Grantivity compares thousands of programmes across Europe with your group's profile and checks them in depth. The report ends with priorities, each finding traced to its passage.
The Grantivity Sortbox · how a funding check is produced
How a research profile becomes an evaluated selection
A shape sorter has one rule. A block falls into the box only through the opening of its own shape. The Grantivity Sortbox applies this rule to funding. Your project is the shape. Each programme is an opening.
First, your shape. Grantivity analyses your concept: research question, consortium, earlier funding and institutional context. From this, we build your research profile.
Seen from above, many openings look right. A cone, a sphere and a cylinder all show the same circle from above. In the same way, many programmes match a project on topic, applicant type and region. Grantivity reads these openings across about 5,000 programmes from across Europe.
Seen in depth, each opening has its own shape. Behind the circle lies a cone-shaped cavity. Only the cone fills it. The cylinder sits on the edge of the opening, and the sphere drops in only part way. For funding, depth means duration, budget, co-financing, staff, reporting and requirements after the award. We check your profile against them: 21 criteria in three stages.
Up to three priorities, every other match listed. The priorities are the openings your project fills best in depth. In Horizon Europe, one proposal takes a median of 36 to 45 working days to prepare. Three proposals take about half a year of full-time work. Every other match is listed with its result. A shape that sits on the edge of one programme may have its opening elsewhere.
Adjust and fill the gaps. Where the mismatch is small, the report names it: an additional consortium partner, a longer timeline, more staff time, a narrower scope. It ends with next steps and explores a funding strategy over several rounds. Whether a change serves your own line of work and long-term vision is discussed in conversation.
The Grantivity Sortbox
01 · INPUT
Your starting point
Briefing: aims, research field and timeframe
Interview: plans, partners and earlier funding
Desk research: publications, projects and calls the group has answered
02 · PROFILE
Who applies
Researcher: expertise and career stage
Unit: chair, group or institute
Organisation: legal form, type and internal funding rules
Consortium: partners for joint calls
Direction: the group's own line of work
03 · DATABASE
Programmes and their rules
About 5,000 programmes from across Europe
Programme guidelines and the legal texts behind them
Opening: 12 exclusion criteria, such as applicant type, region and deadline
Depth: 5 dimensions, including budget, duration and the group's capacity
Attractiveness: 4 criteria
05 · SELECT
Sorted by result
Apply in this round: fit and timing confirmed
Shape the project first: the gap is small enough to close
Plan for a later round: the fit is good, timing or partners are missing
Ruled out: with stage, reason and passage
06 · REPORT
Priorities
Programmes to prepare, each finding with its source
Programmes ruled out, with reasons
Readiness gaps, named so they can be closed
A funding strategy over several rounds, explored with the group
FROM THE REPORT
Project outline
Starts from the research question and the group's capacity
Several project shapes, tested early with design thinking
Decision on whether to apply, and to which call
Proposal writing with the group, or by Grantivity on request
FROM THE SELECTION
Institutional readiness
Each gap named in the report, with the passage that sets the requirement
Reshape where the fit is close: capacity, partners or scope
Gaps that take more effort to fill move into the funding strategy
FROM THE CHECK
Funding strategy
Your strategy, translated into funding over several rounds
Support across rounds: new calls, changed rules, gaps closed
Organisational development around grant acquisition
THE CHECK · 02
The Grantivity Sortbox: Examining a programme from three sides
Side A · may we?
Opening: Checking eligibility
Eligibility is set out in the programme guidelines, including the permitted applicant types. Grantivity reads these documents alongside the call text and takes past funding rounds into account.
Side B · can we?
Depth: Reviewing requirements
The report assesses institutional and personal readiness against the requirements of the programme, and names anything that is missing.
Then, in conversation · should we?
Shape: Developing the project
The strongest project serves your own line of work and long-term vision over several calls.
In conversation
An outside view
With the report in hand, Grantivity weighs the options with you against your own direction, drawing on knowledge of the field.
OUTPUT · 03
Sample report: Transformation design
Sortbox Report
Lead
Research group in transformation design at a public university of art and design in Germany; six members
Partners
A coastal municipality in Portugal and a climate research institute in Ireland
Project
Climate futures for the municipality and its region
Methods
Speculative design, future foresight and design thinking, with art, science communication and community engagement
Track record
Partner in one earlier EU project
Checked
About 5,000 programmes compared; 9 checked in depth
Profile Research group in transformation design at a public university of art and design in Germany, six members, partner in one earlier EU project; consortium with a coastal municipality in Portugal and a climate research institute in Ireland; climate futures for the municipality and its region through speculative design, future foresight and design thinking, with art, science communication and community engagement
Scope about 5,000 programmes compared; 9 checked in depth: 3 priorities, 3 further matches, 3 ruled out
The municipality is the only link to residents, schools, local artists and the regional adaptation office. The research partners reach the region through it.
Germany and Ireland have worked together before. Both links to Portugal are new and need a joint activity before the first proposal.
Two roles the programmes require are missing: a youth or civil society organisation (WIDERA) and neighbourhoods in two more countries (New European Bauhaus).
Design university, Germany (lead) — Climate research institute, Ireland: existing link
Design university, Germany (lead) — Design students: existing link
Design university, Germany (lead) — Art and science museum, Germany: existing link
Climate research institute, Ireland — National climate data service: existing link
Coastal municipality, Portugal — Residents: existing link
Coastal municipality, Portugal — Schools: existing link
Coastal municipality, Portugal — Local artists: existing link
Coastal municipality, Portugal — Regional climate adaptation office: existing link
Design university, Germany (lead) — Coastal municipality, Portugal: planned in the project
Climate research institute, Ireland — Coastal municipality, Portugal: planned in the project
Design university, Germany (lead) — Youth or civil society organisation: required, still missing
Coastal municipality, Portugal — Youth or civil society organisation: required, still missing
Design university, Germany (lead) — Neighbourhoods in two more countries: required, still missing
Coastal municipality, Portugal — Neighbourhoods in two more countries: required, still missing
Grantivity · Funding Check · sample · page 2 / 5
GrantivityFunding Check · 14.10.2026
RESULTPROGRAMME · FINDINGRESTS ON
Priorities · up to three, examined in full detail
Apply in this roundHorizon Europe, public engagement in research and innovation (HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-04) — Area 1 funds participatory science on complex social issues and names climate change, with communities of practice for science communicators and citizen scientists. Germany, Portugal and Ireland meet the rule of three entities in three countries.Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026–2027, Part 11 (WIDERA), p. 21; pp. 100–102Readiness gap: A coordination and support action of about €1 million: it funds engagement; the design research needs other funding. Area 1 centres on young people, so a youth or civil society organisation joins the consortium. · Deadline: 11 March 2027, 17:00 Brussels (opens 8 December 2026)
Shape the project firstHorizon Europe, maladaptation to climate change (HORIZON-CL5-2027-01-D1-10) — The topic asks for insights from the social sciences and humanities, stakeholder perspectives and local case studies, a clear role for the municipality and the participatory methods. Its core is climate-risk and adaptation research of €5–6 million.Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026–2027, Part 8 (Cluster 5), p. 37; pp. 73–74Readiness gap: The Irish institute leads. More case-study regions and expertise in adaptation assessment join; speculative design becomes a method within the assessment. · Deadline: 4 March 2027, 17:00 Brussels (opens 17 November 2026)
Plan for a later roundNew European Bauhaus, participatory foresight for neighbourhoods (HORIZON-NEB-2027-01-BUSINESS-03) — The closest match in topic: a research action that develops and validates a participatory foresight approach, with scenarios and visions for neighbourhoods 20 years and more ahead, including climate conditions.Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026–2027, Part 13 (New European Bauhaus Facility), p. 21; pp. 77–79Readiness gap: Validation in at least three neighbourhoods in different countries: neighbourhoods and local partners in two more countries. · Deadline: 1 December 2027, 17:00 Brussels (opens 5 May 2027)
Grantivity · Funding Check · sample · page 3 / 5
GrantivityFunding Check · 14.10.2026
Further matches
Shape the project firstHorizon Europe, arts and cultural and creative industries as drivers of sustainable innovation (HORIZON-CL2-2027-02-HERITAGE-09-two-stage) — An open topic of €2–4 million; the project is framed around design and the arts as drivers of the transition. The first stage is evaluated blind. Deadline: first stage 4 May 2027.Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026–2027, Part 5 (Cluster 2), p. 20; pp. 127–129
Shape the project firstKulturstiftung des Bundes, general project funding — Funds artistic projects in an international context from €50,000, with at least 20% own or third-party funds secured by the deadline and visibility in Germany. Whether a university group is eligible is to be confirmed with the foundation. Deadline: 31 January 2027, 12:00.Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Allgemeine Projektförderung, call page and FAQ, as of 14 October 2026
Apply in this roundMSCA Staff Exchanges — Funds secondments of one to twelve months between the partners; the municipality counts as the non-academic partner the scheme requires. It funds the exchange around the main grants; the research itself is funded through them. Deadline: 13 April 2027.Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026–2027, Part 2 (MSCA), pp. 38, 68, 86–88
Ruled out · with stage and reason
Opening · deadlineHorizon Europe, artistic intelligence (HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-01) — Art–science collaboration on societal challenges, a close match. The deadline passed on 23 September 2026, and the 2027 call has no follow-up topic.Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026–2027, Part 5 (Cluster 2), p. 12; pp. 78–82
Opening · regionInterreg Atlantic Area, fourth call — Germany lies outside the programme area, so the university cannot lead. The fourth call also asks for partners from France, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.Interreg Atlantic Area Programme Manual V6 (April 2026), sections 1.2, 2.2.1, 2.2.4, pp. 10–12; call announcement of 1 September 2026
Opening · applicant typeERC Synergy Grant 2027 — Funds two to four principal investigators; consortia are explicitly excluded, and the municipality has no role.ERC Work Programme 2027, C(2026)4907, section 1.1.5, p. 12; footnote 39, p. 21
Checked against the official sources on 19.10.2026
SOURCE · 06
Built on the documents
Working from a Europe-wide database of programme guidelines and criteria
The check works on a structured database of calls and the legal texts behind them. Exclusion criteria such as applicant type, region and deadline are applied automatically, and every profile is re-checked each week.
Calls, deadlines and rules change from round to round. A finding is only as reliable as the version of the document behind it. Each finding in the report names that document and the passage it rests on, verified against the source before handover.
FIGURES · 07
Grantivity in figures: Checking about 5,000 programmes against 21 criteria
~5,000
Programmes
funding programmes from across Europe
~1,700
Programme guidelines
programme guidelines and the legal texts behind them, recorded in full text
~21
Criteria
in three stages: 12 exclusion criteria, 5 dimensions, 4 attractiveness criteria
~3
Priorities
up to three, examined in full detail; every further match listed, every exclusion with its reason
Grantivity database, status 1 October 2026
NEXT · 08
After the funding check: Shaping the project and planning ahead
Design thinking · project outline
Project outline before the call
A project outline developed with the people who will carry the project, starting from the research question and the group's capacity.
