RADI’s Perspective on Funding

I have been reviewing project proposals for European and German funding institutions for almost 20 years. In the early days, that meant spending long days in Brussels offices with folders full of application papers – interrupted only by a quick fries break at Maison Antoine on Place Jourdan. Since then, the process has moved from paper to e-mails, calls and then (at least in theory) to a digital EU platform.

Now another shift is happening: AI. In a recent review process, it stroke me how many proposals seemed to be AI-supported. Some used it well: to improve structure, sharpen language or make complex ideas easier to read. Others felt polished, but strangely empty: The project idea and the actual capacity of the consortium were hard to see.

So how should funding systems respond? Making application forms even more complex is not the answer. Many formats are already so demanding that they disadvantage organizations with strong ideas but limited proposal-writing capacity. AI may lower some of these formal barriers. AI might also be used by funding systems in order to cope with the exponential growth in applications. But if funding becomes a process where AI-generated proposals are assessed mainly by AI-supported systems, something important is lost.

At RADI, we focus on what AI cannot replace: the real idea behind a project, the responsibility of the people involved, and the practical capacity to implement it. A good proposal should make clear why the project matters, who stands behind it, and how it can realistically work.  A good funding scheme with sound processes should attract, identify and support precisely such projects.

Fore more see: https://www.radi.cx/en/portfolio-2/grant-applications-fund-management/