The Erasmus+ Programme is one of the most well-known of the EU’s initiatives, with many students having taken advantage of the opportunity it offers to carry out a period of study in another European country. However, many are not aware that the Erasmus+ funding Programme is not just for students who want to study abroad. In reality, it is much more extensive, and offers many funding opportunities for various types of organisations and businesses in a multitude of sectors. For instance training providers, tech SMEs, research & innovation entities, NGOs, public entities, social partners, and many more.
Erasmus+ is the EU’s funding programme for education, training, youth and sport. With a budget of €26.2 billion, it helps deliver some of the EU’s most important policies, such as the Digital Education Action Plan, the European Skills Agenda, the European Green Deal and the European Pillar of Social Rights to name a few.
Why should you consider applying for an Erasmus+ project?
What makes the Erasmus+ Programme interesting from an organisational perspective is that, compared to the many other EU funding programmes around, Erasmus+ is perhaps the most accessible funding source for a newcomer to EU funding.
Indeed, there are specific actions within Erasmus+ that have been designed with inexperienced and/or smaller organisations in mind, allowing them access to various opportunities such as transnational staff training or mobilities, exchanges, capacity-building, networking and cooperation, and more.
When compared to other EU funding sources, the Erasmus+ programme offers a simpler application process, and has less burdensome and bureaucratic implementation requirements. Moreover, the applications are open every year (twice a year in some countries), giving ample time and opportunity for organisations to plan, write, and submit proposals – as opposed to one-off funding opportunities. These factors therefore make Erasmus+ the perfect programme for an organisation to test out its project development skills and its transnational project management capabilities, as it works its way towards the larger, more complex funding programmes.
While many actions are possible under Erasmus+, what is of particular interest to organisations aiming towards long-term growth and development are the actions known as the ‘Partnerships for Cooperation’. These projects enable organisations from around Europe (and beyond) to collaborate and achieve a shared goal that will ultimately benefit Europeans.
Depending on the complexity of the project in question, project grants range from 30,000 EUR to 400,000 EUR. This funding source allows organisations from different sectors to work, learn, and grow together whilst they contribute important European achievements in the different fields of education, training, youth and sport.
What sort of Cooperation projects can be funded?
AcrossLimits has participated in many successful and effective Cooperation projects over the years, as well as supported many of its clients to apply for their own projects. Below, we give just a few examples from AcrossLimits’ past and current projects to showcase the diversity of opportunities available to European organisations under the Erasmus+ Programme:
- ‘Becoming a Woman Coder’ created an online training platform for professionals working in employment support networks to help unemployed or low-qualified women consider the coding profession as a possible retraining and therefore new career path.
- ‘Revival Entrepreneurship through Second Chance’ aimed towards the support and development of second-chance entrepreneurship. It provided entrepreneurs who had previously failed tools, mentorship, and networking opportunities to empower themselves and create a European business culture that encourages resilience and perseverance.
- Educational Robotics for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics built and made publicly available an educational robotics repository for teachers, who can use the tools created to stimulate children’s curiosity from a very young age so as to attract them to science and technology using robotics as a tool.
- Turning Creative Skills into Sustainable Businesses targeted individuals within the creative sector, and developed tailored pedagogic resources to support these creative individuals to fulfil their entrepreneurial and business potential.
As can be seen from these examples of Cooperation projects made possible thanks to Erasmus+, the opportunities the Programme allows for collaboration, networking, innovation and capacity-building are substantial.
I’m interested in learning more about Erasmus+ and how to apply. What should I do next?
Here at AcrossLimits, we have over 20 years of experience writing proposals, having participated in 80+ successfully funded EU projects, ranging from Erasmus+, Horizon, Interreg, and many more. We have a dedicated team of experts from a broad range of sectors that can guide proposal writing and help you apply for EU funds. Furthermore we are well connected with industry, academia and public authorities across Europe and beyond, making sure that we can bring together the perfect consortium for your project.
If you would like to learn more about how we can help you make your project idea a reality, contact us at: [email protected].
