Renewable Energy Internationalisation ESCP project for European SMEs (REINA PLUS)

Summary and objectives

REINA PLUS project brings together the efforts and interests in internationalization of SMEs from four European regions with high concentration of energy business in different value chains (especially in renewables) and with consolidated cluster management organizations.  The main objective is to intensify cluster collaboration across borders and sectoral boundaries and to support the development of ESCPs to lead international cluster cooperation in fields of strategic interest.

To this end, REINA PLUS will take the cooperation within the already set up ESCP to the next level reinforcing and further develop the Partnership, helping their SME members to take a leading position globally.

The four REINA PLUS Clusters have already developed a joint European strategic vision with a global perspective and have co-designed an Internationalization Strategy based on their previous experiences, with common goals towards specific renewable markets. They have also defined the Implementation Roadmap that will frame the forthcoming actions for the next years 2015-2017.Indeed, the four Clusters have agreed and signed a Partnership Agreement commiting their collaboration in internationalization activities.

As a consequence of all these considerations , the specific objectives of the REINA PLUS project are the following:

1. Support and reinforce the internationalization of European SMEs in selected renewable energy markets: target markets with high growth potential (Mexico, Brazil, and Chile), and new potential markets (North América and North Africa) with relevant opportunities, by fostering the collaboration and integration of capacities of companies involved in the four European Energy Clusters.

2. Strengthen and consolidate the ESCP by shaping a common indentity and developing joint promotional activities, creating favourable conditions for the collaboration and mutually reinforcement of their SME members, and analysing how to best integrate value chains among the clusters’ members and also into global value chains.

3. Integrate European SMEs into global value chains to compete and take a leading position globally in the renewable energy sector, a subsector of one of the ten emerging industries.

4. Strenghten the cooperation with already contacted relevant stakeholders in the target markets and establish new strategic contacts, to update energy market evolution, identify local value chains capacities, engage in long-term ccoperation with qualified and reliable local partners, facilitate the visibility and recognition of European companies by local stakeholders and develop business opportunities through collaboration.

5. Identify, prepare and launch specific business collaboration inititatives in the target markets, involving SMEs from different European clusters to take advantage of their skills and strengths in an efficient and sustainable way.

6. Support the European Comission services and/or EASME in the organization, and participation in the inititatives and matchmaking events around the “Low Carbon Business Action” with Brazil and Mexico.

7. Monitor and review the activities and indicators, with a view to learn from them, to evolve and adapt the strategies and to share the knowledge and best practices developed in the project at a European level, by means of the dissemination and exchange of experiences with other ESCPs and clusters beyond the energy business in the framework of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP).