SONNENBERG HARRISON PARTNERS

Their core work

Sonnenberg Harrison Partners is a Paris-based innovation consultancy that helps SMEs access and navigate deep-tech EU research ecosystems. In their materials project, they contributed to a large consortium developing nano-functionalized flexible surfaces for sustainable packaging and structural electronics. Their more recent work centers squarely on SME support services — training, investment coaching, awareness building, and connecting companies with EU Digital Innovation Hubs (EU-DIHs) through PhotonHub Europe, a pan-European photonics access program. Their core value to consortia is mobilizing and guiding SME communities within large, complex innovation programs.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their first H2020 project (2020) placed them inside a materials science consortium focused on nano-functionalized surfaces, sustainable packaging films, and structural electronics — technically dense territory. By 2021, their second project shifted entirely to SME facilitation: training, investment coaching, and routing companies toward photonics innovation support through EU-DIHs. This is a meaningful pivot — from participating in applied research to serving as a business-facing bridge that helps SMEs enter and benefit from deep-tech programs.

Sonnenberg Harrison Partners is consolidating around a consultancy identity — helping SMEs find, enter, and benefit from EU innovation programs — with photonics and digital manufacturing as their current technology focus.

How they like to work

They have never led a project as coordinator, always joining as a consortium participant. Both projects they joined are large-scale, pan-European Innovation Actions — the kind where partner counts run into the dozens and geographic spread across 18 countries is the norm. Their keyword profile (awareness building, orienteering, training, investment coaching) points to a community engagement or SME mobilization function rather than a technical research role. For a consortium builder, they are most useful as a partner that brings access to SME networks, particularly in France, rather than as a lab or engineering resource.

Despite only two projects, Sonnenberg Harrison Partners has connected with 100 unique consortium partners across 18 countries — a sign that they participate in large, geographically diverse Innovation Actions. No strong regional concentration is visible beyond their home base in Paris.

What sets them apart

Sonnenberg Harrison Partners occupies an unusual niche: a small French SME consultancy with hands-on experience in both advanced materials projects and pan-European photonics innovation infrastructure. That combination is rare — most SME coaches have no materials or photonics background, and most materials/photonics partners lack the business-facing SME support profile this firm appears to carry. For consortium builders who need a French-market SME engagement partner with credibility in deep-tech sectors, this firm is a specific and non-obvious fit.

Highlights from their portfolio

• FlexFunction2Sustain
  Their largest funded project (EUR 263,288) and the basis for their materials expertise — a four-year Innovation Action targeting next-generation sustainable flexible surfaces for packaging and electronics.
• PhotonHub Europe
  Positions them inside the EU's flagship photonics Digital Innovation Hub network, giving them direct connections to a pan-European SME support infrastructure that runs through 2026.