How to find the right partners for a Horizon Europe proposal
Ask anyone who has coordinated a Horizon Europe proposal what was hardest, and the answer is rarely the science. It is the consortium. Collaborative projects usually need partners from several eligible countries, each with a clear role, and reviewers look closely at whether the team can actually deliver what the proposal promises. Yet partners are still mostly found the way they were twenty years ago: a contact from a conference, a colleague of a colleague, a post on a partner-search board a few weeks before the deadline. Those routes work, but they favour the people you already know. Here is a more deliberate way to do it, based on evidence that is already public.
Start from your idea, not from a keyword
Start from your idea, not from a keyword
Keyword searches reward whoever guesses the vocabulary of the call. Your concept note says far more: the problem, the method, the users, the expected impact. Begin there. Write down, in a paragraph or two, what you want to do and why it matters, and use that text to look for matching calls and similar work. This also helps you check, before you write a single page, whether the idea fits a call at all, or whether it would sit better in a scheme that is open to any topic.
Read the funded projects behind the call
Every open call has a history. Earlier calls in the same programme and topic area were won by real consortia, and CORDIS publishes those projects with their partners, roles and budgets. For health and life sciences, NIH RePORTER does the same for US-funded work. Looking at ten or twenty funded projects close to your idea tells you a lot:
What a winning consortium looks like: how many partners, how many countries, the mix of universities, hospitals, companies and public bodies.
Who coordinates: which organisations take the lead, and which tend to join as partners.
Where the money goes: budgets partner by partner show who carried the main work. You are not copying anyone. You are learning what reviewers have already judged credible in your field.
Rank organisations by their record
Once you know which projects resemble yours, the organisations behind them become a shortlist. Rank them by evidence rather than reputation: how many relevant projects they took part in, how often they coordinated, how recently, and with what budgets. A university with three recent projects close to your topic is usually a better first call than a famous name with none. The same goes for companies: an SME that has already delivered in two consortia knows the reporting, the timelines and the work packages.
Look for the gaps in your own team
Partner search is not about collecting big names; it is about covering what you lack. Map the roles your proposal needs (research, clinical or field validation, technology, end users, exploitation, communication) and mark the ones your team already holds. Search for the rest specifically. Countries matter too. If every strong candidate comes from the same two member states, look further: widening countries, associated countries and regions you have not yet worked with can strengthen both eligibility and impact.
Find the people, not just the institution
Organisations sign the grant agreement, but people write proposals together. Behind each funded project are researchers who know the topic, have delivered before, and may be looking for exactly the expertise you bring. Look at who led the relevant work, what they have published since, and who they collaborate with. A researcher's collaboration network often points to the next partner you had not thought of.
Approach them with evidence
A good first message is short and specific. Mention the call, explain your idea in two sentences, and say why you are writing to them in particular: the project they ran, the result you would build on, the role you see for them. People receive many generic invitations close to deadlines; a message that shows you have read their work stands out. And start early. The best partners are often committed to other consortia months before a deadline.
Being found works both ways
Everything above also applies in reverse. Coordinators are searching for partners too, and they find the organisations and people whose work is visible. Keeping your public record up to date, from your ORCID profile to your publications, makes it easier for the right consortium to invite you.
How Granterra helps
Granterra brings these steps into one place. Paste your concept note into Search by idea and see the matching calls, the funded projects most similar to your idea from CORDIS and NIH, and the organisations ranked by their record in your field. From there you can open any organisation's projects and budgets, explore collaboration networks and maps, and find the researchers behind the work. Researchers can also opt in with ORCID to show their profile, projects and publications to Granterra members, so coordinators looking for partners in their field can find them.
See it with your own topic → https://app.granterra.app
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