Novation Europe
Our
Story
For too long, the idea of taking part has felt like facing a wall.
Participation in European Research and Innovation, and programmes like Horizon Europe, holds immense potential: for knowledge, career development, impact, and rewarding experiences.
But for the non-initiated, it’s hard to know where to start or where to find useful help. For the most experienced, it’s a lack of time, nowhere to turn when challenges arise, and missed opportunities.
Having spent years working in universities, associations, and public bodies, we saw the same patterns play out time and again. We saw brilliant researchers and practitioners bogged down in complexity, lacking the time or support to make things happen. We saw stretched professional teams unable to act on key opportunities for lack of capacity or clarity. And we saw good projects struggle during delivery because of avoidable mistakes made months earlier in the bid.
The problem was never a lack of ambition. It was the absence of a certain kind of support: a partner who had lived the system themselves; who understood the internal pressures and the day-to-day reality of the people involved.
It was about having a partner focused on building long-term capability with advice grounded in deep, practical know-how, not just theory.
Novation Europe was created to be the partner we wished we’d had.
A partner that provides practitioner-led counsel, not just abstract advice. One that brings advanced facilitation to build confidence, not just manage tasks. And a partner that offers flexible support right when you need it—one you can trust to work with your teams from day one, designed to strengthen your organisation, not create dependency.
Our name reflects our purpose: to be the partner you bring in to get things done and over the line, realising your ambitions and bringing a new, more human, and more effective way of engaging to a system that needs it.
We are a curated collective of senior practitioners who are passionate about EU R&I
Founded by Xavier Rodde in 2025, we were brought together through a network of peers who recognised they were solving the same fundamental problems from different vantage points – inside universities, public bodies, and associations.
Covering all dimensions of EU R&I participation, from strategy to delivery including engagement with Brussels and partners, our defining characteristic is a deep, first-hand understanding of the institutional dynamics, cultural pressures, and political nuances you, yourself, navigate daily.
Our “lived experience” is our core asset and what defines Novation Europe.
Our advice to you is never abstract. It is immediately applicable, culturally attuned, and designed to work within the real-world constraints of your organisation.
What unites us is the ability to be trusted as as partner, for our advice and for our ability to bridge the critical gap between high-level institutional strategy and the granular reality of project delivery – a capability born not from a playbook, but from years of practice.
