On Monday, October 7, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg hosted a breakfast conference led by Karine Brück, founding partner of Karine Brück International, under the title “Should we submit a tender or participate in a project? European opportunities within your organization’s reach.”

During the session, Brück offered a practical introduction to European funding opportunities, covering both tenders and grants, and explaining the main differences between these two mechanisms. She highlighted the advantages of the European market for companies, as well as the key factors to consider when deciding to participate, depending on the type of project and the organization’s level of experience. She also presented the EU Funding and Tenders Portal as an essential tool to identify and manage opportunities, illustrating its use with a practical overview of the main types of European tenders.

The conference was structured into two main parts. In the first block, Brück explained the characteristics, procedures and award models that govern European tenders, as well as the exclusion, eligibility, and capacity criteria (legal, financial, technical and professional) that participants must meet. She also presented a proprietary methodology to decide whether to bid or not, based on a scoring table that helps organizations assess their suitability before committing resources.

In the second block, dedicated to the direct management of EU projects, Brück explained the program logic, the grant agreement structure, and the roles of the different parties involved, including beneficiaries, partners and subcontractors. She also presented the main concepts to handle in an EU project and detailed how proposals are evaluated by the European Commission, from the design phase to final selection.

The session concluded with a practical five-step roadmap to successfully access European opportunities, followed by a Q&A session in which participants exchanged questions and shared their own experiences in tenders and EU-funded projects.

In collaboration with: