R&I project design refers to the systematic process through which a promising idea is transformed into a coherent, evidence-based, and fundable project. This process is fundamentally a strategic thinking exercise:

• Beyond Research: Project design is distinct from the scientific research process itself. Research requires curiosity and methodological accuracy; project design requires the strategic arrangement of resources, actors, time, and impact scenarios to achieve specific objectives.

• Achieving Coherence: It ensures that the components of a project—problem, objectives, methods, impact, and work plan—form a logically connected whole rather than isolated parts.

• The Strategic Alignment: It involves matching the researcher’s innovative core idea with the specific requirements of the funding call. A prerequisite for this is the meticulous reading and interpretation of the funding call, ensuring the project unequivocally demonstrates how its core idea directly addresses the call’s true objectives.

• The Scenario: Project design is about writing the consistent scenario that explains precisely how the expected outputs will be achieved, proving the project’s implementability.