Why it starts with the right medtech consortium
For many medtech companies, EU funding is one of the few realistic ways to pay for a clinical study, a new product version or a step into a new market. But in health, most calls aren’t won by one company alone. They are won by a medtech consortium: industry, clinical and academic partners from several countries, each bringing something the others can’t.
The quality of that consortium often decides the outcome as much as the idea itself. Here is what a strong one tends to look like, and what to have ready before you start talking to potential partners.
Who sits around the table
Every call has its own rules, but most medtech consortia bring together a similar mix of roles:
- A coordinator, often a university or research institute with experience running EU projects and handling the administration.
- Clinical partners, hospitals or clinics that define the clinical need, recruit patients or users, and test the solution in real settings.
- Industry partners, the companies that develop the product, take it to market and make sure the results are used after the project ends.
- Research and technology partners, groups that add specific expertise, from engineering and data to health economics.
- Supporting partners, such as training providers, patient organisations or communication specialists, who help with uptake and dissemination.
A company doesn’t need to lead to benefit. Many SMEs join as a partner, contribute their technology and gain funding, clinical data and new relationships along the way.
What to prepare before you approach partners
Coordinators and clinical partners receive many requests. The companies that get a second conversation are usually the ones that make it easy to see where they fit:
- A one-page summary of your technology, the clinical problem it solves and who uses it.
- Your current stage of development, including what has been tested so far and what evidence you still need.
- A clear role you could take in a project: what you would develop, test or deliver.
- The clinical need in the clinicians’ words, ideally backed by a doctor or hospital already interested in working with you.
- A realistic view of your capacity, meaning the people and time you can commit for the length of a project, often two to four years.
It also helps to show you can host or support practical work. If your project involves hands-on testing or training, having access to a wet lab and device testing setting makes that part of the plan concrete.
Start before the call is published
The most common mistake is waiting for the right call to appear. By the time it is published, the strongest consortia have often been talking for months, and the window to join is short.
A better approach is to keep an eye on upcoming topics on the European Commission’s Funding & Tenders Portal, and to build relationships with potential coordinators and clinical partners well in advance. When a fitting call does open, you are already a familiar name rather than a cold email in a crowded inbox.
Where to meet future consortium partners
Good consortium partners are usually met long before anyone writes a proposal: at specialist events, through shared projects and through people who know both the clinical and the industry side.
ASCEND Industry Partners is a network built for exactly these conversations. It brings medtech, diagnostics and digital health companies together with each other and with the clinicians and institutions in the ASCEND community, through monthly online evenings, an annual meeting in Budapest and personal introductions. Members can also tell us when they are looking for partners for a specific funding topic, so we can point them to people worth talking to.
If you are thinking about your next EU application and want to build your medtech consortium on relationships rather than cold outreach, have a look at ASCEND Industry Partners.
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