The general objective of EU-ALLIANCE, co-funded by the COSME programme of the European Union, is to support SMEs internationalisation of six leading European clusters in the fields of technical textiles, connectivity, deep-tech and advanced materials to address dual-use markets in four targeted countries: the United States, Canada, Japan and Indonesia.

The EU-ALLIANCE project is a follow-up of the successful activities implemented in the ALLIANCE Strand 1 project funded under the COSME programme. During the course of ALLIANCE project, the partners have signed one Memorandum of Understanding in the US and have developed close business relationships with several entities in Japan.

The key objective of EU-ALLIANCE is to help SMEs in the global competition by providing internationalisation-customized services to enter new international markets and by organising a delegation of SMEs supported by the partners in the four targeted countries.

The expected results of the project are:
• Establishment of business agreements between European SMEs and international partners in the four target countries;
• Establishment of cooperation projects between the European SMEs and the international partners of targeted market;
• Animation of the cooperation agreements already established in the US

The partners of the projects are:
• Techtera – France (Project Coordinator)
• Next Technology Tecnotessile – Tuscany Fashion Cluster - Italy
• POINTEX – Textile Innovation Cluster - Italy
• SIIT Scpa - Italy
• Systematic Paris-Region - France
• NIDV - Netherlands

This Call for SMEs selection has the aim of selecting the SMEs that will participate in the international mission to USA.
The EU-ALLIANCE Call is open to SMEs active in: Textile, Deep tech, Defence, Security, Maritime, Automatic & Robotic, ICT, Cybersecurity, advanced materials, Smart materials, PPE, Medical sectors willing to expand their business in the target markets of this call.

The main goal of the mission is to support SMEs in networking activities, like B2B meetings, company visits, visit to relevant tradeshows/events, and other similar initiatives with the aim of creating cooperation and business opportunities.

EU-ALLIANCE will select SMEs based in EU.
Being a member of one of the partners of EU-ALLIANCE clusters will be considered a rewarding criterion in the selection.

The financial support will cover part of the costs related to the travel to USA.
• Call publication date: May 23rd, 2022
• Submission deadline: deadline postponed to the July 12th, 2022
• Evaluation period: July 18th, 2022
• Total budget of the call: 12.000,00 Euro

Entry requirements
The applications submitted shall be approved according to the following criteria:
• Being a Small or Medium Enterprise as defined in the EU recommendation 2003/361 (https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/sme-definition_en)
• Having the headquarter or a branch office based in EU
• SMEs must be active in one of the following sectors:
- Textile
- Deep tech
- Defence & Security
- Maritime
- Automatic & Robotic
- ICT
- Cybersecurity
- Smart materials
- PPE
- Medical
- Advanced materials
• Application must be written in English (applications partially written in another language are not eligible).
• Applicants must fill-in the Survey at the following link (Google form): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd9yjl5xD_mRfKZzRwXkTwkDKkbTFl…. This point is not applicable to the companies that formerly filled the survey contained in the Call for Expression of Interest, published on November 25, 2021.
• Applicants have to fill in the EU-ALLIANCE .ppt template in English language available below to express their candidature, taking care to not exceed the maximum number of characters stated in each text box of the .ppt. Pictures/photos and diagrams are allowed and encouraged.
• Filled EU-ALLIANCE .ppt must be submitted via email to the address: [email protected] and by July 12th, with the object “EU-ALLIANCE_Application_[Company]”.
• Each SME can apply for one or more international missions within EU-ALLIANCE project; if a SME has already participated in a mission and wants to participate to a second one, in the selection process, priority will be given to SMEs that have not yet participated.

The email receiving date and time will be considered as the submitting date. A confirmation e-mail will be sent as a receipt of application.