Photonics for International Markets and Applications Plus
PIMAP Plus

Summary and objectives

The PIMAP+ consortium has been set up to support 6 leading European clusters, their SMEs and regional ecosystem actors to strengthen cross-sectoral cooperation in the fields of photonics, advanced manufacturing, metalworking and aerospace industry. Together they will accelerate innovation and the industrial modernisation process in Europe and will provide a springboard for cluster SMEs to  internationalise and support regional actions through the leverage of photonic technologies and cross sectoral collaboration in key industrial value chains. The PIMAP+ project is a follow-up of the successful activities implemented in the PIMAP Partnership Strand 1 project funded under the COSME programme. After two years of action oriented project implementation and a solid internationalisation strategy, the partners seek to move to another level and accelerate access to international markets for SMEs and to support the development of business agreements and B2B cooperation. Four country markets will be targeted : The United-States, Canada, China and Japan. The consortium will capitalise on their existing connections in each country to maximise the benefits of the project for SMEs. 

The Specific Project Objectives that will be delivered by PIMAP are described below:

1. To support cross-sectoral cooperation among clusters organisations and SMEs

2. To foster SME engagement and SME internationalisation

3. To establish cooperation agreements with international business and research intermediaries in countries beyond Europe

4. To create a European identity and explore the possibility to establish a metacluster

5. To monitor the achievements of PIMAP+ project and its SMEs via a set of indicators

6. To develop a long-term exit strategy ensuring the sustainability of the PIMAP+ project