreed before proposal writing even began:

- Skills Architecture

Designing the AM Skills Commons Blueprint, a transferable training framework for additive manufacturing based on ART+INN’s expertise in short learning formats, micro-credentials and VET training assets.

- Funding Intelligence

Monitoring relevant European and national funding opportunities, including Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, CERV, Creative Europe, Digital Europe and ERDF, and translating project priorities into the language of each funding programme.

- Inclusion Practice

Embedding gender equality and accessibility into project governance, inclusive facilitation methods and outreach towards underrepresented groups, not as a policy statement, but as a formally assigned operational responsibility.

The lesson for our network is clear.

Successful Horizon proposals are not built by adding partners simply to satisfy eligibility requirements.

They are built by identifying each organisation’s unique and irreplaceable contribution.

When that contribution is clearly defined, participation becomes structural.

When it is vague, it becomes cosmetic and evaluators notice.

As ART+INN themselves explain later in this article:

Organisational diversity, complementary expertise and clear role distribution make a consortium genuinely stronger, and that is when NGO participation stops being a checkbox and starts being an asset.

International Partners: Bosnia and Herzegovina as a Strategic Choice

Earlier in this issue we discussed the role of partners from outside the EU.

I AM BRIDGE provides an excellent practical example.

The consortium includes two organisations from Bosnia and Herzegovina:

• the Ministry of Economy of Tuzla Canton;

• FabLab Sarajevo.

Since Bosnia and Herzegovina is an Associated Country to Horizon Europe, both organisations participate as fully funded beneficiaries under the standard Coordination and Support Action (CSA) rules.

The interesting question, however, is not how they participate, but why.

Tuzla Canton’s economy relies heavily on metal processing, accounting for approximately 94% of exports, making it highly relevant for precision and circular manufacturing applications based on additive manufacturing.

The Ministry contributes policy legitimacy, links with IPA and Enlargement funding mechanisms, and public procurement expertise.

FabLab Sarajevo contributes strong engagement with the maker community together with practical expertise in accessibility.

Together, these partners strengthen the project’s replication logic.

If governance models and knowledge-sharing mechanisms can prove effective in an administrative and regulatory context different from that of the EU, they become far more credible when proposed for replication across Europe’s diverse regions.

Here, international partners are not included for appearance’s sake.

They are essential to demonstrating scalability.

What the Evaluators Said and What We Can Learn

ART+INN kindly shared a summary of the Evaluation Summary Report (ESR).

The proposal received an impressive overall score of 14.60/15, including:

• 5.0/5 for Impact

• 4.8/5 for Excellence

• 4.8/5 for Implementation

Yet the most valuable lessons often come from the evaluators’ critical observations, even in highly successful proposals.

ART+INN highlighted three key takeaways.

1. Strong Methodology Requires an Equally Strong Narrative

Although the evaluators considered the methodology robust, they found that the connections between activities were not always sufficiently explicit.

How exactly did dialogue within the Regional Action Arenas lead to shared ownership?

Where did the evidence feeding the process come from?

The lesson is simple: describe the mechanism, not just the activities.

Many technically strong proposals lose clarity because they fail to explain how individual actions connect into a coherent change process.

2. Internal Consistency Is Critical and Fragile

The evaluators identified inconsistencies between the six project Streams, the two implementation phases and the four Work Packages.

In particular, Stream C extended to Decision Gate 2 (Month 12), while WP2 formally concluded in Month 9.

This is exactly the type of inconsistency that easily appears in proposals written by multiple authors—and is surprisingly difficult to detect without a dedicated final consistency review.

The lesson: one person should always be responsible for verifying the alignment of every timeline before submission.

3. Every Target Group Needs Its Own Value Proposition

For some stakeholder groups, evaluators observed that the proposal described project outputs rather than explaining why those outputs would matter to the audience.

The lesson: every target audience needs a compelling reason to engage, not simply a list of deliverables.

This is a common shift in perspective: from “what we will do” to “why this matters to them.”

Among the proposal’s strongest elements, evaluators particularly praised:

• the exemplary stakeholder analysis covering ten distinct target groups with tailored messages;

• the quality of the impact pathway mapped against the topic’s four expected outcomes;

• the introduction of the Regional Action Arenas as a robust methodological framework;

• the commitment to maintaining the project’s public knowledge hub online for at least five years after project completion.

ART+INN’s Perspective

This is a huge milestone for our organisation and a validation of the work quality, impact and dedication we have brought to every project since founding ART+INN in 2022. It also reflects something we believe strongly: that the strength of a project lies in choosing the right partners. Organisational diversity, complementary expertise, and clear role distribution make a consortium genuinely stronger, and that is when NGO participation stops being a checkbox and starts being an asset."

Egle Naureckyte
Founder and Director, ART+INN

Key Takeaways

Three lessons from I AM BRIDGE reinforce the core message of this issue.

- Relationships are your greatest asset.

ART+INN joined I AM BRIDGE because UNIVPM already knew their work.

There are no shortcuts.

Building relationships with organisations already active in Horizon Europe remains one of the highest-return networking investments for newcomers.

- Define the role before proposal writing begins.

ART+INN knew from the very first meeting exactly what their contribution would be.

That clarity allowed the NGO to become one of the project’s structural pillars rather than an afterthought.

- Even a 14.60/15 proposal still offers lessons to learn.

The true value of Evaluation Summary Reports lies in the critical feedback.

For proposal writers, reading the ESRs of successful projects is one of the most valuable, and most underused, learning opportunities available.

📩 For direct contact with ART+INN regarding these topics:

Egle Naureckyte
egle@art-inn.org