Innovation

ECCP News

Finalists for this year's EU Prize for Women Innovators announced

The opportunities created by novel technologies and innovations promise to deliver a fair and sustainable recovery for the EU. Despite the need for more female innovators, three quarters of start-ups in Europe are founded by men. The lack of diversity has resulted in few investments in female-led...
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Enterprise Europe Network Award 2021 Finalists Announced

The Enterprise Europe Network is the world’s largest support network for SMEs funded by the EU. It helps businesses innovate and grow on an international scale and boosts their resilience. On 1 October, the European Commission and the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA)...
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Stakeholder consultation for a resilient, innovative, sustainable and digital energy-intensive industries ecosystem

The European Commission has prepared a Staff Working Document to outline possible scenarios for a transition to a more resilient, innovative, sustainable and digital energy-intensive industries ecosystem. This document aims to launch a co-creation process for concrete actions, milestones and...
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Austrian National Cluster Platform hosts two online events on innovation and the Joint Cluster Initiatives

On 15th September 2021, Austrian National Cluster Platform hosted 2 online events to discuss interregional innovation investment and another event discussing how clusters have an important role in initiating company qualification projects. The first event addressed the new EU program "I3 -...
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European Alliance Against Coronavirus webinar on the Romanian Cluster Landscape

On 1 July, the European Alliance Against Coronavirus travelled virtually to Romania to learn about the country’s network of clusters. The Romanian national cluster association, CLUSTERO, was established 10 years ago and is organised in six regional consortia, Daniel Cosnita from CLUSTERO explained...
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EU invests millions in small innovative projects

The EU is investing €118 million in 32 small innovative projects located in 14 EU Member States, Iceland, and Norway. Under the Innovation Fund, these grants will aim to bring low-carbon technologies to the market. The Innovation Fund will provide around €20 billion in support from 2020–2030 to...
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Innovate to Transform call for SMEs now open

Further to the adoption of the main Horizon Europe Work Programme on 15 June, calls for proposals are now opening. Under Cluster 4, the ‘Innovate to transform’ support for SMEs’ sustainability transition call is now open. With a budget of €10 million in 2021, this action will support the provision...
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European Innovation Council supports innovative start-ups and SMEs

Since 2020, the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund has approved 111 investments for highly innovative start-ups and SMEs, totalling around €500 million. Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth said: “The EIC Fund has developed incredibly quickly and...
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Women as a key competitiveness factor in innovation clusters and ecosystems

On 20 April, the European Alliance Against Coronavirus had the second session on women as a competitiveness factor in clusters and ecosystems. This session built on the first webinar that took place on 25 March. Rozalia Weisz from the Skåne region in Sweden​ spoke about gender equality in cluster...
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Study on the effectiveness of public innovation support for SMEs in Europe

The European Commission’s Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) has published a study on the effectiveness of public innovation support for SMEs in Europe. The aim of this study is to gather evidence to determine whether the delivery of public innovation support in Europe...
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European Clusters Alliance Social Innovation Ecosystems webinar recap

In the meeting on 30 March, the European Clusters Alliance discussed the concept of social innovation. Karel Vanderpoorten from DG GROW, the European Commission, highlighted that innovation happens at a crossroads and that social innovation is most important when it is supplied by the private sector...
ECCP News

Clusters as Enablers of Ecosystems: Ways to Engage Stakeholders Effectively

On 19 May, around 125 participants attended our 6th capacity-building webinar, most of them from European clusters. It featured thoughtful insights on the importance of engaging stakeholders for the cluster, as well as practical examples from a cluster manager and the experience of a research...