Connect Horizon Europe project management with online meetings and consortium collaboration
Virtual meetings have become an essential part of Horizon Europe projects. Consortium meetings, steering committees, technical workshops, review rehearsals and meetings with the European Commission all rely on reliable video conferencing.
By integrating Grant Planner with Microsoft Teams or Zoom, organisations can connect project planning with online collaboration. Meetings become more than calendar events—they become an integral part of project execution, linked to the work packages, deliverables and decisions they support.
Why Combine Grant Planner with Microsoft Teams or Zoom?
Grant Planner manages the project.
Microsoft Teams and Zoom facilitate communication between project partners.
Together, they help ensure that discussions remain connected to the activities they are intended to advance, improving continuity between meetings and project execution.
Organise Meetings Around Project Activities
Most Horizon Europe meetings have a clear purpose.
They may focus on:
- Work package coordination
- Deliverable preparation
- Milestone reviews
- Budget monitoring
- Risk management
- Technical demonstrations
- Consortium governance
- European Commission review meetings
By linking meetings to the relevant project activities in Grant Planner, participants can quickly access the associated tasks, documents and deadlines before and after each meeting.
Keep Meeting Outcomes Traceable
One of the biggest challenges in collaborative projects is ensuring that meeting decisions are not forgotten.
After each meeting, teams typically produce:
- Minutes
- Action items
- Updated deadlines
- New risks
- Decisions
- Follow-up tasks
Grant Planner provides the structure needed to record these outcomes and assign responsibilities, while Microsoft Teams or Zoom continue to serve as the communication platform.
Improve Collaboration Across Distributed Consortia
International research projects involve organisations operating across different countries and time zones.
Video conferencing enables regular communication without travel, while Grant Planner ensures that every participant shares the same view of the project's objectives, deadlines and responsibilities.
Together, they reduce misunderstandings and improve coordination throughout the consortium.
Microsoft Teams vs Zoom
Although both platforms support online collaboration, they are often used differently.
Microsoft Teams is typically adopted as part of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Beyond video meetings, it includes persistent chat, file sharing and collaborative workspaces, making it attractive for organisations already invested in Microsoft's productivity suite.
Zoom is widely recognised for its simplicity, meeting quality and ease of joining calls. Many international consortia use Zoom because external participants can connect quickly without requiring a broader collaboration platform.
Grant Planner integrates equally well with either approach, allowing organisations to choose the communication platform that best fits their existing IT environment.
Digital Sovereignty Considerations
Microsoft Teams and Zoom are both developed by non-European companies. For many organisations this is not an issue, but universities, research institutes and public administrations increasingly consider digital sovereignty when selecting collaboration tools.
Several European alternatives are available, including:
- OpenTalk, a German open-source video conferencing platform designed for professional and public-sector collaboration.
- Jitsi Meet, an open-source solution widely deployed by European organisations and available through numerous European hosting providers.
- Whereby, developed in Norway, offering browser-based video meetings with a strong focus on simplicity.
- Nextcloud Talk, part of the European Nextcloud ecosystem, combining video conferencing, messaging and file sharing within a self-hosted environment.
Many institutions have centrally managed collaboration platforms, meaning individual projects cannot choose their preferred solution. Nevertheless, organisations developing a long-term digital sovereignty strategy may wish to evaluate these European alternatives with their IT department.
Because Grant Planner remains independent of the meeting platform, organisations can adopt whichever solution best aligns with their technical, security and governance requirements.
Ideal Use Cases
The Grant Planner and Microsoft Teams or Zoom integration is particularly valuable for:
- Horizon Europe coordinators
- Universities
- Research institutes
- Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs)
- Innovation consultancies
- International collaborative consortia
It is especially useful for projects requiring frequent online meetings between multiple partners.
Benefits at a Glance
By combining Grant Planner with Microsoft Teams or Zoom, your organisation can:
- Connect online meetings with project activities.
- Improve traceability of meeting decisions.
- Link meeting outcomes to work packages and deliverables.
- Simplify collaboration across international consortia.
- Keep project planning and communication closely aligned.
- Maintain flexibility to use either commercial or European video conferencing platforms.
Final Thoughts
Online meetings are where many of the most important decisions in a Horizon Europe project are made.
Microsoft Teams and Zoom provide reliable platforms for bringing consortium partners together, while Grant Planner ensures that those discussions translate into concrete actions, updated plans and successful project delivery.
Together, they help organisations move efficiently from conversation to execution while maintaining the governance and traceability expected in complex European collaborative projects.