Saturday afternoon, I was working--as usual--when I got a notification of a direct message via Slack. It was Johannes:
"Would you like to work on a new Horizon2020 grant proposal?
It is due in 5 days...
My response was probably something out of an animated cartoon: WHAT?!
For those of you that have never heard of Horizon2020, let me give a little context.
Horizon2020 logo
Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness.
Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) – in addition to the private investment that this money will attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market.1
In other words, Horizon2020 is a series of grant calls that aim to give money to innovative, cutting-edge, and collaborative projects that bring together the best minds and technology that the European Union has to offer. The hope is that this will elevate the overall quality of life in EU countries and contribute positively to the environment and the economy.
Meeting the Experts
Back in graduate school, we had several lectures on all the different types of grants and funds available from the EU. Horizon2020 is definitely the most ambitious, and one look through the various calls is enough to both inspire and intimidate. These are multi-million euro projects that last multiple years. How do you think of all the pieces and partners to even put a proposal together?!
And then I met Johannes
Johannes is one of those people that manages to see in his head how an entire multi-site system can be developed even if the technologies being used have never been used together. His super power is finding the connections between seemingly unconnected parts, often involving systems that have never been used outside of a lab or incubator project. He is a chemical engineer by training, and grew up with a father that was one of the leading minds developing cradle-to-cradle and circular economy. You could say it is in his blood to develop projects that produce no waste and it is his passion to incorporate nature--directly via bioutilization of plants or using biomimicry--into the process.
Hydrousa Logo
Johannes--along with Regina, another person with grant experience--are the two main founders and executive members of Bioversum - Nature Inspired Systems, the nonprofit that I am the Communications Manager for since the end of last year. He is the visionary behind the HYDROUSA, an EU-wide research project funded by Horizon2020 (Agreement #776643) that focuses on water-scarce areas and closing water loops. Bioversum is one of the 27 partners. Our tasks are to facilitate the Circular Innovation Design Process (Biomimicry, Circular Economy, Circular Design) that we have developed for three main innovations.
When I first read the proposal, I remember thinking, "how did someone bring together 27 innovators, universities, nonprofits, etc. and create a plan in three different islands in Greece that could possibly work?!"
My role in HYDROUSA is very small. I was a part of the kick-off meeting and am one of the apprentice facilitators for the various workshops we are doing to creat the concept designs. Aside from that, I am on call if something comes up, especially because I have pretty strong project management experience. During the kick-off, I watched the various work package (WP) leaders with admiration. I though to myself, "you really have you have your stuff together to be able to organize and manage a whole work package!"
There is a First Time for Everything
I never thought I would be a player in a WP, much less be asked to lead one, but that is exactly what Johannes had in mind when he contacted me. I thought he needed my writing and communications experience, but instead he wanted me to put my name in the space labeled "leader" and design the package. So with an immense amount of fear... I said yes (I wasn't this nervous when I said yes to my, now ex, husband's proposal!), and have spent the last four days brainstorming, planning, and writing. Luckily, in addition to Johannes's help, I have been writing alongside a rockstar grant writer on the team, Francesco, which makes everything a little less scary.
Image by Chris Potter (CC BY 2.0)
Taking a much needed break right now from the grant proposal writing to write a little here. Oh, and did I mention that I have been asked to write the submission for an Austrian award for innovation projects or processes that support sustainability and climate change within Austria? Apparently, someone likes my writing, who knew?!
The WP for DEEP PURPLE is pretty far along. By tomorrow it should be done, and then the project coordinator has one day to clean up the 100 page document. I don't envy him one bit! My job was to come up with how and to whom do we communicate the safety, positive environmental impact, and effectiveness that will be generated from new systems developed by this proposal that will capture urban bio-waste that was previously discarded and transform it into ingredients for agricultural, the beauty industry, and plastic replacement in order for them to be accepted as raw materials for their products2.
Pretty neat, huh?!
I should specify that this is just a proposal. There is no guarantee that we will actually win the grant. But even if we don't, I am excited to have taken this step. Wish us luck!
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Facilitating evolutionary Interspecies Communication to CoCreate Nature-Inspired Places, Products, and Processes.
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Plant neurobiology, biomimicry, social innovation, plant music, design, interspecies communication, urban planning... These are just some of the biophilic topics I cover on my website and here on Steemit. Follow along and comment often. My goal is to create discussion, not give a conference! And if you explore related topics, let me know in the comments, I would love to follow you.