As a researcher or R&D manager, you have an obligation to ensure optimum financing for your projects. Making use of European funding gives your plans continuity and additional financial strength. But that is not all. By using these international schemes, you also expand your network, acquire new knowledge and enhance your international positioning.These are no small benefits. But making successful use of EU funding is not for just anyone. Of course, it starts with meeting the basic criteria: do you have a good proposal, do you cooperate internationally, that sort of thing. But the real difference is made at the top. The EU likes to speak of excellence, and that is not an overstatement.So, how to become ‘excellent'? In order to successfully use EU funding, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the EU. What are their goals and objectives and how are they to be achieved. And, on a more practical level: what is the EU really looking for when publishing a call, what does the EU mean when they talk about impact and ‘sustainability by design', what is a strong consortium, how can you score bonus points and what are absolute do's and don'ts? If all this is a no-brainer for you, you will significantly increase your chances of submitting an excellent application. If not, we warmly invite you to get acquainted with the PNO Academy.Check out the PNO Academy (and become excellent)If you join the PNO Academy, you will then have the benefit of more than 35 years' experience in EU funding. FP5, 6 and 7, Horizon 2020 and the brand new Horizon Europe, but also CEF, LIFE, EIC or the EU Innovation Fund: they hold no secrets for our experienced consultants, who for years have been responsible for a success rate in applications that is twice the EU average! And now, they make all this knowledge available to you via one of the many PNO Academy courses.