The European Commission has launched a €5 million call for strategic alliances to help the European Union’s small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) maximise their use of new technologies.

Two pilot projects will be supported focused on creating collaboration among SMEs, through industrial cluster organisations, to promote increased adoption of advanced technology in specific industrial ecosystems.

Participating industrial clusters will be expected to create alliances between traditional SMEs with similar technology needs and the tech-savvy SMEs that can provide them with appropriate technological solutions.

Specifically, proposed projects should:

• Explore collaboration opportunities between different type of European Union (EU) businesses, particularly tech-savvy SMEs and traditional SMEs, to improve industrial competences, increase resilience and add value to existing industrial sectors and value chains
• Increase the adoption of advanced technologies in traditional SMEs and help EU tech-savvy SMEs to expand their market potential in the EU
• Exploit the potential of dynamic collaboration between the cluster organisations and their technology centres with a view to boosting the technological uptake and development of EU SMEs
• Develop business collaboration between different clusters from the same industrial ecosystem and create partnerships with other relevant industrial ecosystems

Ultimately, proposed projects should aim to prepare and help businesses to adopt advanced technologies. Two approved projects will receive a grant of between €2-3m from the Commission's programme for the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (COSME). 

The deadline for the submission of proposals is 2 February 2021 (17.00 CET).

Find out more here.

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