How the level is derived
This follows the BRIDGE2HE TRL self-assessment method, built by the Horizon Europe NCP network. It works on three questions rather than a ladder: what type of solution you are building, how complete that solution is against its final form, and how controlled the conditions were when you tested it. Your TRL is then the lower of the completeness answer and the environment answer — because a finished-looking product tested only in a lab is not more mature than the lab test proves, and a field trial of a partial system is not more mature than the system.
Two rules do most of the work in practice. Only completed evidence counts — work planned for after the grant describes your target level, never your current one. And your claim is capped by the least-mature indispensable component and the integration between components, not by the best part of the system. Assessors test both, and a mature subsystem has never made a mature system.
The BRL side uses the Business Readiness Level scale published by Innovasjon Norge, which asks the commercial equivalent: not what you believe about demand, but what a customer has actually done — confirmed a need, given input on a version, contributed to testing, committed to buy, or paid.
Knowing your level is step one. Proving it is where applications lose marks.
A readiness claim only counts if the dossier carries dated, specific evidence for it. Upload your application and get an independent, criteria-aligned review in 5–8 minutes — including whether your maturity claims are actually substantiated by what you wrote.
Sources
The TRL logic follows the TRL self-assessment tool and guiding notes produced by BRIDGE2HE (Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement 101005071, APRE and CDTI), which expands the general Horizon TRL definitions into sector-specific ladders for manufactured products, industrial processes, software, medical devices and drugs. The BRL scale is the one published by Innovasjon Norge in the Oppstartstilskudd application form. Programme-fit notes reflect published scheme conditions and the instrument ranges stated in the BRIDGE2HE guide; they are indicative and never an eligibility decision. Where a live call states its own entry or exit level, that call governs.
GrantWise is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the European Commission, the European Innovation Council, Eureka, Innovasjon Norge, Forskningsrådet or any other funding authority.