# Ipernovation > Francesco Rubino is a venture builder, EU expert evaluator, and ecosystem builder based in Barcelona, Spain. He helps startups, SMEs, corporations, and institutions access non-dilutive EU funding, adopt AI and automation, and build new ventures, combining strategic clarity with hands-on execution across Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Ipernovation operates across three core verticals: (1) EU non-dilutive funding, covering Horizon Europe, EIC Accelerator, national and regional instruments; (2) AI and automation, sold as a fixed-price AI Opportunity Assessment for SMEs and startups; and (3) venture building, covering opportunity shaping, PoC design, intrapreneurship programmes, and 0-to-1 startup execution. The three are designed to work in sequence or in parallel: a validated business model is the strongest foundation for an EU grant application, and operational time recovered through automation is what funds the work of building. Francesco has been an EU expert evaluator since 2018 for Horizon Europe, EIT and InvestMED programmes, and has evaluated 3,700+ companies and proposals. He has mentored 800+ entrepreneurs across 3 continents, delivered 50+ PoC projects, and supported over €2M in funding across programmes. --- ## Who This Is For - **Startups and SMEs** seeking non-dilutive EU grants (Horizon Europe, EIC) without giving up equity - **Founders and operators** losing hours each week to manual processes and unsure what to automate first - **Corporations** with untapped innovation potential looking to build internal ventures or run PoC programmes - **Institutions and NGOs** wanting to transform programmes into sustainable, market-facing ventures - **Venture studios and funds** needing embedded expertise for portfolio companies from ideation to first traction - **Research organisations** translating deep tech capabilities into structured innovation pathways --- ## Core Services ### AI Opportunity Assessment (fixed price, 450 euro) [https://ipernovation.eu/ai/#assessment](https://ipernovation.eu/ai/#assessment) A productized diagnostic for SMEs and startups that want to know what AI and automation would actually do for them, before committing to any build. Fixed price of 450 euro, delivered in one week. The comparison is a medical check-up: you leave with a prescription, not a sales quote. **What it includes:** 45-minute discovery interview · analysis of current workflows and tooling · written report with 3 to 7 prioritised recommendations, an effort-impact map, a 4-day quick-start plan, and net ROI per recommendation · 30-minute review call. **Guarantee:** at least 5 hours per week of recoverable time identified, or a full refund. Worst case, the client loses 75 minutes. **Deliberate boundary:** the report is a diagnosis, not a sales document. Recommendations name off-the-shelf tools the client can implement themselves. Actual engineering work is a separate engagement, so the assessment has no incentive to over-prescribe. **Availability:** remote across Italy and Europe, in person in Barcelona. **Key insight:** most AI projects fail before any model is chosen. They fail because nobody measured where the time actually goes, so the automation gets pointed at the wrong process. The assessment exists to answer that question cheaply, in a week, rather than expensively, over a quarter. ### EU Funding & Non-Dilutive Capital [https://ipernovation.eu/investment/](https://ipernovation.eu/investment/) Identify, write, and deliver EU grant applications. Francesco is a certified EU expert evaluator, so he understands how proposals are scored from the inside and applies that knowledge to build competitive applications. **Instruments covered:** Horizon Europe, EIC Accelerator, EIC Pathfinder, InvestMED, ERDF, Interreg, LIFE Programme, COSME, national R&D agencies, regional innovation funds. **Services:** Funding landscape mapping (right instrument for your stage, sector, geography) · Proposal development (end-to-end writing, budgeting, consortium management) · Evaluator-perspective review (scoring simulation against real EU criteria before submission). **Key insight:** most EU funding applications fail not because the idea is wrong, but because applicants do not understand how evaluators read proposals. As someone who sits on evaluation panels, Francesco knows what gets funded. ### Venture Building [https://ipernovation.eu/venture-building/](https://ipernovation.eu/venture-building/) From 0 to 1: opportunity shaping, validation, MVP design, and go-to-market. Works embedded alongside the team as a co-founder, not a consultant. **Typologies served:** Corporate venture units · Public institutions and NGOs · Early-stage founders · Venture studios and early-stage funds. **Methodology:** 1. Opportunity Shaping: transform a strategic signal (market gap, internal asset, underused IP) into a testable business opportunity with a clear value proposition 2. Validation & PoC Design: evidence-based validation cycles; design proof-of-concept experiments, test with real users, de-risk before significant capital is committed 3. Team & Governance Setup: identify founding talent, define roles and decision rights, set up governance that balances speed with accountability 4. Launch & Scale Readiness: go-to-market design, investor narrative development, first growth cycles --- ## Track Record & Case Studies - **Pioneers.io** [https://ipernovation.eu/work/pioneers/](https://ipernovation.eu/work/pioneers/) : Led open innovation programs and the Pioneers Festival at Hofburg Palace, Vienna (2017–2019). $600K+ portfolio of project managed; 3 conferences per year. - **Startup Africa Roadtrip** [https://ipernovation.eu/work/startup-africa-roadtrip/](https://ipernovation.eu/work/startup-africa-roadtrip/) : Co-founded and led an EU-Africa innovation bridge for 5 years. 500+ entrepreneurs trained across Uganda, Kenya, and Italy (2018–2023). - **InvestMED · LUMSA** [https://ipernovation.eu/work/investmed-lumsa/](https://ipernovation.eu/work/investmed-lumsa/) : Mentored and invested in 21 SDG-driven SMEs across Egypt, Lebanon, and Tunisia via EU InvestMED programme (2021–2023). - **CAF · Scholas Occurrentes** [https://ipernovation.eu/work/caf/](https://ipernovation.eu/work/caf/) : Strategic entrepreneurship training across South America with CAF (Development Bank of Latin America). Multi-country, multilateral, UN status (2022–2023). - **Ferrovial** [https://ipernovation.eu/work/ferrovial/](https://ipernovation.eu/work/ferrovial/) : Innovation and PoC roadmap design and facilitation for one of Europe's leading infrastructure groups (2021–present). - **Merck** [https://ipernovation.eu/work/merck/](https://ipernovation.eu/work/merck/) : Innovation roadmap design and facilitation. Multi-year corporate innovation engagement (2021–present). - **CERN** [https://ipernovation.eu/work/cern/](https://ipernovation.eu/work/cern/) : Proof of concept roadmap facilitation for the world's largest particle physics laboratory. Bridging deep science and market-facing applications (2021–present). - **Carbon13** [https://ipernovation.eu/work/carbon13/](https://ipernovation.eu/work/carbon13/) : Entrepreneur in Residence, Berlin cohort 3. Climate deep tech venture builder focused on gigaton-scale CO2 reduction (2024–2025). - **CYENS Centre of Excellence** [https://ipernovation.eu/work/cyens/](https://ipernovation.eu/work/cyens/) : AI-focused startup mentor at Cyprus's leading research and innovation centre. Supporting founders translating AI research into investable ventures (2024–present). - **GELLIFY** [https://ipernovation.eu/work/gellify/](https://ipernovation.eu/work/gellify/) : Innovation manager: 10+ PoC projects, company building, and intrapreneurship programmes for EU and Middle East corporate clients (2020–2021). - **GIZ** [https://ipernovation.eu/work/giz/](https://ipernovation.eu/work/giz/) : Innovation programme design and delivery for Germany's Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit. International development cooperation, multi-country (2021–present). --- ## Blog & Knowledge Base ### AI & Automation - [How to Measure AI Automation ROI](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/how-to-measure-ai-automation-roi/) : What to measure in the first 90 days, which metrics are vanity, and how to build a dashboard that shows whether automation is still paying for itself. - [AI Readiness Assessment: Are You Actually Ready?](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/ai-readiness-assessment/) : How to tell whether your processes, data and team can absorb automation before you spend money on it. - [AI Automation for Startups and SMEs: Where to Start](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/ai-automation-startups-guide/) : A practical framework for founders on what to automate first and what not to touch. - [AI for Operations vs Growth: Where to Point It First](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/ai-for-operations-vs-growth/) : The two places automation pays back, and why picking the wrong one wastes a quarter. - [AI Strategy: In-House or External Expert?](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/ai-strategy-inhouse-vs-expert/) : When to hire, when to bring someone in, and when to do neither. - [Why AI Projects Fail: The Most Common Implementation Mistakes](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/why-ai-projects-fail/) : Specific mistakes that repeat across companies, with practical fixes. - [Make vs n8n vs Zapier for Startups: An Honest Comparison (2026)](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/make-vs-n8n-vs-zapier-startups/) : Not a feature list. A practical comparison from the perspective of startups and SMEs. - [AI and Corporate Strategy: The Organisational Gap](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/ai-corporate-strategy/) : Large companies have access to the same AI tools as startups. The bottleneck is not technology, it is organisational structure. - [AI and the MVP: Why the Lean Startup Model No Longer Applies](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/ai-mvp-lean-startup/) : AI has collapsed the cost of building. When building is nearly free, the entire logic of lean startup validation changes. - [Customer Discovery for B2B AI Products](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/customer-discovery-b2b-ai-products/) : Most B2B AI products fail because the discovery process is wrong, not the technology. - [AI in Product Discovery and HR](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/ai-product-discovery-hr/) : Where AI genuinely changes the work, and where it just adds a step. - [The EU AI Act for Startups](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/eu-ai-act-for-startups/) : What the regulation actually requires of small companies building with AI. ### EU Funding - [EIC Accelerator: The Complete Guide (by an Evaluator)](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/eic-accelerator-application-guide/) : Written from inside the evaluation panel. What evaluators actually look for, common failure modes, and how to build a competitive application. - [Why Most EU Funding Applications Fail (And How to Fix Yours)](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/why-eu-funding-applications-fail/) : The specific, repeating mistakes that get proposals rejected, explained by someone who reads them. - [Horizon Europe for SMEs: How to Participate](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/horizon-europe-for-smes/) : Horizon Europe is not just for universities. How SMEs can join consortia, find partners, and compete successfully. - [EU Funding for Startups and SMEs in 2026: Complete Guide](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/eu-funding-for-startups-2026/) : All European funding programmes available in 2026, including EIC Accelerator, Horizon Europe and ERDF, structured by stage and sector. ### Venture Building & Corporate Innovation - [What is a Venture Builder? The Honest Answer](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/what-is-a-venture-builder/) : A venture builder is not an accelerator, a consultancy, or a VC fund. The definitive explanation after 15+ years building ventures for European corporations. - [Corporate Venture Building: How to Build Startups](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/corporate-venture-building/) : Corporate venture building and intrapreneurship: the two models that actually work for corporate innovation. - [Corporate-Startup Collaboration: A Practical Framework](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/corporate-startup-collaboration/) : Most collaborations fail not because the technology is wrong, but because the process is wrong. - [What Does an Innovation Consultant Actually Do?](https://ipernovation.eu/blog/what-does-an-innovation-consultant-do/) : And when you do not need one. An honest look at the role. --- ## About Francesco Rubino [https://ipernovation.eu/about/](https://ipernovation.eu/about/) Venture builder and startup acceleration programme leader with 15+ years bridging corporations, startups, and institutions across Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Based in Barcelona, Spain. **Credentials:** - EU Expert Evaluator since 2018, Horizon Europe, EIT and InvestMED programmes, 3,700+ companies and proposals evaluated - 800+ founders mentored across 3 continents - 50+ PoC projects delivered from concept to market - Worked with: Ferrovial, Merck, CERN, Airbus, Endesa, Greiner, Kapsch, Carbon13, GELLIFY, GIZ, CAF, Scholas Occurrentes, Pioneers.io, EIT Food **Speaking:** [https://ipernovation.eu/speaking/](https://ipernovation.eu/speaking/) --- ## Contact & Lead Magnets - **Book a call / contact:** [https://ipernovation.eu/contact/](https://ipernovation.eu/contact/) - **Book the AI Opportunity Assessment (450 euro):** [https://ipernovation.eu/ai/#assessment](https://ipernovation.eu/ai/#assessment) - **Email:** fra.rubino@ipernovation.eu - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesco-rubino/ - **EU Funding Guide (free PDF):** [https://ipernovation.eu/investment/](https://ipernovation.eu/investment/) : Map of non-dilutive capital by stage, sector, and readiness level - **Venture-as-a-Service Framework (free PDF):** [https://ipernovation.eu/venture-building/](https://ipernovation.eu/venture-building/) : The 13-week methodology from idea to investable venture --- ## Site Languages - English (default): https://ipernovation.eu/ - Italian: https://ipernovation.eu/it/ - Spanish: https://ipernovation.eu/es/