María José Roldán Herráiz
PUBLIC FUNDING PROPOSAL EXPERT
I am currently available for:
- reviewing proposal drafts for upcoming calls.
- reviewing past unsuccessful proposals and indentifying potential areas of improvement for future calls.
- consulting sessions to determine the suitability of a project to different calls, coaching sessions to support the development of the slide deck or video pitch for Accelerator proposals, etc. Let me know your needs.
If you're interested, you can reach me through my LinkedIn (link on my profile).
I'm a freelance Innovation Consultant with more than five years of experience producing proposals for innovation programs in the EU's Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 frameworks, particularly for the EIC Accelerator (previously SME Instrument). During this time, 2 of my proposals have been successful at obtaining a 2M€ grant, and 2,5M€ in grant + 4,5M€ in equity, respectively.
I have an university background in Physics, with a Master's Degree in Materials Science and Engineering, and experience as an R&D Engineer working for a leading worldwide steelmaking company. My Master's thesis and part of my R&D work dealt with the physical properties of materials at the nanoscale and their applications.
During my work as a innovation proposal producer, I have worked in the following types of proposals:
- materials science: recycled wood products for high-end applications, high-yield plastic recycling process.
- agrifood and biomass revalorization: effective bioinsecticide for commercial agriculture, sustainable seaweed-based products for gourmet applications, sustainable advanced biofuel for commercial transportation, circular economy revalorization process for food production sidestreams.
- renewable energies: off-grid small hydropower systems, integral renewable energy system for commercial greenhouse farms.
- climate change resilience: automatic single-household flood protection system.
For each of these projects, I have researched the market and the state of the art, and become familiar with the technologies involved and with the EU's policies that affect the project. This includes most specially the European Green Deal, whose goals are adressed by a significant proportion of the projects I've worked on.