Securing European funding in highly competitive calls is always a major milestone. Achieving it under a scheme such as the EIC Pathfinder, focused on disruptive research and frontier technologies, is an even greater challenge. In this type of call, scientific excellence is a necessary condition, but not always a sufficient one: the ability to clearly communicate the project’s disruptive ambition, the risks involved and its transformative potential becomes decisive.
REWOW, the project coordinated by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and due to start on 1 April, has secured funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC). It stands as a clear example of how our strategic reinforcement of scientific excellence can make a difference in highly competitive calls: aligning high-level research with the programme logic, evaluation criteria and the real expectations of evaluation panels, and turning an excellent idea into a solid, credible and fundable proposal.
A high-risk, high-potential project
EIC Pathfinder is one of the most demanding calls within the European funding ecosystem. Designed to support radically new ideas with high technological risk and transformative potential, it sits at the intersection of frontier research and long-term innovation. The goal is not to deliver market-ready solutions, but to open new scientific and technological pathways, even when outcomes are uncertain.
This framework requires not only scientific excellence, but also a very precise narrative, capable of convincingly conveying the project’s high risk / high gain nature and its relevance in scientific, technological and impact terms.
REWOW fits squarely within this context: a project built around a deeply innovative approach that has successfully convinced an especially demanding evaluation panel, accustomed to assessing proposals of the highest scientific and technological level.
The role of Kveloce: a strategic review at a key moment
EIC Pathfinder is a call that requires a very specific and highly specialised approach, particularly when it comes to the strategic definition of risk, scientific ambition and the overall coherence of the proposal.
At Kveloce, we have in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of European funding programmes, including EIC Pathfinder. This expertise allows us to carry out tailor-made strategic reviews, aimed at optimising the fit between each proposal and the programme, and strengthening its funding potential. Our work focuses on aligning scientific ambition with evaluation criteria, anticipating the expectations of the European Commission, and consolidating the key elements — risk, disruptive character and overall coherence — that are decisive in highly competitive evaluation processes.
In the case of REWOW, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona team requested this type of strategic review at a critical stage of the preparation process, with the objective of reinforcing the project’s positioning and its high-risk, high-potential narrative.
From Kveloce, PhD Aran Blanco supported this phase through a strategic review carried out in close collaboration with the research team. The work focused on refining the project narrative, strengthening its overall coherence, and highlighting the elements that are decisive in a call such as EIC Pathfinder: scientific ambition, robustness of the approach and a clear presentation aligned with the evaluation criteria.
Overall, the work aimed to make the project’s truly disruptive character more visible, reinforcing its scientific ambition and its high risk / high gain nature — a critical aspect in deep tech calls, where innovation can otherwise be perceived as incremental if not communicated with sufficient clarity.
Special attention was also paid to clarifying and strengthening the expected impact, expanding the narrative to better reflect the scientific, technological, social and environmental dimensions of the project, as well as to better structure the project’s short- and medium-term trajectory.
Finally, adjustments were made to improve the internal coherence and traceability of the proposal, ensuring that all elements — objectives, work packages and results — fitted together clearly and consistently, thereby reinforcing the project’s overall credibility in the eyes of the evaluation panel.
This type of support demonstrates that even in highly technical calls, an external and strategic review can make the difference between a good proposal and a fundable one.
Collaborating when the challenge is exceptional
The REWOW case reflects one of Kveloce’s defining features: adapting the type of support to the real needs of each project and each call. Not all funding schemes require the same level of intervention, but in instruments such as EIC Pathfinder, a well-targeted and timely strategic input can have a significant impact on the final outcome.
For UAB, this process has resulted not only in securing funding, but also in strengthening a proposal aligned with one of the European Commission’s most ambitious instruments for disruptive innovation.
A shared success
At Kveloce, we celebrate the funding of REWOW as a shared success with the team at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. This achievement confirms that the combination of scientific excellence, technological ambition and strategic support remains a key formula for competing successfully in the European R&I ecosystem — even in calls as demanding as EIC Pathfinder.
