S3E project ambition is to develop an engine of growth that will contribute to improve the connectedness and efficiency of the Southern European countries’ innovation ecosystems. S3E focus is on the acceleration of deep tech projects / start-ups that, by providing solutions to a more sustainable society, can impact the economic growth in these countries and contribute for the timely achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The focus on Southern European countries relates to the fact that all these countries are Moderate or Emerging innovators, according to European Innovation Scoreboard 2021, and thus, S3E will contribute to close the innovation gap between the targeted countries and more advanced innovation ecosystems. To achieve this we will design and deliver a set of services that: (i) support the uncovering of research projects with market potential, helping them develop into Deep Tech start-ups and supporting them to procure funding for the early stages of development; (ii) help growth stage start-ups to develop investment ready business plans and procure VC funding in the broader VC ecosystem or in national or European funding agencies and (iii) help scaling start-ups connect to larger companies, to gain market traction, throughout Europe. Our strategic objective is supported by the following sub-objectives: (i)uncover entrepreneurial research teams with ground-breaking science and support them to commercialize the technology through the development of a start-up, (iii) increase the connectedness among members of deep-tech start-up ecosystems and their start-ups (regardless of their stage of development) and to the European business ecosystem seeking maximum synergies, (iii) stimulate investments in sectors addressing sustainability issues through increasing the number of cross-border investments and empower accelerators in the targeted countries with the skills and processes that will ensure the future sustainability of the project.

With our project, we aspire to explore novel ways to capture, preserve, curate, organise and communicate sets of unstructured entrepreneurial experiences, stories, narratives with an emphasis to those of younger audience that is addressing the challenge of (self)employability, so that they can constitute a shared resource that people can augment, and that individuals as well as institutions can delve into, to find inspiration for new ways of conceptualising and promoting entrepreneurship, and how these new ways can be reflected into every-day practices and policies, and foundations for visions of our common European future.

For the EU economy to grow sustainably it needs to re-industrialise, leveraging innovation and digital intelligence. Blockchain Innovation Spaces (Block.IS) envisions to build an open and collaborative cross-border, cross-sectoral innovation ecosystem that fosters the use of this cutting-edge technology in three vital sectors for the European economy: agrifood, logistics and finance. Block.IS will bring together (connect) actors (with an emphasis on SMEs and clusters) from these three heavily interconnected sectors, with SMEs/ innovators, to catalyse their cooperation towards innovation-driven and mutual growth (boost). The catalysation is aimed at networking the members of the ecosystem, raising understanding of the benefits of blockchain technology and stimulating the creation of new blockchain-based solutions - Cluster Missions and Clusters-Innovators Assembly. Block.IS will support innovators (SMEs) all the way from ideation to commercialisation offering them tailored business and technical support as well as direct funding, through a novel funnel approach - Innovate > Experiment > Commercialise acceleration programme. As such, the project will directly foster and strengthen competitiveness of digital SMEs (that will develop the solutions) and of the clusters and SMEs of the three verticals which will use them to offer added value to their customers. The Block.IS consortium is a fusion between: Tech founders and SMEs community (F6S), sector-oriented clusters and sectoral associations (VOICT, FEDACOVA, IT-Log, DSME, FTS), international innovation and Tech-transfer specialists (INO, IDI, CIVITTA, SYN) and Blockchain tech experts (INTRA, TNO); with an outreach of >1,017,000 SME. Block.IS invests 81% of the EC budget in SMEs and 51% through Open Calls (€2,800,000)

SolarHub’s overall objective is to strengthen connections between and scale-up 5 Greek and Turkish solar energy innovation ecosystems as a single, hybrid, cross-border, and interconnected Solar Energy Excellence Hub with an emphasis on agriculture applications. SolarHub's 4 Specific Objectives (SOs) are explicitly framed by the call's 5 Core Components and target the call's Expected Outcomes and the destinations Expected Impacts. These SOs are to: 1. Co-develop a Hub Strategy and a Joint Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda 2. Execute a diverse set of complementary interventions, engaging all players of the quadruple helix to support R&I and accelerate commercialization 3. Implement joint R&I activities to co-develop 4 pre-designs of diverse solar energy solutions 4. Maximize the project’s impacts through Dissemination, Exploitation, and Communication activities carefully tuned to actively engage all players of the quadruple helix To achieve these objectives, a diverse and complementary set of measures are proposed that include 1. Creation of relevant R& I strategies & policies 2. Networking between SolarHub & stakeholders 3. Multi-level engagement & training 4. Combination of R&I infrastructures for synergies 5. Creation of targeted joint programmes and linkages between the 2 countries based on sound technological solutions 6. Communicating the above to all major stakeholders in the targeted regions 7. Exploiting the positive results from all the above to setup a sustainable collaborative initiative after the end of the project. SolarHub's consortium contains 21 partners (7 Academic, 9 Business, 3 Public Authorities, and 2 Societal Actors) that are well-balanced between Academia and Business, and fully completes the quadruple helix. SolarHub is a 4 year project with 5 carefully designed Work Packages that efficiently exploit the consortium's diverse knowledge and expertise to develop Green solutions to today's Societal Challenges.

The ECHO project seeks to establish Energy Community and innovative energy services Excellence Hubs in Türkiye, Greece, and Portugal. These hubs will accelerate the energy transition by fostering innovation ecosystems, building capacities, and empowering local stakeholders. Employing a quadruple helix model, the ECHO consortium engaged academia, industry, government, and civil society in a collaborative framework. To achieve this, ECHO will: - Create a networking platform for continuous stakeholder collaboration, enabling resource sharing, knowledge exchange, and the dissemination of best practices. - Implement an expert collaboration program, injecting cutting-edge knowledge and practices to enhance the project's R&I potential. - Deliver tailored training programs to develop hard and soft skills across the energy community value chain. - Establish diverse pilot projects demonstrating advanced energy services, technology transfer, and solutions to energy poverty. These pilots will emphasize either direct citizen ownership (Renewable/Citizen Energy Communities) or models where service providers own assets while upholding democratic principles and strong community engagement. ECHO's focus on sustainable, scalable, and inclusive Energy Communities aligns with EU energy transition goals. By bridging regional strengths and empowering stakeholders, ECHO will contribute significantly to a resilient and equitable energy landscape.