Project Summary

GREENSMES project tackles the common territorial challenge of boosting green innovation in business within IPA ADRION area and aims to strengthen innovation capacities in the IPA ADRION region through transnational quadruple helix synergies, by cross-collaboration among participating countries and regions in the field of green transition and clean technologies, SMEs support and up-skilling, innovation ecosystem building and rural development. The project enhances the learning exchange between partner regions, the capacity building of SMEs, the contribution towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the impact investing on green innovation. Positive effects will go beyond project duration through outputs transferability: O1.1 Strategy to facilitate successful transnational interaction between R&D and business community towards green innovation and O2.2 Action Plan for network operation to transfer and replicate project activities. A Transnational strategic network will be established as output O2.1 by engaging PPs and relevant stakeholders. Finally, Pilot action to increase SMEs’ transnational competitiveness in the Green Economy will be tested (O3.1) in order to also provide output O3.2 GREENSMES Study on upscaling green transnational entrepreneurial cooperation in the IPA ADRION area. In line with indicative actions foreseen by the Programme, the project will ease the uptake policies, up-scale and test tools and advanced technologies application through pilot actions in specific fields of interest of S3 (energy and sustainable environment; ICT; manufacturing; smart city & smart mobility). Plus, it will promote actions supporting SMEs development and modernization and BSOs’ potential in supporting them via capacity building on crucial topics such as technical and financial issues, dealing with R&I providers, proof of concept mechanisms, etc. SMEs’ sector, including micro-enterprises, constitutes over 99 % of all businesses in the EU and represents the bedrock of economies in IPA ADRION area. Undeniably, the current production and consumption patterns pose serious challenges to human health and wellbeing, such as air / water pollution, excessive noise and chemicals. The expected result of the project is to enhance SMEs’ modernization in the project areas in terms of green transition towards successful sustainability. In the IPA ADRION area, despite the increasing importance of green innovation, efforts to promote growth through green economy actions remain fragmented and short-ranged. There is a lack of a rounded awareness of the multifaceted nature of this issue. Over the past decades the EU has put in place a broad range of environmental legislation and has launched a wide array of green initiatives with both direct and indirect impact on EU businesses to make sure that Europe is sufficiently resilient to challenges posed by new and emerging risks, including the impacts of climate change. The Agenda 2030 and related SDGs also go in this direction. As a result, several industries are changing and modernising their production processes along with their organisational models in order to become greener, more resource-efficient and closer to consumer needs for greener products and services. Yet SMEs in the programme area are not fully aware of policies to become greener and opportunities to increase efficiency either by creating greener production processes and service models or by producing greener products/services. GREENSMES is aligned with the policy priority for green and sustainable development in PPs’ regions and contributes to the specific objective for boosting business competitiveness and transformation by adapting to international conditions and by adopting more sustainable, efficient and green business models. The emphasis placed on green and circular economy reflects both the global developments and trends but also expresses the ecosystemic need to become one of the basic focus thematic areas of the new regional innovation strategies.