The MANTRA project is committed to broadening its impact by establishing links with EU initiatives working on related topics, through joint actions, knowledge sharing, and strategic partnerships. We are fostering synergies by creating an alliance of projects and actors dedicated to driving the green, digital, and socially sustainable transformation of SMEs, accelerating innovation and impactful change across the manufacturing ecosystem. Would you like to join our network for collaborative Dissemination & Communication activities?
The BIONetZero project supports innovation and the adoption of new processes and advanced technologies within biosolutions for the agrifood and energy-intensive industries. It simultaneously builds capacity and reinforces and accelerates the transformation towards a greener, more digital, and resilient economy. The project aims to reduce the dependency of companies in Europe on critical inputs and critical technologies, enabling them to establish net-zero production, and retain as much as possible critical raw materials through the development of novel biosolutions, substitutes, innovative products, or services. Throughout the project’s duration, the consortium will provide opportunities for over 100 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the agrifood and energy-intensive sectors. It will offer them networking opportunities and facilitate building contacts with experts, investors, and technology providers. The project will also include networking events, site visits, and investment events. Participating SMEs will be assigned a Key Account Manager (KAM) from the consortium, who will assist them in developing their biosolutions and in finding suitable mentors, specialists, and building a network of contacts. The BIONetZero project supports innovation and the adoption of new processes and advanced technologies within biosolutions for the agrifood and energy-intensive industries. It simultaneously builds capacity and reinforces and accelerates the transformation towards a greener, more digital, and resilient economy. The project aims to reduce the dependency of companies in Europe on critical inputs and critical technologies, enabling them to establish net-zero production, and retain as much as possible critical raw materials through the development of novel biosolutions, substitutes, innovative products, or services. Throughout the project’s duration, the consortium will provide opportunities for over 100 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the agrifood and energy-intensive sectors. It will offer them networking opportunities and facilitate building contacts with experts, investors, and technology providers. The project will also include networking events, site visits, and investment events. Participating SMEs will be assigned a Key Account Manager (KAM) from the consortium, who will assist them in developing their biosolutions and in finding suitable mentors, specialists, and building a network of contacts.
Widening countries lag behind the European average in Research & Innovation investment and scientific excellence; the domain of Digital Agriculture (DA) is one prominent example. Higher Education Institutes(HEIs) of Widening countries, like Greece and Serbia, can play a central role in addressing this issue, but need support for achieving excellence in research and education in the DA domain. HEIs in Belgium have gained significant experience by establishing an ecosystem that fosters close collaboration among HEIs, competence centers, Digital Innovation Hubs, and industry, leveraging advanced digital technologies for the benefit of citizens, business, and scientific advancement. In this light, TALLHEDA will build a new long-term Alliance for DA between agricultural HEIs from Widening countries with leading non-widening agricultural universities, and local and international stakeholders. TALLHEDA Alliance will contribute to raising the critical mass of highly skilled scientists and to establishing liaisons with surrounding ecosystems, in order to foster the Quadruple Helix of innovation in Widening countries. The path to excellence will be paved with a portfolio of multi-actor, inter-sector and international complementary actions to support students, early-stage and experienced researchers, and academic staff of the Widening HEIs. This will be achieved through collaboration, complementary top-level expertise of all partners, access to cutting-edge infrastructure, staff mobility, and joint educational and research activities. The partners have an established scientific reputation in DA and are committed to making TALLHEDA a success. In the long term, Widening HEIs will be one step closer to reforming their institutions in terms of content and quality of educational courses, pedagogical and management practices, and research and innovation capacity, raising the critical mass of highly skilled scientists needed for digital transition in agriculture across Europe.
he European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) is an online hub. It aims to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of Europe’s industrial ecosystems, particularly SMEs, improving their performance in terms of productivity, innovation, internationalisation and resource efficiency through a variety of modern tools: Events to foster capacity building and peer discussions; Matchmaking events; A knowledge database mapping regional, national, international and sectoral cluster networks, toolkits and publications’ Partner search and exchange facilities to link up offer and demand; Support for international cooperation. Their Green Transition Support Hub, with a network of institutions offering support for resource and energy efficiency, addresses circularity. Please find MANTRA’s featured profile at the link below.
The aim of the TRUST-FOOD project is to support the development of advanced digital skills of people in the labour force, with a focus on SMEs, as well as to job seekers by providing access to high-quality specialised training courses, reflecting the latest developments in the area of Blockchain technologies applied holistically to the Food Supply Chain. The project designed and delivers short-term training courses for upskilling and reskilling of the labour force, with a particular focus on SMEs owners, managers, and employees in the Food Supply Chain (FSC) sector. The courses are highly practical and provide specific knowledge about key digital technologies of Blockchain and their applications to the FSC. The courses are also focusing on job seekers in the particular area. The main types are: –Courses for business’ leaders or managers, to acquire advanced digital skills and competences related to blockchain and how they can be deployed to innovate, transform and expand their businesses, as well as forge trust in their relationships with other businesses and stakeholders in the field, –Courses for employed people or job seekers to acquire advanced digital skills and competences of how to integrate blockchain technologies to relevant innovative digital tools in their daily work.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or HADEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
SECPhO is a cluster based on Spain that brings together more than 180 organisations that promote technological innovation through deep tech in all sectors of our economy. They contribute to the assessment and advisory services for SME’s, including due diligence assessments, matchmaking non-tech SMEs with tech SMEs, co-creation labs, and tailored, value-added advisory services.
Rina-C is a global network specializing in energy transition, ESG, and digitalisation, based in Italy. They are responsible for providing assessment and advisory services to the selected SMEs undergoing digital and technological transformation. This includes due diligence assessments, matchmaking tech-savvy and traditional SMEs, share best practices in co-creation labs, and offering tailored solutions and recommendations for practical implementation as part of the advisory services.
Babele is a social enterprise based in Romania, that acts as a catalyst for systemic innovation, uniting a global network of universities, corporations, NGOs, and social entrepreneurs to co-create impactful solutions to address global issues such as climate change and poverty, while fostering resilience in the face of its effects. They are responsible for developing, building, and managing the digital platform for SME recruitment, overseeing the capacity-building and support program, and connecting innovation communities, EU networks, and SME support initiatives. The platform will function as a hub for knowledge exchange and a community of practice.
Greenovate! Europe is a not-for-profit network of organisations dedicated to sustainable innovation. It develops sustainability projects and provides innovation support to researchers, companies and policymakers. The project partner based in Belgium, is responsible for the communication and dissemination activities of the MANTRA project. Their goal is to maximize the project’s impact by raising awareness, building a stakeholder community, and sharing open project results in a way that ensures they are actionable and exploitable by stakeholders.
INES TEC is a research & development institute located on the campus of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, located in Portugal. They oversee the role of identifying the needs and barriers of SMEs to create the most favorable capacity-building support services. They will connect European specialised business support structures, networks, and organizations to build-up an innovative value-added support ecosystem for SMEs.
EIT Manufacturing is a public-private partnership located in Italy, co-funded by the European Union and established in 2019 that connects manufacturing players by promoting talent and entrepreneurship to accelerate sustainable innovation in Europe. They provide coaching programs and capacity-building support to enhance the competitiveness and innovation of SMEs. Building on the SME Alliance projects and EITM initiatives, they oversee the SME ecosystem, facilitating the exchange of best practices, and enable that traditional SMEs gain from dedicated peer-learning activities, learning directly from leaders in their sector.
EIT Manufacturing is a public-private partnership located in Italy, co-funded by the European Union and established in 2019 that connects manufacturing players by promoting talent and entrepreneurship to accelerate sustainable innovation in Europe.
They provide coaching programs and capacity-building support to enhance the competitiveness and innovation of SMEs. Building on the SME Alliance projects and EITM initiatives, they oversee the SME ecosystem, facilitating the exchange of best practices, and enable that traditional SMEs gain from dedicated peer-learning activities, learning directly from leaders in their sector.
Cetim is a technological accelerator dedicated to industrial transformation. It brings the best of research to French industries and offers a comprehensive solution combining consulting and engineering services. They contribute to the assessment and advisory services for SME’s, including due diligence assessments, matchmaking non-tech SMEs with tech SMEs, co-creation labs, and tailored, value-added advisory services.
Zabala Innovation is an international consultancy firm specialising in consultancy services for both R&D and Innovation management, based in Spain. As project coordinators for MANTRA, Zabala ensures smooth project management and defines the criteria to select and prioritise the manufacturing SME projects that will be funded through the project to unlock their digital and technological potential and build sustainable business models.
