About the Episode
In episode 232 of The Grant, published on 6 July 2026 and running for 1 hour 19 minutes, host Niels Tudor-Vinther sits down with Alina Totti, a policy officer for international relations at Provincie Noord-Brabant in the South Netherlands.
Together they unpack how regions build the strategic foundations that eventually lead to successful EU funding — long before any call for proposals ever opens. Noord-Brabant is widely recognised as one of Europe's most innovative regions, with deep roots in advanced manufacturing and a globally connected high-tech industry. But Niels Tudor-Vinther's conversation with Alina Totti goes beyond the headline success story to examine the patient, deliberate work that sits underneath it: cultivating relationships across borders, reading Brussels early, shaping a coherent regional narrative around innovation, and earning the long-term trust that makes genuine project collaboration possible.
Key Topics Covered
- Alina Totti's role as a connector: As a policy officer focused on interregional collaboration and European funding at Provincie Noord-Brabant, Alina describes herself not as a technology specialist or a funding expert, but as someone who identifies what different actors have in common and bridges them toward shared opportunities.
- Noord-Brabant's innovation profile: The region in the South Netherlands is home to advanced manufacturing clusters, high-tech industries, and internationally recognised assets such as the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven — an open-collaboration environment that attracts global talent and investment.
- Relationships before calls: A central theme of the episode is the principle that EU project success is built on relationships established well ahead of any funding opportunity. As Alina puts it, "If you want to do European projects, relationships come first, and the calls come after."
- Smart Specialisation strategy: The episode explores how Smart Specialisation encourages regions to honestly map their strengths and then seek out complementary partners across European borders — moving away from competing on the same ground and toward genuine collaborative advantage.
- The Vanguard Initiative: Niels Tudor-Vinther and Alina Totti discuss this network of leading European regions, which promotes joint pilot projects and collective lobbying across key industrial areas, giving participating regions a stronger collective voice in Brussels.
- Stepping-stone instruments for SMEs: The Vanguard Initiative has developed a low-threshold co-financing instrument designed to support small interregional projects. These act as practical stepping stones, helping SMEs build the cross-border experience and partnerships they need before pursuing larger, more demanding EU calls.
- Proactive engagement with EU institutions: Influencing EU funding priorities requires showing up in Brussels at the very earliest stages of policy design — when the next Multiannual Financial Framework is still being sketched out. Waiting for a call to open is already too late to shape the agenda.
- Open innovation culture: The episode reflects on how Noord-Brabant's ethos of openness and knowledge-sharing — exemplified by the High Tech Campus model — accelerates regional innovation and positions the region as an attractive European partner.
Why You Should Listen
Whether you work inside a regional authority, support SMEs in navigating European programmes, or manage research and innovation projects yourself, this episode offers a grounded and highly practical perspective on what EU funding success actually requires. Alina Totti speaks from direct experience of building the interregional relationships and institutional knowledge that eventually translate into winning proposals — and her account makes clear that strategy, patience, and presence matter far more than technical expertise alone.
The conversation is especially relevant for anyone who feels that EU funding is reactive — something you respond to when a call appears. Niels Tudor-Vinther and Alina Totti make a compelling case that the most effective actors treat EU funding as a long game: investing in networks, understanding how European priorities are shaped, and positioning their region or organisation as a credible, well-connected partner long before any deadline is announced.
For regional development officers looking to strengthen their European strategy, this episode provides a rare inside view of how one of Europe's leading innovative regions approaches the challenge — not with a single winning proposal, but with years of deliberate relationship-building and policy engagement underpinning every success.
This episode is produced by Niels Tudor-Vinther as part of The Grant, a podcast dedicated to EU research funding. You can listen to episode 232 directly on Spotify Podcasters or explore all episodes and resources at thegrant.eu. If the strategic side of EU funding is something your organisation is actively working on, EMDESK offers project management and collaboration tools built specifically for European research projects — a practical complement to the long-term groundwork this episode describes.
