# Budget Justification - EIC Accelerator

**Program**: EIC Accelerator  
**Grant Requested**: €1,815,000  
**Duration**: 18 months (Months 1-18)  
**Project**: City Resource Graph - Industrial Symbiosis Platform  
**Date**: November 2025

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## Executive Summary

This budget request for €1,815,000 covers an 18-month development program to build and scale the City Resource Graph platform - a breakthrough innovation in industrial symbiosis and circular economy resource matching. The budget aligns with EIC Accelerator funding limits (up to €2.5M grant) and supports development from prototype (TRL 5) to market-ready product (TRL 8).

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## Budget Overview

| Category | Amount (EUR) | Percentage | Justification |
|----------|--------------|------------|---------------|
| **Personnel** | €1,335,000 | 73.55% | Core team of 12 specialists for 18 months |
| **Infrastructure** | €300,000 | 16.53% | Cloud infrastructure, tools, equipment for scaling |
| **Subcontracting** | €50,000 | 2.75% | Legal, accounting services |
| **Travel** | €40,000 | 2.20% | Partner meetings, customer visits, conferences |
| **Marketing** | €85,000 | 4.68% | Marketing campaigns, sales materials |
| **Other** | €5,000 | 0.28% | Communication, software licenses |
| **TOTAL** | **€1,815,000** | **100.00%** | **18-month development program** |

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## Detailed Justification by Category

### 1. Personnel Costs (€1,335,000 - 73.55%)

**Team Composition**: 12 team members (Year 1 base team) extended over 18 months

#### Engineering Team (€1,110,000)
- **Backend Engineers (4)**: €700,000
  - Go 1.25 API development, matching engine, graph database (Neo4j) implementation
  - Critical for breakthrough innovation in graph-based resource matching algorithms
  
- **Frontend Engineers (2)**: €350,000
  - React + Next.js frontend, Mapbox visualization, Progressive Web App (PWA)
  - Essential for user-facing platform and map-based resource visualization
  
- **DevOps Engineer (1)**: €175,000
  - Kubernetes infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring
  - Critical for scalable, production-ready platform deployment
  
- **Data Engineer (1)**: €175,000
  - Data pipelines, ETL processes, knowledge graph integration
  - Essential for automated data ingestion and processing

#### Leadership & Business Team (€225,000)
- **CTO/Founder (1)**: €210,000
  - Technical leadership, architecture design, team management
  - Proven track record: EXIST Business Start-up Grant recipient, 15+ years experience
  
- **BD/Sales Manager (1)**: €175,000
  - Utility partnerships, municipal sales, channel development
  - Critical for market validation and customer acquisition

#### Domain Experts (€315,000)
- **Domain Expert - Circular Economy (1)**: €157,500
  - Industrial symbiosis facilitation, regulatory compliance
  - Essential for circular economy alignment and business validation
  
- **Domain Expert - Industrial Symbiosis (1)**: €157,500
  - Industrial symbiosis expertise, market validation
  - Critical for domain knowledge and industry connections

**Personnel Justification**: The team combines technical expertise (Go, Neo4j, PostGIS - exact technologies required), startup funding experience (EXIST grant), and domain knowledge (circular economy, industrial symbiosis). This balanced team is essential for delivering the breakthrough innovation from TRL 5 to TRL 8.

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### 2. Infrastructure & Equipment (€300,000 - 16.53%)

#### Cloud Infrastructure (€270,000)
- **Months 1-6**: €30,000 (Phase 1-2)
  - AWS EKS/GCP GKE, managed Neo4j, PostgreSQL/PostGIS
  - MVP infrastructure scaling
  
- **Months 7-12**: €90,000 (Phase 3)
  - Scaling infrastructure for enterprise features
  - Multi-tenancy architecture deployment
  
- **Months 13-18**: €150,000 (Phase 4)
  - Production infrastructure for scale (800-1,200 businesses)
  - International expansion infrastructure

**Justification**: Cloud infrastructure costs scale with platform usage and are essential for delivering a scalable, production-ready platform.

#### Development Tools (€18,000)
- GitHub Enterprise, IDEs, CI/CD tools
- Essential for team collaboration and development workflow

#### Monitoring & Security (€10,000)
- Datadog/New Relic, security tools, compliance
- Critical for production monitoring and security compliance

#### Third-party Services (€8,000)
- Stripe (payment processing), Mapbox (map visualization)
- Essential for revenue generation and core platform features

#### Hardware/Equipment (€6,500)
- Laptops, development equipment (Phase 1)
- Essential for team setup and development

**Infrastructure Justification**: Infrastructure costs are calculated based on actual usage patterns and are necessary for delivering a scalable, secure, production-ready platform.

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### 3. Subcontracting (€50,000 - 2.75%)

#### Legal Services (€35,000)
- Company registration, contracts, IP protection
- Essential for legal compliance and intellectual property protection
- Phase 1: €15k (initial setup), Phase 3: €10k (IP protection)

#### Accounting/Finance (€15,000)
- Financial management, compliance, reporting
- Essential for financial management and grant reporting requirements

**Subcontracting Justification**: Professional services are essential for legal compliance, IP protection, and financial management - critical for EIC Accelerator grant compliance.

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### 4. Travel & Conferences (€40,000 - 2.20%)

#### Business Travel (€38,000)
- Partner meetings (utilities, municipalities)
- Customer visits and validation
- Essential for market validation and customer acquisition

#### Conferences & Events (€2,000)
- Industry conferences (circular economy, industrial symbiosis)
- Networking and partnership development

**Travel Justification**: Travel is essential for customer validation, partnership development, and market entry - critical for breakthrough innovation market validation.

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### 5. Marketing & Sales (€85,000 - 4.68%)

#### Marketing Campaigns (€50,000)
- LinkedIn ads, content marketing
- Essential for customer acquisition and market awareness

#### Sales Materials (€13,000)
- Presentations, case studies, pitch materials
- Essential for sales and partnership development

#### Website & Branding (€22,000)
- Website development, branding materials
- Essential for professional presence and customer acquisition

**Marketing Justification**: Marketing and sales activities are essential for customer acquisition and market entry - critical for scaling the breakthrough innovation.

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### 6. Other Costs (€5,000 - 0.28%)

#### Communication & Software Licenses (€5,000)
- Phone, internet, software licenses
- Essential for team communication and operations

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## Alignment with EIC Accelerator Requirements

### Breakthrough Innovation (TRL 5-8)
- **Current TRL**: 5 (prototype validation)
- **Target TRL**: 8 (market-ready product)
- Budget supports development from prototype to market-ready product

### Market-Creating Potential
- Budget includes market validation activities (travel, marketing)
- Customer acquisition resources (BD/Sales Manager)
- Market entry strategy execution

### EU Dimension
- Team based in Berlin, Germany (EU member state)
- Activities in EU member states
- Supports European circular economy objectives

### Team Capability
- Balanced team with technical, business, and domain expertise
- Proven track record (EXIST grant recipient)
- Expertise in exact technologies required (Go, Neo4j, PostGIS)

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## Budget Validation

### Calculation Method
- Budget calculated from financial model (`models/team/team.go`, `models/cost/cost.go`)
- Team structure: 12 team members (Year 1 base team)
- Duration: 18 months
- Command: `go run ./cmd budget params.yaml --duration 18 --phase Full --format csv`

### Model Alignment
- **Model Year 1 Costs**: €1,400,000
- **Roadmap Budget (18 months)**: €1,815,000
- **Alignment**: Model calculates Year 1 costs, roadmap spans 18 months of seed funding

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## Grant Request Summary

- **Grant Requested**: €1,815,000
- **Equity Component**: Optional up to €15M (through EIC Fund)
- **Total Potential**: €1,815,000 grant + €15M equity
- **Duration**: 18 months (Months 1-18)
- **Deliverables**: Full platform with AI, multi-tenancy, international expansion
- **Market Impact**: 800-1,200 businesses, €300k-€400k MRR by Month 18

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*This budget is calculated from the financial model and aligns with EIC Accelerator funding requirements for breakthrough innovation development.*