PNO INNOVATION

Their core work

PNO Innovation is a Belgian innovation consultancy that helps companies and research organizations secure EU funding and manage collaborative R&D projects. They provide project management, dissemination, exploitation planning, and business development services within large European consortia. Their technical involvement spans critical raw materials recovery, bioeconomy, energy efficiency, and digital transformation — though their core value lies in bridging research outputs to market uptake rather than performing the research itself. With nearly 30 H2020 projects and 427 consortium partners, they serve as professional enablers of EU-funded innovation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In 2015–2018, PNO focused on industrial energy efficiency (waste heat recovery, biorefinery), early-stage raw materials recovery (PGM metallurgy), and broad bioeconomy topics. From 2019 onward, their portfolio shifted decisively toward critical raw materials — particularly ionometallurgy, battery recycling, and refractory metals — while adding advanced materials for energy applications (offshore wind coatings, perovskite PV). The consultancy has clearly deepened its raw materials and circular economy niche rather than staying generalist.

PNO is consolidating around the EU's critical raw materials agenda — expect them to pursue battery value chain, rare earth recovery, and strategic autonomy projects in Horizon Europe.

How they like to work

PNO overwhelmingly joins as a participant (22 of 29 projects), with only one coordinator role (INSPIRE) and six third-party engagements. They operate in large consortia — 427 unique partners across 32 countries signals a hub-style connector rather than a repeat-partner organization. This makes them an excellent entry point for newcomers seeking access to wide European networks, though they are unlikely to lead the technical direction of a project.

With 427 unique consortium partners across 32 countries, PNO has one of the widest collaboration networks among Belgian SMEs in H2020. Their reach spans nearly all EU member states plus associated countries, with no single geographic concentration.

What sets them apart

PNO fills the gap between research teams that produce results and markets that need them — they handle dissemination, exploitation roadmaps, and business development so technical partners can focus on the science. Their unusually broad sector coverage (environment, food, energy, manufacturing, digital) combined with deep domain knowledge in raw materials makes them a rare consultancy that understands both the EU funding landscape and the technical substance. For consortium builders, PNO brings professional project support plus a network of 427+ organizations they have already worked with.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CROCODILE
  Addresses the strategic EU priority of cobalt recovery from end-of-life batteries, combining five metallurgical techniques in a single project — their deepest technical involvement in critical raw materials.
• BIOSKOH
  Largest single EC contribution to PNO (€483,875) and a flagship biorefinery project converting biomass to second-generation ethanol at commercial scale.
• SmartAgriHubs
  Massive pan-European digital agriculture initiative connecting innovation hubs, open calls, and competence centers — shows PNO's ecosystem orchestration capability at continental scale.