CASSIOPEIA - Cross-Cluster synergic Approach to Support Innovative and emerging industries across Europe in Energy-ICT-Aerospace sectors

SMEs represent the fabric and key asset for the development of European Economy at large. European SMEs have demonstrated a huge potential for business development, yet they still need help to generate, take up and better capitalise on all forms of knowledge, creativity, craftsmanship and innovation – including for the application of existing cross-cutting or emerging technologies, advanced manufacturing, ICT, eco-innovative and resource-efficient solutions, new business models, service innovation and design. To this end Clusters represent favourable ecosystems for innovation and entrepreneurship and have proved to be a potential winning tool to support EU industries development, yet they need to be better exploited in this respect too.

Addressing such challenge, this project aims to support CLUSTERS and SMEs to exploit their huge potential by developing new industrial value chains in the Energy sector, supporting the collaboration and integration of different innovation actors, including large enterprises and especially SMEs, across different sectors towards the implementation of a joint vision. In particular the objectives are:

• Reinforcing and capitalising existing and new value chains in the energy sector, by providing a set of support services towards clusters, innovation actors and SMEs.
• Support innovation in SMEs within the identified energy value chains, by providing direct funding through open calls, as well as supporting access to other sources of funding, which may be provided by national or regional authorities (including under the European Structural and Investment Funds) and/or by private investors (upfront or as follow-up investments).
• Provide a clear and measurable contribution to the innovation performance of the supported SMEs in the short-term and medium term, including the establishment of connection with large industries driving the value chains.
• Improve the business environment of the supported SMEs by establishing open collaboration spaces that can involve innovation actors from different sectors and countries.