BACKSLASH joins the European debate on AI and fairer access to EU funding

On 8 October 2026, BACKSLASH Director Gilberto Martínez will take part in the panel “Rethinking EU Funding Applications: Can AI Make Funding More Accessible, Fair and Applicant-Centred?”, part of the BestAI Final Event hosted by EVTA in Brussels, in hybrid format.

The question will sound familiar to anyone who works with European programmes. EU funding exists to back strong ideas and generate impact, yet getting to it takes administrative knowledge, proposal-writing capacity and fluency in each programme’s conventions. Those requirements weigh most on smaller organisations, newcomers, and organisations whose strength lies in delivering impact rather than in writing competitive applications.

The BestAI initiative has explored whether artificial intelligence could help narrow that gap. One of its lessons matters a great deal: having access to AI tools is not the same as having equal access to funding. Organisations also need the capacity to use those tools critically, strategically and responsibly.

A view from both sides of the desk

BACKSLASH will join the conversation from two vantage points. Gilberto has worked for more than 15 years with EU-funded programmes, and he also serves as an external evaluator for European and national funding bodies.

That double perspective makes it possible to look past the technical quality of an application and ask a more basic question: where do potentially strong organisations and ideas get lost in the funding process?

The panel will look at application complexity, organisational capacity, the role of AI in proposal development, fairness in evaluation, and what it would take for funding programmes to be genuinely applicant-centred.

Why it matters to us

Making European cooperation reachable for organisations that have knowledge, community roots and good ideas, but fewer resources to navigate complex funding systems, is part of how BACKSLASH understands inclusion. It sits alongside the priorities of our Strategic Plan 2026–2030.

AI may cut some of the time and cost of preparing an application. The next challenge is making sure it also leads to a more inclusive funding ecosystem, rather than reinforcing existing differences in capacity.