Listen Now

Once again we made a Christmas podcast. Ken and Craig were available. Three meeting rooms were used. One hour to "write" and record. The Enterprise Europe Network Scotland team wish you a happy New Year. Hug your bairns   k  

This has been a thin year for our podcasts because we've been so busy. Sorry about that. The one thing that always happens is our Christmas podcast. And this year Ken and Craig managed to find time and space (in 3 different meeting rooms ... sorry mountain bothys) to record an improvised Christmas Tale. Improvised and recorded in one hour. Enjoy Love  The EENScotland team x

It is that time when our final team meeting of the year includes devising performing and recording a short festive podcast.  This year Santa and Christmas are again in jeopardy. How can our team help when Santas reindeer have all joined the Scottish Space Programme (There's a lot of Space in Scotland)? Are the office squirrels really so hard working? Will recurring character Elvis the Elf appear? This years cast was: Jane Watters (award winning), Lorna MacLean, Karen Blyth, Craig Moir, Tracey Ward, Ken Gordon, Alex Blackshaw, Camille Moran and Liam Angus. We wish all our clients and colleagues a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. See you in 2019 with more business and funding opportunities. The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) is an international network spanning more than 60 countries. We can find you collaborative partners for your commercial, technical or research projects within your definition of abroad. Find your local Enterprise Europe Network office here. In Scotland and want to contact us? Our website is here and you can email us using info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com.

We gathered a team of funding experts in our (cough) studio in Haymarket in Edinburgh. We talked about how to ensure your funding application for innovation and commercialisation funding is as good a shape as possible. It turns out the same things apply no matter what kind of funding you apply for (who knew?) whether is be Horizon 2020, Innovate UK or local funding.   Listen to hear top tips on the best ways to win funding for collaboration and innovation. Our distinguished panel of experts comprising Mat Wasley, the photonics lead for the KTN, Liam Angus the EEN Scotland funding coordinator, Craig Moir EEN Scotland lead for maritime oil gas and Ken Gordon EEN Scotland lead for Space and Creative Industries.   Our top tips : Get the admin out of the way early. Read all relevant guidance documents that you can find. Take advice from KTN and/or any relevant Scottish Enterprise advisers. Make sure you register on the relevant application system or portal. So for example for any Horizon 2020 project make sure you've got your PIC number. Innovate UK applications use the Innovation Funding Service. Don’t try and fit a square peg in round holes. You’ve read the scope you know when the deadline is. Don’t waste effort and shoehorn an application into the wrong Call. If you find you have to work hard to justify the fit of your application to the Call. It will fail straight away. Submit early. Most submissions come in within the last hour before the deadline. Two or three weeks before the deadline, check you are registered. Check you have done the admin and submit before the deadline. System crashes happen. If they do, you've wasted all your efforts in writing the application. Know the deadline. Deadlines are final. So if it's 5 p.m. Brussels time or 12 pm for the Innovate UK calls submit early. If you miss the deadline by a minute or the system crashes you have wasted all your work. Make sure you know the correct time zones you are applying to. Test your own application by imagining that it's your money that you're giving away. As taxpayers, we are funding Innovate UK projects. Would you spend your own money on it? In particular focus on the explanation, you have given to your description of the route to market. Does it all hang together? Ask yourself why you are asking for public money. Is this because there is a risk and you need the money to mitigate the risk and there is nowhere else to get funds? The right kind of risk would not win commercial support. The right kind of risk should be described as "technically risky but doable". Having no risk or no technical risk in your project is a bad thing for most of the innovation funding sources. If you are finding it difficult to describe your innovation within the word limits on the application form, consider that the person evaluating your application is unlikely to be a specialist in the what you are proposing. They also might not have English as a first language. Don’t make it difficult for them. The application should be written such that it can be understood by an 11-year-old. Avoid any jargon. Make sure your spelling and grammar are correct. Bad spelling and grammar show that you have not paid attention to your application. Free tools to correct spelling and grammar are available. A poorly prepared application impacts badly on the quality of the project and the project team. There are free tools to correct grammar and readability. Some are built into Microsoft Word. Some others are Grammarly and HemmingwayApp. A lot of applications have got a public abstract. People sometimes ignore that but if you are a company, you may be looking for investors or customers. If they google you they might come across the public abstract. If you’ve got a good public abstract public summary of your project it could help your public profile. Echo the words that are in the scope. If the scope mentions game-changing technology, use the phrase game-changing technology. This will signpost that aspect of your project to the evaluator. Use compelling language demonstrating your belief in your application. Show you are confident in your project and back it up with evidence. Back up all your assertions and use any third party reports if they are available. Show don’t tell ((c) Bruce Ainsley). Get the best team for your project. Only have project partners that are essential for success. In your description, make sure everyone's got a clear role. The proposal writing team must include many disciplines and inputs. One person must have an overview to ensure the application is a consistent and cohesive read. The KTN Guide: How to prepare the best application for grant competitions  Make sure your project partners are committed to the project. Get them to contribute early on. Use infographics and tables to display information. It will save space. If appendices are allowed, use them. If it says you may insert an optional Gantt chart, insert a Gantt chart. Application feedback is a gift. Get as many people in your company or outside to read over your application to make sure it is coherent and in scope. Speak to anyone you know that has been successful in similar projects. Get their advice on how to strengthen your application structure. Take their advice on board if you know what’s good for you. Innovation competitions are very competitive. Remember you're competing against a lot of other people submitting very good applications. Very good applications (that are better than yours) often do not get funded. Don't focus on the technology. Show the route to market and exploitation plans in detail. Speak to your customers Get third support (named if possible) in your application. All proposal are equal but some are more equal than others. The average success rate for the funding competition you apply for might be small. A well-written proposal could have a 50% chance of success. Make the effort and write a good proposal. If you your application narrowly fails, act on the feedback you get. You usually get one chance at re-submission. If you submit the failed project to a different Call, take the time to rewrite your proposal for that Call. Don't just change the filename and submit it. Remember the square pegs tip above.  New funding sources :   Design Foundations Round 3   KET for clean production. Micro-grants for projects on integrating key enabling technologies (KET) to solve clean production challenges   The Brexit statement Liam referred to.   Find us on the internet here:   ktn-uk.co.uk , KTN on Twitter, KTN YouTube   Enterprise Europe Network Scotland website, EENScotland on twitter, EENScotland on YouTube  -0- Looking for international commercial or technical partner? Or to access EU funding for innovation? Speak to us. The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) is an international network spanning more than 60 countries. We can find you collaborative partners for your commercial, technical or research projects within your definition of abroad. Find your local Enterprise Europe Network office here. In Scotland and want to contact us? Our website is here and you can email us using info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com. Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

This podcast is about the Space industry in Scotland. What? Didn't you know there is a burgeoning space industry in Scotland? Well, make sure you listen. Scotland has more than 100 companies, turning over collectively more than £130M. There are more than 800 people directly employed in the Scottish Space industry and that number is growing. From globally renowned companies, in small-scale satellite design and manufacture, to new Space companies starting up, there is an existing and growing ecosystem that includes manufacture, world-leading earth observation data management and our higher education and research institutions including the brand new Higgs Centre for Innovation in Edinburgh. Listen and find out more about these Scottish Space companies Axon Cables opened a technical office in Singapore in 2017 and as Nigel Kellet said, their cables are on a lot of missions and also in automotive applications. STAR-Dundee were awarded Design and Innovation Business of the Year in 2017 and in 2017  they also transitioned to becoming an employee-owned company. We love podcasts where we find out things we did not know. We discovered a lot about space and also that our Ken has a Mission Control fixation. Fortunately for all of us, that was sated when he spoke to Bright Ascension. Bright Ascension build flight control and mission control software. It was founded in 2011 to offer a fresh and innovative approach to space software. “Just the disembodied voice of capcom whoever that was. Perhaps he had a cape.” Perhaps the most high profile company in space in Scotland is Clydespace. In 2017 a new chapter Clydespace’s expansion opened when they joined with Swedish space tech company AAC Microtec to form a global company utilising their joint skills to further develop their presence in the high-reliability small satellite sector.  Alba Orbital make even smaller satellites called nanosats including their PocketQube design. Alba Orbital’s PocketQube format could fit in your pocket. Earth observation is another specialism in companies across Scotland. Richard Tipper, executive chairman of Ecometrica   described Ecometrica as : “A netflix for the end content of earth observation, to the end user.”  Astrosat is also well known as experts in sourcing, analysing and deploying satellite driven data. As Fraser Hamilton the COO of Astrosat says :  “Space is a big frontier for scotland.”  Another company that decided to set up in Scotland, Birdi is an image curation company, in fact, the only service to offer commercial satellite imagery and insight in a one-stop-shop.  Other companies mentioned in this podcast include: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/global/activities/space , www.spire.com *There are many more companies than we featured in this podcast that work in the space and aerospace industry in Scotland. Other companies are very much available.*   Universities and FE colleges The Scottish university sector in Scotland has significant strengths in Space and Aerospace. At the time of publishing this podcast, University of Strathclyde's Dept of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering includes Future Air-Space Transportation Technology, Advanced Space Concepts Lab, Institute of Photonics, Advanced Composites Group and the Space Mechatronics Lab. University of Glasgow's Dept of Aeronautical Sciences includes Aerospace Structures & Materials, Autonomous Vehicle Systems, Flight Dynamics, Fluid Mechanics and Space Systems Engineering. University of Edinburgh 's Dept of Mechanical Engineering has expertise in computer-controlled electro-mechanical solutions, the University of the West of Scotland has expertise in composite materials and coatings research and the University of Dundee has a Space Technology Centre. Scottish Further Education Colleges provide specialist training in aeronautical engineering, trade and craft skills. Hina Khan from the  Scottish Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications (SoXSA) finishes our ppodcast. SoXSA has an end-to-end focus on the use of satellite-derived data and develops new concepts in the exploitation of space enabling new space mission technologies that deliver new space-based data products in response to user needs. Through this, SoXSA seeks to foster economic growth and launch new opportunities. We would like to say a huge thanks to our colleagues in SDI and Karen Wilson in Scottish Enterprise for providing the information and support in the making of this podcast. -0- If you are considering setting up in Scotland as so many overseas businesses have done, contact SDI . Already in Scotland need support? Contact Scottish Enterprise. Looking for international commercial or technical partner? Or to access EU funding for innovation? Speak to us. The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) is an international network spanning more than 60 countries. We can find you collaborative partners across the world in space, aerospace and dual-use technologies industries. Find your local Enterprise Europe Network office here. In Scotland and want to contact us? Our website is here and you can email us using info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com.   * Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Welcome to our 2017 Christmas show. Our Christmas podcast has become a tradition in our team. It is a chance to collaborate and be a bit silly on the day we have the team Christmas lunch. This year we could not book a room and because of the weather, not all the team could make it to our Glasgow office. We “borrowed” a room and recorded it quickly, leaving no trace we had ever been there. A bit like Santa. In this show, we hear dark stories of Christmas demons told by the ghost of Christmas-past. Do you know about Krampus, the Jólasveinar, or Yule Lads from Iceland and the Scandinavian Yule goat called "Joulupukki"? Listen and learn. We visit different countries (because our network is in more than 60 countries). Our colleagues from around the world have left you their Christmas greetings. Who knows how to say Merry Christmas in Estonian? Listen and Learn again! There are outtakes. In fact, we recorded more time in out-takes than show time, but then you knew that would happen, didn’t you? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the EEN Scotland team. We are all looking forward to another busy year in 2018. In 2018 we will have more free services to help your company innovate and internationalise. Be safe, see you in 2018! Love from The Enterprise Europe Network Scotland team x Photo by Anthony Cantin on Unsplash

In this podcast, we talk about LIFE, bad song lyrics and Ken's favourite Europop floor filler.  This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the LIFE programme and of the EU Habitats Directive, both approved on 21 May 1992. LIFE is the EU’s financial instrument supporting environmental, nature conservation and climate action projects throughout the EU. Since 1992, LIFE has co-financed some 4306 projects. For the 2014-2020 funding period, LIFE will contribute approximately €3.4 billion to the protection of the environment and climate. You can find more information about the LIFE programme and forthcoming webinars here:http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/ Find your local Enterprise Europe Network office here. In Scotland and want to contact us? Our website is here and you can email us using info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com.

The Enterprise Europe Network is the world'slargest support network for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) with international ambitions. We help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make the most of business opportunities in the EU and beyond.   We have thousands of local experts providing support to access finance, help you research your markets and find international partners. There's a link at the bottom of this page to find your local office.   This podcast tells the story of one client, let's call him Torquil. Yes, that's his real name.   We tell the story of how our FREE services will support his dream. His dream is to develop his innovative product called the Human Energy Storage Unit (HESU), a device that can charge batteries from human emotion.   His new battery technology could be world beating, but he needs our support.     Torquil is not one of those walk-in robots from the street, he made an appointment.   And he is holding his severed head under his arm.   Fear not! Camille Moran our EEN Specialist advisor is on hand to guide him through our FREE services.   We will help him researching his market. Find partners to work with in emotionless and emotion-full countries. And we will help him access Horizon 2020 funding for innovation to develop his idea further.   Who knows we might even help him re-attach his head.   Find your local Enterprise Europe Network office here. In Scotland and want to contact us? Our website is here and you can email us using info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com. 

What do you do when your ambitions to progress are frustrated? And when a solution appears, there is still an obstruction to progress?  This client story demonstrates how the Enterprise Europe Network can help in even the most extreme situations.  This Xmas podcast was devised and performed in 40 minutes with some sound effects added later. We wish you a very merry Christmas and Happy New year and look forward to helping you internationalise your business in 2017!    Love from  The Enterprise Europe Network Scotland team x

This podcast is about how we helped two Scottish businesses in the food and drink sector. You will hear from Susan O’Neill of Alliance Wine and Luke Fenton of Thistly Cross Cider tell us about what that did for their business (and can do for your business) if you want to expand or grow your business internationally. -0- Alliance Wine based in Beith and with an office in London, were founded in 1984 by Christian Bouteiller and Jonathan Kennett. They both make wine themselves, and they work hand in hand with producers, to produce a wine that has a soul, personality, character, sense of place and a story attached to it.Their relationship with Enterprise Europe Network Scotland started in 2010 , enquiring about market information, then we helped define labelling requirements in Poland and Lithuania , then contacts and supermarket information in Denmark , information about an event in 2014 and we organised meetings for them in Poland. Susan O’Neill, international Sales Manager for Alliance wine sums up what they do and how we helped Alliance Wine. -0- Thistly Cross Cider was born as a collaboration between farmer Ian Rennie and artist-turned-cider-maker Peter Stuart in 2008.Five years on, having carved out a name for itself as an award-winning Scottish cider company, Thistly Cross began looking to expand its overseas markets with the help of Enterprise Europe Network Scotland. Their first contact with Enterprise Europe Network was in 2011 and in 2013, Enterprise Europe Network Scotland helped the East Lothian-based producer establish a commercial partnership by providing international financial data and enabling connections with a pool of potential distributors. Our support allowed Thistly Cross to explore opportunities in an exciting Nordic market. They travelled to Finland and met with three distributors returning to Scotland with a commercial contract and the company’s first order.Enterprise Europe Network provided contacts, funding opportunities and partnership details. Luke Fenton, Export Manager at Thistly Cross Cider explains what they do and what we did. Here's a link to the full story. -0- How can we help your business? If you are considering international markets or are already in international markets and want to expand , get in touch. Our services are fully funded by Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the EC, what have you got to lose? If you are a food and drink company, email debbie.walker@scotent.co.uk and if you are not in food and drink, email us on info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com to be connected with your Scottish sector specialist linking you into our network of valuable on the ground information and support. Not in Scotland? Find your local office here : http://een.ec.europa.eu/ Our next episode will be our Xmas episode. Each year we save Xmas. Will we manage it this year?

In this episode, Ken finds out about the fully funded coaching integrated into the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument programme.  He talks to Bernd Reichert, Head of Unit for SMEs in the Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME) in Brussels. Bernd explains the reasons for integrating (and funding) the coaching service within SME Instrument. Jasper Hemmes, coaching manager in EASME talks about the unexpected results companies experience.  The ability to "see ourselves as others see us" (from the poem To a Louse by the Scottish poet Robert Burns) is a gift few of us take advantage of. Coaching offers an outsiders view. It reveals things business owners no longer see, whether that is shabby carpet or a major omission in their business model or team. There is evidence that businesses who receive coaching support stay on the market longer than those that do not.  Don Cullinane, is a business innovation coach for SME Instrument. He tells Ken about being on both sides of the coaching process.  Alison Munro director of Sector Innovation at Scottish Enterprise talks about the value of coaching in the context of current Scottish business support.  And finally, Camille Moran explains how coaches are appointed to companies.  Want to become a coach? You can register to become a coach here. Need to get up to speed on SME Instrument? Listen to our previous shows  March 2014 SME Instrument looks for Champions April 2014 The SME Instrument is difficult to resist. Sept 2014 H2020 Hacks: Lessons Learned from SME Instrument Guinea Pigs March 2015 H2020 Hacks - SME Instrument Secrets from another place! July 2015 H2020 Hacks: SME Instrument Phase 2 success story with bite! Feb 2016 10 H2020 SME Instrument Hacks Better still, if you are based in Scotland, get in touch by leaving a comment on this page. Email info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com or contact us on twitter @eenscotland .  Thank you for listening.

Welcome to podcast episode 108 when we talk about doing business in China and India.  In a recent thought piece by David Leven, Scottish Development International's head of Greater China, he said that building on our relationship with China can mean big opportunities for Scottish companies because China is transforming quickly and needs to find ways to deal with issues such as pollution, financial services reform and how to build up its healthcare system. In 2016, India surpassed China in economic growth for the first time and now leads the world's major economies.  And with a vibrant, cash-rich and rapidly expanding middle-class of 50 million (expected to reach 200 million by 2020, according to Ernst and Young) India's consumer market is likely to the world's largest by 2030. All of this provides massive opportunities for businesses in Scotland. Because our knowledge, our experience, our technology are second to none and our premium goods and services are all things that both countries need and want and that they are prepared to pay for.  So if you are thinking about internationalising your business into china  and India, we can help.  Enterprise Europe Network has offices in more than 60 countries and there are many success stories for example. Here are two. EEN Success story : In "Crossing cultures to find the perfect wine match", London-based wine importers Lakhtar Singh and John Nakami (Global Wines Direct) noticed a gap in their market and dreamed of creating their own unique, branded wine that would perfectly accompany Indian and Nepalese cuisine. EEN Success Story : Bringing Arcadia to China the Spiropoulos family winery used the EEN business cooperation database and contact within one of the Network's Chinese branches, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, to compile a list of reliable distributors. We discussed our cooperation database in a previous episode. Scottish Development International has provided services across the world for more than 20 years. Contact our valued and experienced colleagues Uzair Syed and Huishan Chapman in the High Growth Market Unit to utilise their experience and knowledge.  The opportunities and challenges are available now.  Contact us to get practical guidance on selling your goods and services into China and India, with trade missions, information events business matchmaking and networking events as well as free advice from people like Huishan and Uzair on the ground who’s job it is to help you make a success of your business. Enterprise Europe Network and in Scottish Development International in Scotland cover everything that you could need because we've been supporting businesses on the ground in most countries for many years.  Contact me, Uzair or  Huishan or call  0300 013 3385 And if there was one overriding message it is this : “Don’t wait, act now” . Get along to The SME China Forum on 21 September in Glasgow.  In Scotland and want to find out more about EU funding and internationalising your business?  Email us at info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com,contact us on twitter (@eenscotland) or leave a comment on this page and we will get right back to you. Thanks for listening!

This podcast features NetThings, a Scottish company that was recently successful in getting their project funded through the Eurostars Programme.   Eurostars supports the development of rapidly marketable innovative products, processes and services that help improve the daily lives of people around the world. You can get 60% funding to work on your own project with one collaborative partner. And the programme enjoys one of the best success rates in the EU funding field, on average 23%. Ian Clark, NetThings' marketing manager describes why and how they applied and gives us his top tips for a successful application. If you are interested in Eurostars, get in touch, we can help you apply and make your application as good as it can be!  The UK National Contact Point for Eurostars Graham Mobbs described Eurostars in a very concise 10 minutes a few podcasts ago, we recommend you listen to H2020 Hacks: Eurostars Super-tips! In fact over the years have made three podcasts about Eurostars including the first podcast to feature a dream sequence and the first podcast to be recorded on a train.  The links mentioned in this podcast:  The Eurostars website is hereFind your local Enterprise Europe Network branch now for these free services including getting your profile into our system. Your next international business partner may be closer than you think. Find your local office here. Find your the latest list of EEN Matchmaking events here.  In Scotland and want to find out more about EU funding and internationalising your business? Email us at info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com,contact us on twitter (@eenscotland) or leave a comment on this page and we will get right back to you. Thanks for listening!

When you expand your business to another country, you need competent and trustworthy partners.  The Enterprise Europe Network helps you find them.  Our business database contains thousands of company profiles.  This podcast is about how you can use the Enterprise Europe Network business database to raise the international profile of your business and find amazing and unique partners to manufacture, distribute co-develop and supply your products, ideas and business. Ken Gordon caught up with Tim Benzie, one of our EEN business profile experts to find out how you can use this unique database. With hundreds of new company profiles added every week, our business cooperation database is one of the worlds largest and uniquely it covers a broad range of technologies, sectors and opportunities. When you get in touch with the Network, we enter your cooperation offer or request into the database. You will then receive updates on companies interested in the same kind of cross-border business as you. In Scotland and interested in submitting your profile?  Email us at info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com or contact us on twitter (we are @eenscotland) or leave a comment on this page and we will get right back to you. Not in Scotland?  Contact your local Enterprise Europe Network branch now for these free services – your next international business partner may be closer than you think. Find their contact details here. 

This months podcast is all about the business to business (B2B) partner brokerage services that our network holds around the world, usually as part of a major technology or sector conference. We have organised four in the last month, so Ken thought this would be a great time to ask Karen how they work and get some tips about how to get the most from them. The B2B events offer the opportunity to add to your conference experience by arranging short 20 minute meetings with people who want to meet you. Your company will be publicised through the B2B catalog and website that is active after the event as well as before, and the practical sit-down nature of the meetings mean you can bring your product along to show off first hand.  And of course when your meeting is successful and you want to develop your relationships, the EEN is here to provide you with local tailored support to move things on. You can find your nearest and next event on the Enterprise Europe Network website here. In this podcast our events coordinator Nikki joined us to keep us on the right track and retained a dignified silence throughout. A bit like our former colleague Billy Wong, who you can hear (or more specifically not hear) in this episode from 2012. In Scotland and interested in attending a B2B event? Email us at info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com or contact us on twitter (we are @eensotland) or leave a comment on this page and we will get right back to you. Not in Scotland and wondering where YOUR local EEN is?  Do not worry, our network covers more than 60 countries, so we are likely to have valued colleagues in your country that will help you in exactly the same way that we help our Scottish companies.  Find your local office contact details on the list on http://een.ec.europa.eu/  or drop us an email or a comment on this page and we'll find out and send you the details. 

Welcome to our second show of two thousand and sixteen, a consolidation of all our H2020 SME Instrument Hacks in this podcast include tips from valued network colleagues, Jo Oliver from Avanticell and Adam Christie from Calcivis, two successful applicants. For 7 years we have been providing support to Scottish companies who are interested in European funding for research and development and if they decide to apply, we provide guidance and access to the best experts available to make sure their applications are as good as they can be and this applies to all the funding in Horizon 2020: the main programme, SME Instrument, Eurostars and Fast Track to Innovation. Even if you are not quite sure if they suit your business, we are here to help you make your mind up and our services are funded by Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the European Commission and so to you (if you are in Scotland) they are free. Our knowledge and our support services have increased significantly since the start of Horizon 2020 and so there will be more Hacks as we gain more insight into the evaluation processes, so please subscribe to our podcast to make sure you don’t miss out.   Recently, Scottish company Holixica secured €1.28 million from The SME Instrument to help the firm develop its medical imaging technology( More here) and phase 2 winners automatically qualify for free business coaching and support to help commercialise their innovative projects.    The Enterprise Europe Network, now in more than 60 countries, is here to help you decide whether to apply, what to apply for, to find collaborative partners for your project if you need them, and then to help you make the best possible application for funding under Horizon 2020.  For some of the programmes you need a partner organisation, but not for all. For some you can even work on your own project idea. So what are you waiting for? In Scotland? Email us at info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com, contact us on our twitter @eenscotland or leave a comment on the show notes page for this podcast and we’ll get right back to you. Not in Scotland and wondering where YOUR local EEN is? Our network covers more than 60 countries! So we are likely to have valued colleagues in your country that will help you in exactly the same way that we help our Scottish companies. Find your local office contact details on the list on http://een.ec.europa.eu/  or drop us an email or a comment on this page and we'll find out and send you the details. 

Our first podcast of 2016 is a look back at the best bits of 2105 and who better to select the clips than the newest member of our team Karen Blyth!The shows featured in our podcast : Horizon 2020 SME vouchers that give companies up to £5000 to engage in developing a project application for Horizon 2020 in collaboration with a Scottish University. H2020 Hacks: All about Scottish SME support vouchersSME Instrument application tips from our network colleagues :  H2020 Hacks - SME Instrument Secrets from another place!All about Fast Track to Innovation and application tips :  H2020 Hacks - Fast Track to Innovation - all you need to knowAnd we had our SME Instrument client stories : Avanticell H2020 Hacks - successful application tips from a winner!Calcivis H2020 Hacks: SME Instrument Phase 2 success story with bite! Graham Mobbs told us about Eurostars : H2020 Hacks: Eurostars Super-tips!If you are interested in applying to any of the funding programmes in the above podcasts, get in touch. We have an array of free support tools to help you refine your application.We had two new voices from our team in our Christmas podcast : When Santa Got Stuck with No ChimneysWe hope you agree this episode is filled with Facts Figures and Fun. Please listen to the full shows, where there is much more information about these topics.We look forward to a whole load of new podcasts in 2016 filled with helpful tips and information that will help Scottish businesses Innovate, Internationalise and get investment.Are you wondering where YOUR local EEN is? Our network covers more than 50 countries! So we are likely to have valued colleagues in your country that will help you. Find your local office contact details on the list on this page or drop us an email or a comment on this page and we'll send you the details. It's good to connect up and they are all very helpful people.

Welcome to our 2015 Xmas podcast, a completely improvised episode, devised and recorded in 40 minutes. It was supposed to be an hour but someone needed the room. This episode is set on earth the near future when humans live and work in tall high rise buildings in the clouds and the whole of the Enterprise Europe network (yes, all 600 organisations) are in the same building.Xmas is threatened when Santa's sleigh develops a problem. Will the EEN Scotland team manage to fix the problem in time? Will they get pompoms like Elvis the Elf and Why did they not get an invite to the Brazilian EEN party downstairs?Listen and find out! Enterprise Europe Network Scotland wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We look forward to helping your business make the most of EU opportunities in Europe and beyond in 2016. Not in Scotland? Well that's a shame. You can find your local office here . Our valued colleagues are all as nice as us but just don't wear tartan as often ... or beards.Enjoy!

This months podcast is about Europe's first innovation programme specifically dedicated to SMEs called Eurostars. Starting in 2007, the Eurostars Programme continues to be popular and has better success rates than most of the other SME funding programmes! A Eurostars project can address any technological area for any market, but must have a civilian purpose and be aimed at the development of a new product, process or service. There are two calls for proposals each year until 2020 and the next one is on 18th February 2016. The September 2016 date is still to be announced.If you are a UK based research performing SME, would like a 60% grant to work on your own project and to collaborate with other like-minded organisations in the EU member states and beyond, check out the Eurostars web page on www.eurostars-eureka.eu and the InnovateUK Eurostars page here.We held an event last week for people writing proposals focused on EU funding for SMEs and it was a golden opportunity to catch up with the National Contact Point for Eurostars and European Operations Manager for Innovate UK, Graham Mobbs who in addition to the Eurostars, gave us his super-tips and hacks to improve your application's chances of success.Have project and want to apply? Contact Graham by email on graham.mobbs@innovateuk.gov.uk , call him on 0179 344 2700 or mobile 07824 599 585. No question is the wrong question. If you are interested in Eurostars and not in Scotland or the UK, you can find your local contact here. In each country participant details and support levels are slightly different so check them out. If you need a partner for your project, ask your local Enterprise Europe Network team. We just happen to run the world's biggest business partnering service.Eurostars is a joint programme between EUREKA and the European Commission, co-funded from the national budgets of 34 Eurostars Participating States and Partner Countries and by the European Union through Horizon 2020. In the 2014-2020 period it has a total public budget of €1.14 billion.P.S. Regular listeners will recognise that we first podcast about this back in 2011 and more recently in 2013 when Eurostars went to Falkirk on a train. Well done if you spotted that, give yourself ten points.Not in Scotland and wondering where YOUR local EEN is? Our network covers more than 50 countries! So we are likely to have valued colleagues in your country that will help you. Find your local office contact details on the list on this page or drop us an email or a comment on this page and we'll send you the details. It's good to connect up and they are all very helpful people.

Welcome to the Enterprise Europe Network Scotland podcast EPISODE 100!You may have noticed a gap in our regular podcast schedule and that is because we have been developing and bedding in our new European Funding support service. Details at the bottom of this page. We hope you’ve had a great summer. The Scottish Summer is unique perhaps in that it is when you notice parts of your house are not watertight but we’re a hardy bunch and will wear kilts, sandals and eat ice cream in the rain. The summer clothes are now back in the cupboard and autumn is upon us. We couldn’t let this special occasion pass without a look back at some of the old episodes. We have talked about our free business services in the context of cowboy’s meeting in a bar in the The Last Chance Saloon for FP7, we met ourselves 100 years in the future in Our EEN Services 100 years in the future. which turned into a sci-fi-meets-business-support story arc covering two episodes (Doing Business in the Benelux and The Return of Eric the Dog) and we talked about Eurostars funding on a train (Eurostars goes to Falkirk)! No trains were hurt in the making of that podcast. We even recorded a podcast "live" in front of an audience in Dublin - Enterprise Europe Network Live in Dublin . You can hear in our voices how edgy we were when faced with a big audience. Our seasonal shows have included our Halloween specials ( It’s Halloween 2012!), where our first silent character Billy Wong (who is a real person) made the first of several appearances and here’s a little known fact. Billy speaks for the first and only time at the end of our April 29th 2012 episode called The Return of Eric the Dog . On the subject of Eric the Dog, he joined us for some shows, got lost in the future and when we got him back he was a robot and ( oh ... spoilers) just listen to …Our EEN Services 100 years in the future. Doing Business in the Benelux and The Return of Eric the Dog. Each year we have festive fun when we make a Xmas Special and without spoiling things too much, we always end up saving Christmas. In 2012, we even explained how the great Fire of London (Who stole Xmas?) and more recently helped Santa's elves deliver presents using our amazing network colleagues. Thanks one and all to those valued colleagues who joined in including former team members, artists, geniuses and poets all, who were part of our podcast team : Anis Mourad, Liz McNeil, Billy Wong, April Kelly, Brian Connolly, Lesley Ann Doyle and Stephen Armstrong. OUR NEW SERVICES - if you are a small company (SME) based in Scotland and have an application to make to H2020, Fast track to Innovation, SME Instrument or Eurostars get in touch. We have free proposal analysis, accessing our unique and evolving knowledge that help you shape your organisation to present the best, most polished application possible. It is free, more comprehensive than before and so if you’re based in Scotland and are applying for funding under Horizon 2020, SME Instrument, Fast Track to Innovation or Eurostars.Follow us on twitter @eenscotland and follow our valued colleagues in the UK on @EEN_UK for news, tips and events.Give yourself a head start in proposal writing by subscribing to the Enterprise Europe Scotland YouTube Channel and watching our SME Instrument evaluator top tips videos. We'd better get on with podcast 101. Stay tuned!Are you wondering where YOUR local EEN is? Our network covers more than 50 countries! So we are likely to have valued colleagues in your country that will help you. Find your local office contact details on the list on this page or drop us an email or a comment on this page and we'll send you the details. It's good to connect up and they are all very helpful people.