Equality in business: a key factor for
access to grants and tenders

Equality is no longer just a social commitment. Today it influences competitiveness, reputation and also, increasingly, access to public funding. At Euro-Funding we are committed to equality not being a trend, but a standard. In this way, we help our clients to move in the same direction.

The reality is clear: equality impacts the scoring of proposals, reputational risk and access to funding. Therefore, we encourage you to ask yourselves: Are we managing equality strategically?

From our experience, we highlight certain key points that should be reviewed before submitting any application for equality assistance:

Public tenders: in public tenders, social criteria are becoming increasingly important, with special attention to gender equality. Aspects such as training programs on equality within the company, gender balance in the teams that will execute the project, and the presence of women in positions of responsibility are often taken into account. These are not simply recommendations, but can often make a difference in the final score. can make a difference in the final score.

European programs: in this case, equality is a structural part of the evaluation of proposals. Euro-Funding recommends reviewing the following five points:

• Evaluation and tie-breaking criteria: gender balance may act as a tie-breaker. tie-breaker criterion when two projects have the same score in Horizon Europe. Therefore, special attention should be paid to this criterion when preparing the project.
• Gender Equality Plan: This is a mandatory requirement for public entities, universities and research organizations to be eligible for Horizon Europe. If these entities do not have a valid GEP, they are not eligible. In addition, it is important to note that when funding is granted, the European Commission re-evaluates this requirement before releasing the funds.
• Gender Dimension: this is a specific section that most proposals should include. It should explain how gender is relevant in the design of the project, for example, in data analysis, clinical trials or user validation. In the event that gender is not relevant, this should also be clearly justified, to avoid the proposal being penalized.
• Specific calls for women: the European Commission has calls aimed at promoting women’s leadership in innovation, such as Women TechEU or the EIC Women Leadership Programme. The aim is to increase the presence of women in technological entrepreneurship and research in the European market.
• Follow-up on funded projects: the review does not end once the aid has been granted. Many programs require gender indicators in the personnel hired, a balanced presence in decision-making bodies and sex-disaggregated data in project reports.

National subsidies: at the national level, equality has also become a factor to be taken into account when it comes to accessing public aid. On September 1, 2023, Royal Decree-Law 1/2023 came into force, establishing that companies can only benefit from bonuses on Social Security contributions if they have a negotiated and registered Equality Plan, provided that it is mandatory.

In addition, there are incentives that favor the hiring of women. For example, hiring women increases the bonus for research personnel by 5%. In the case of women under 30 years of age, the increase can reach 10%.

Beyond incentives, equality is also a criterion in many public calls for proposals. It can be a mandatory criterion, with a specific score or even a tie-breaking criterion. In practice, what is valued are aspects such as the percentage of women in the project team, the presence of women in management positions or active equality measures, beyond the legal minimum. In competitive calls for proposals (CDTI, AEI, AVI, PERTE, Horizonte Europa…), it can mean between 2 and 10 points out of 100 which, in the case of tight projects, can determine which project enters and which is left out.

In addition, some calls for proposals go one step further. If you do not comply with requirements such as having a registered Equality Plan or the responsible declaration of non-discrimination, you may be excluded or your project may not be financed, you may be excluded or your project may not be financed.

Equality is no longer just a matter of regulatory compliance or social responsibility. It is also a strategic lever to access funding. At Euro-Funding we work to help projects and companies not only to make progress in equality possible, but also to turn it into an opportunity for growth.