What are the benefits of joining such networking events?
Here, once again, mathematics shows us an evident advantage. By the end of the entire process, submission included, by writing and submitting two projects one organisations might be part of several proposals written by others. If each consortium should be constituted of about 5 or 6 partners, one organisation will be part of 8-10 proposals. Finally, the chances of being part of a financed proposal are increasing significantly and the effort (businesspeople would call it a Return Of Investment) is very much high.
More in general, the analysis of concept notes shared by the organisations helps to focus on which are the “trendy” topics of project submission, which are innovative ideas in different fields of education, and what are pioneering ways to implement proposals or to deliver transversal project activities.
Which possible drawbacks can these network meetings have?
It is fair to point out some possible limits of the above-described operation.
The involvement of always the same partners in partnerships, and relatively little openness to new and wide-ranging situations in terms of organisations and national participants in our projects. It is a bit as if projects were implemented by the ‘usual knowns’ who, although experts and guarantors of competent implementation, might not always welcome new inspirations and innovative visions that newcomers partners might bring to our project ideas and implementations.
The anxiety of participation. The preoccupation of submitting so many proposals and being included in so many consortia could make one lose sight of the quality of both the projects and the partnerships that will implement them. And this quantitative dimension could also be reflected in the operations of so many organisations that find themselves approved for so many projects that then require the activation of staff on such diverse and numerous initiatives that they often stifle the agendas and commitments of project managers. With consequences such as delays in the realisation of project activities and products (“we also have other projects that need attention”), difficulties in identifying suitable days for the whole partnership to organise meetings, international pieces of training due to the too many activities of each organisation.
The challenges related to the use of digital platforms for project submission. It is fairly well known among experts in our field, even if it is only a rumour, that Executive Agencies (especially national ones) are very careful that partnerships are as diverse as possible and, not to be forgotten, that project ideas are diverse. The suspicion, unfortunately already verified in reality, that such partnerships present very similar project ideas in different national agencies to increase the chances of approval of at least one of them, is quite present and the alert is equally high. Digital platforms now, where used for form writing, allow the analysis of texts, consortia, and project developments identifying those like each other, even if submitted in different National Agencies with different coordinators.
It is also well known that some National Agencies offer, more than others, higher chances of approval of projects with lower evaluation results than other countries. This pushes networks to present in those countries by intercepting and “booking” organisations from that country to play the role of project coordinators, even if they have not written it. It is the writer’s experience that some national agencies do not look favourably on the presence of coupled partners from specific countries (always the same ones) because they are aware of the mechanism that leads some to write a project and then present it in a country for purely profit-making purposes.
The mechanisms that networking events can inevitably trigger are likely to impact these agencies’ dislikes.
Final thoughts
Being part of such networking events has only increased the value of our work as Project Managers. We are strongly convinced about this and that’s the reason why we have dedicated a double article on the matter. Organisations and companies who aim at growing in this field should consider the benefits of joining networks, particularly during times of project submission. It is important to go beyond the mere statistical chance of having approved projects (which anyway support the life of our organisations) but to focus on the quality, the diversity, and the innovative approach of what represents our working mission. Knowing the triggering parts of this mechanism shall help Project Managers in getting the right benefit of such an action rather than missing the genuine scope of networking. No tool is bad, it is the use we make of it which might make us lose the goal and the authentic benefit of it. This applies to networking too.