A demand-driven project is a project submitted under an open competitive call, in which any eligible applicant – a business, a municipality, a school or a non-profit organisation – can apply for support. The initiative comes from the bottom up: the applicant identifies its own need, prepares the project and competes with other applications for the call's limited allocation. Success is determined by meeting the conditions for granting the contribution and by the score awarded under the assessment criteria. The counterpart is a national project, which is implemented by a predetermined entity without a competition. Demand-driven calls form a significant part of the Slovakia Programme and cover areas such as innovation in businesses, energy efficiency, skills development and social services. For applicants, they mean a competitive environment in which the quality of preparation decides – a realistic budget, a strong justification of need, correctly set measurable indicators and flawless mandatory attachments. For attractive calls, the average success rate can be below 50%, which is why professional preparation of the application pays off.
See also: National project, Evaluation criteria.
