PhotonQBoost is committed to empowering European SMEs to achieve sustainability, resilience, and global competitiveness by harnessing the transformative potential of Photonics and Quantum solutions. Recognizing, firstly, the challenges SMEs face in accessing and integrating these advanced technologies due to limited awareness and resource constraints, and, secondly, the potential that technology deployment represents to boost the sustainability and competitiveness of European industry, PhotonQBoost aims to serve as a gateway for European SMEs to match their sustainability and resilience challenges with the solutions offered by Photonics and Quantum technologies. This will be done through a comprehensive pipeline of services, comprising advisory-driven innovation support, technology support and sustainability transition activities, complemented by piloting-driven projects funded under three FSTP open calls. More than €3,6 million will be spent on direct support services to the 600 SMEs that will be onboarded into PhotonQBoost service pipeline. These SMEs will achieve improved KPIs in terms of resource consumption, enhanced productivity and derisked supply chain disruptions. The initiative is also dedicated to fostering cross-fertilization across countries and ecosystems, through matchmaking activities and delegation visits, thereby facilitating market access for SMEs and bridging gaps in knowledge, networks and infrastructure. PhotonQBoost is a strong alliance of seven experienced European Photonics and Quantum clusters, four specialised consultancies and two Research and Technology Organisations, spread across nine EU Member States, that gathers a broad array of competencies. Altogether, PhotonQBoost members will help to consolidate an EU-wide Photonics and Quantum technological innovation ecosystem, ultimately contributing to Europe’s global leadership in both fields and to securing its strategic autonomy in critical technologies.

Scale-EUp2 (ecoSystems Connected to AcceLerate and Encourage European Union start-uPs Potential) is a market driven action which ambitions to identify a portfolio of a minimum 200 high potential start-ups through the 4 connected hubs and to help them scale-up and to become leaders in the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) applications markets. The 4 Ecosystems will join their efforts to scout-out for the high potential start-ups in need of resources, the hubs regional markets making it like a European spider-web. The ecosystems’ scouting will extend to the overall European IoT markets by exploiting value chain analyses and the mobilization of European market stakeholders from the hubs and beyond. The partners from the hubs will also provide support, once the different facets of scouting has been completed, to organize match-making, to help the selected start-ups to join innovation projects and thus establish partnerships, alliances allowing to reinforce the valuation of the start-ups. At the same time, the partners will develop and set up tools for the start-ups to gain access more easily to financing as well as to the human resources market. .