From documentation challenges to R&D funding success: Papierfabrik Palm’s journey with innoscripta

Meet the Papierfabrik Palm

The Papierfabrik Palm is one of the leading companies in the European paper industry, driven by a passion for paper and a strong commitment to sustainability. As part of the Palm Group, they operate five paper mills with six paper machines, producing 2.6 million tonnes of paper annually. It includes approximately 1 million tonnes of newsprint and 1.7 million tonnes of corrugated base paper made from 100% recovered fibre.

With 33 corrugated board plants and two recycling companies in Germany and the UK, Palm integrates paper production, packaging, and raw material sourcing within a very circular economy. Employing 4,800 people and generating a turnover of 2 billion Euros in 2024, the company stands for remarkable product quality, innovative processes, and close customer relationships. As a medium-sized family business, Papierfabrik Palm assumes responsibility for sustainable solutions and long-term success.

The Challenge

“We had extensive project documentation, but not in the format required for a grant application. We lacked the experience to know which details were relevant and how to present them effectively.”

Papierfabrik Palm is a company undertaking diverse R&D initiatives, especially in the areas of new fibre compositions, energy efficiency measures, and innovative packaging concepts. Despite innovative excellence, they faced solid challenges in accessing research grants. The hurdles arose from the requirement of structuring their existing project documentation and internal processes to meet the funding criteria.

The main factors contributing to this challenge were:

• Complex documentation requirements
• Strict deadlines of the programme
• Lack of internal experience in handling research grant applications
• Limited internal resources to manage the process productively.

The Solution

Collaboration with innoscripta proved to be a one-stop solution for all the challenges Papierfabrik Palm faced in accessing the research grant.

Together with innoscripta, Papierfabrik Palm built a structured approach to prepare the research projects for the funding applications, both efficiently and comprehensively. innoscripta worked closely with the R&D team, the finance team, and the executive management of Papierfabrik Palm, and managed the overall process, which included:

• The preparation of the project documentation (personnel details, activity reports, and technical specifications)
• The development of project descriptions
• The documentation and recording of coordination meetings for internal traceability.

innoscripta transformed the project details into eligible project documentation with the use of the proprietary software Clusterix, where milestones, documentation, and budget statuses were accessible at any time.

The impact

“Thanks to the structured preparation and support from innoscripta, we were able to significantly reduce the effort required for the application process. Our internal resources were freed up, while all documents were submitted completely and on time.”

The result? Funding success.

All jointly developed project applications were approved for a research grant. The systematic structure also aids in future funding claims. The collaboration with innoscripta also brought added value for Papierfabrik Palm, including:

• More focused time on core R&D projects as innoscripta solely managed the documentation process for funding
• innoscripta's deep understanding of technical details and streamlined communication
• A swift and solution-oriented process.