European Commission

We are almost at the end of our shortlist introductions and getting closer to this year’s European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA) finals! Make sure to tune into the finals ceremony during the SME Assembly 2020 and follow #SMEAssembly2020 to find out who will be the 2020 winners of the EEPA competition.

Today we are meeting the shortlisted projects competing in Category 5: Supporting the Development of Green Markets and Resource Efficiency. Our 2020 finalists come from Germany, Malta and Portugal. These projects all have strong sustainability aspects that stood out to this year’s EEPA Jury including actions to strengthen regional environmental economies, boosting energy efficiency amongst businesses on a national level and improving the social responsibility and environmental sustainability of the national hotel industry.

Germany: Greentech.Ruhr

Greentech.Ruhr is an environmental management network in the Ruhr region that aims to strengthen the region’s environmental economy, thereby supporting its transition from a mining region to a diversified economy with a high degree of specialisation in tackling ecological challenges. Increased cooperation between all players in the Ruhr environmental economy is needed to deal with growing environmental protection challenges. Greentech.Ruhr facilitates this by bringing together local companies, educational and research institutions and public bodies to further promote the Ruhr’s innovative potential in the field of environmental economics.

Malta: MBB Energy Ecosystem

MBB Energy Ecosystem is the first comprehensive network of energy stakeholders and businesses of its type in Malta. The Ecosystem aims to boost energy efficiency among Maltese businesses through technical support, training, networking, and addressing financing gaps. It also allows for the dissemination of best practices, policy learning, and concrete action towards boosting energy efficiency in industry. The initiative has reached around 150 Maltese companies and will continue to expand its network and to offer continuous support.

Portugal: HOSPES by AHP – Digital Plataform

The HOSPES Programme is a corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability programme developed by the Portuguese Hospitality Association in cooperation with participating hotels. The programme supports hotels in achieving their social and environmental goals. It facilitates the donation of hotel goods to social and environmental support institutions. Over a period of just one month, more than 100 000 items were donated by over 100 hotels to field hospitals and support centres working with vulnerable members of the community. The programme also helps mitigate the environmental impact of hotel activity by reducing waste and supporting the circular economy.

Be sure to read about the EEPA 2020 Special Mentions and the finalists for Promoting the Entrepreneurial Spirit, Investing in Entrepreneurial Skills, Improving the business environment and Supporting the internationalisation of business, and don’t forget to come back every week to meet more EEPA 2020 finalists!

Ready to meet more projects competing in the 2020 European Enterprise Promotion Award finals?

Today we are meeting the shortlisted projects competing in Category 4: Supporting the internationalisation of business. Our 2020 finalists come from Belgium, Portugal and Ukraine. These projects focus on supporting national projects and industries, and helping them get into international markets. This year’s finalists are diverse and focus on offering international activities and opportunities to Belgian SMEs to give them international exposure, helping to support and establish the Portuguese bicycle industry in the European supply chain, and making local and international export expertise available to Ukrainian companies to facilitate their entry onto international markets.

Belgium: Digital Wallonia International

Digital Wallonia International offers a programme of international activities, such as trade fairs, economic missions and festivals, to support the international development of Walloon digital companies and increase the international visibility and presence of the Walloon digital sector. The initiative has rolled out a network of ten hubs in cities and regions with a high level of digital innovation to give digital startups and companies a primary point of contact for information to help accelerate the growth of their business. To date, more than 360 digital companies and startups have participated in 75 international events proposed by the project.

Portugal: Portugal Bike Value 

Portugal Bike Value is working to support and promote the potential of the Portuguese bicycle industry, establishing it as a player in the European supply chain. It is also promoting Portugal as a destination for foreign investment in the area of Soft Mobility. The initiative’s efforts saw exports to more 50 destinations on all continents increase from EUR 226 million in 2011 to EUR 402 million in 2019, including a 22% increase between 2018 and 2019. By investing in cleaner technologies that have a reduced environmental footprint, Portugal Bike Value is also helping to support the European Green Deal.

Ukraine: Nationwide educational program “Export R|Evolution Ukraine”

Export R|Evolution Ukraine is a nationwide educational programme that leverages the experience of the best experts in their field. The programme shares international and local expertise on export operations with Ukrainian companies. Over a three-year period, Export R|Evolution Ukraine trained more than 2 300 people from every region in the country on how to maximize their export potential. Over 75% of the participating companies confirmed that their exports increased as a result. Export sales by participating companies grew on average by 3.6 mln UAH per year after participating in the programme.

Be sure to read about the EEPA 2020 Special Mentions and the finalists for Promoting the Entrepreneurial Spirit, Investing in Entrepreneurial Skills, and Improving the business environment and don’t forget to come back every week to meet more EEPA 2020 finalists!

This year 185 National EEPA entries were submitted for consideration from 27 participating countries. The EEPA National Coordinators then selected 49 of these projects for the EEPA 2020 Jury to evaluate and compose the European shortlist.

The EEPA 2020 Jury met on Wednesday 9^th September to discuss and make their final selections for this year’s European shortlist. With so many outstanding projects to choose from that demonstrated innovation, creativity and passion for supporting entrepreneurship, it was a difficult decision.

Congratulations to all of the selected finalists!

Category 1 – Promoting the Entrepreneurial Spirit

• France: Atlantic Futures
• Greece: ‘Demokritos’: Innovation Ecosystem for Sustainable Entrepreneurship
• Denmark: Open Entrepreneurship

Category 2 – Investing in Entrepreneurial Skills

• Ireland: Engenuity Engineering Cluster Midlands
• Belgium: Het internet. Ook uw zaak., Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship
• Estonia: Mobile Workshops
• France: Le PORTAIL DU REBOND

Category 3 – Improving the Business Environment

• Spain: Basque Industry 4.0 Accelerator Program
• Finland: Business Espoo – Helping companies thrive
• Germany: Start-up BW Local –Landeswettbewerb für gründungsfreundliche Kommunen

Category 4 – Supporting the Internationalisation of Business

• Belgium: Digital Wallonia International
• Portugal: Portugal Bike Value 
• Ukraine: Nationwide educational program “Export R|Evolution Ukraine”

Category 5 – Supporting the development of green markets and resource efficiency

• Germany: Greentech.Ruhr
• Malta: MBB Energy Ecosystem
• Portugal: HOSPES by AHP – Digital Plataform

Category 6 – Responsible and Inclusive Entrepreneurship

• Italy: Emergency Management Program
• Austria: Taugl – zammbringa zammkemma
• Netherlands: Social Enterprise NL

About the EEPA selection process

The competition has two stages. Applicants must first compete at national level to be eligible to compete at European level. For the national competition, each country selects up to two entries to be nominated for the European competition.

A shortlist of nominees is chosen by the EEPA 2020 European jury. The shortlisted nominees will then compete at the final awards ceremony, which recognises the winners for their efforts and gives them the opportunity to present themselves in a pan-European environment.

Make sure to come back to the News Portal every week to learn more about each of the shortlisted projects that will be competing in the EEPA 2020 finals.

The European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA) reward projects from across participating countries that work to promote entrepreneurship and small business at a national, regional and local level through a variety of initiatives. The EEPA have now moved to the European level of the competition and the national winners from each participating country have been selected by their National Coordinators.

So far, we have introduced the national winners for Promoting the Entrepreneurial Spirit, Investing in Entrepreneurial Skills, Improving the Business Environment, Supporting the Internationalisation of Business and Supporting the Development of Green Markets and Resource Efficiency.

Today on the Promoting Enterprise News Portal we will be introducing the top national projects competing in one of the six categories*; “Responsible and Inclusive Entrepreneurship”. This category “recognises initiatives that promote corporate social responsibility among small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurship among disadvantaged groups such as the unemployed, legal migrants, disabled, or people from ethnic minorities.”

• Austria: Taugl – zammbringa zammkemma
• Denmark: The Triple Helix of EdTech
• Italy: Emergency Management Program
• Latvia: “Diversity is the Power”
• Lithuania: “Palanga’s Citizen Card” (“Palangiškio kortelė”)
• Malta: Treasures by Inspire
• Netherlands: Social Enterprise NL
• Slovakia: Zodpovedné podnikanie prístupné pre všetkých
• Slovenia: Slepota ni ovira za podjetništvo

Find out more about the different competition categories on the EEPA website

*Due to certain national EEPA competitions being disrupted by COVID-19, this list is still subject to additions. Please keep checking the Promoting Enterprise News Portal for the most updated national winner information.

Congratulations to the national winners of “Responsible and Inclusive Entrepreneurship”!

Don’t forget to have a look at all of the different national winners and stay tuned for the announcement of the European shortlist, chosen by our prestigious EEPA 2020 jury.

The European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA) reward projects from across participating countries that work to promote entrepreneurship and small business at a national, regional and local level through a variety of initiatives. The EEPA have now moved to the European level of the competition and the national winners from each participating country have been selected by their National Coordinators. So far, we have introduced the national winners for Promoting the Entrepreneurial Spirit, Investing in Entrepreneurial Skills and Improving the Business Environment.

Today on the Promoting Enterprise News Portal we will be introducing the top national projects competing in one of the six categories*; “Supporting the Internationalisation of Business”. This category “recognises initiatives that encourage enterprises and particularly small and medium-sized businesses to benefit more from the opportunities offered by markets, both inside and outside the EU”.

• Belgium: Digital Wallonia International
• Portugal: Portugal Bike Value 
• Turkey: Bilkent CYBERPARK ICT Cluster
• Ukraine: Nationwide educational program “Export R|Evolution Ukraine”

Find out more about the different competition categories on the EEPA website

Congratulations to the national winners of “Supporting the internationalisation of Business”!

Come back to the News Portal each week to find out which projects won their national competitions and are being considered for the European shortlist by our prestigious EEPA 2020 jury.

Ready to meet more of this year’s shortlisted projects? Over the next few weeks each of the projects that the EEPA 2019 Jury have chosen will be presented in the category in which they will be competing in the EEPA 2019 finals at the SME Assembly in Helsinki this November.

This week we continue introductions with the three shortlisted projects competing for the prize in Category 2: Investing in Entrepreneurial Skills.

IDEA Innovation Centre & Incubator – Accelerator for Start-up, Cyprus

IDEA is an innovation centre and incubator and acts as an accelerator for startups. In order to invest in entrepreneurial skills, IDEA undertakes a cluster of activities that focus on providing an entire spectrum of business support, positively altering perceptions of entrepreneurship, facilitating cross-sector cooperation, promoting Cyprus as an innovation hub, developing investment networks, promoting volunteering, and ensuring entrepreneurship is open to all regardless of gender, age or ability. Social inclusion is put into practice through inclusive entrepreneurship, specifically opening doors to entrepreneurs with special needs. To date, IDEA has developed 48 New Businesses and created over 70 new jobs.

FactorYmpresa Turismo, Italy

FactorYmpresa Tourism is the Invitalia business acceleration programme for aspiring tourism entrepreneurs. The programme supports the best company ideas in order to encourage tourism innovation in Italy, placing an innovative mix of mentoring services, financial contributions and local and national networking opportunities at the disposal of aspiring entrepreneurs. The programme organises Accelerathons, a fully immersive 36 hours for start-uppers to work on their business ideas together with specialist tutors and mentors. Since 2017, the programme has generated 829 innovative business ideas originating from across Italy, and awarded €715,000.00 worth of financial aid.

Programa INOV CONTACTO – Programa de Estágios Internacionais de Jovens Quadros, Portugal

INOV Contacto is an innovative International Professional Apprenticeships program for young people with training and entities who wish to reinforce their teams with Portuguese talent. The aim is to support the overseas qualification of young professionals or corporate work forces in key areas of know-how, providing them with effective skills in the field of innovation, so as to stimulate and reinforce corporate competitiveness as well as the international image of Portugal. To date 5,624 young people have been involved, 1,235 entities (60% Portuguese) have participated across 82 different countries, resulting in over 1,500 job offers to participants.

Keep coming back to the News Portal every week to meet the 2019 shortlisted projects!

Don’t forget to have a look at all of the EEPA 2019 national winners that represent the top projects across all of the participating countries right here.

The European Enterprise promotion Awards (EEPA) are an opportunity for outstanding projects from across the European Union and COSME countries to be recognised for their work in supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses.

The fourth category in which projects compete is Supporting the Internationalisation of Business. The projects listed below are national winners in this category and will be considered by the EEPA 2019 Jury for a place on the 2019 European shortlist.

Belgium: Crossroads 2

Estonia: E-residency

Portugal: PORTUGUESE JEWELLERY NEWBORN

Romania: The Romanian high tech innovation, competitive all over the world

Slovakia: Startup Sharks

Slovenia: SKIS System (Smart Key Information System)

Sweden: HealthTech Nordic

This year this category received 7 entries from a variety of programmes, including projects focused on improving business environments for startups, digitising administrative procedures and facilitating foreign involvement in the national entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Keep coming back to the News Portal each week to discover the national winners in each category for EEPA 2019!

About the EEPA selection process

The competition has two stages. Applicants must first compete at national level to be eligible to compete at European level. For the national competition, each country selects up to two entries to be nominated for the European competition.

A shortlist of nominees will be chosen by a European jury. All nominees from the national and European competitions will be invited to attend the final awards ceremony. The ceremony recognises the winners for their efforts and gives them the opportunity to present themselves in a pan-European environment.

The European Enterprise promotion Awards (EEPA) are an opportunity for outstanding projects from across the European Union and COSME countries to be recognised for their work in supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Austria: Corporate development programme (UEP)

Bulgaria: Innovation Academy

Croatia: Education for Success

Cyprus: IDEA Innovation Centre & Incubator – Accelerator for Start-up

Finland: MindBusiness – Promoting Higher Education Students’ Entrepreneurial Mindset and Agency

Hungary: Junior Achievement Foundation Hungary (JAM) – Entrepreneurial Volunteer Program

Italy: FactorYmpresa Turismo

Poland: FABLAB MAŁOPOLSKA

Portugal: Programa INOV CONTACTO – Programa de Estágios Internacionais de Jovens Quadros

Serbia: GIFT – Generate Ideas For Transfer

This year this category received 10 entries from a variety of programmes, including investing in youth entrepreneurship and developing entrepreneurial skills of existing business owners to allow their enterprises to thrive.

Keep coming back to the News Portal each week to discover the national winners in each category for EEPA 2019!

About the EEPA selection process

The competition has two stages. Applicants must first compete at national level to be eligible to compete at European level. For the national competition, each country selects up to two entries to be nominated for the European competition.

A shortlist of nominees will be chosen by a European jury. All nominees from the national and European competitions will be invited to attend the final awards ceremony. The ceremony recognises the winners for their efforts and gives them the opportunity to present themselves in a pan-European environment.

It is time to discover another story and the secrets behind a prizewinning project from the European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA) 2018. The EEPA aim to find, promote and boost projects from across Europe that are working to strengthen and improve the European enterprise ecosystem across a number of categories. Today we travel to Portugal to meet the 2018 winner of the “Supporting the development of green markets and resource efficiency” category. The “Carbon-zero Living Lab Matosinhos” project was the first to win in this category after it was temporarily suspended in 2017.

The “Carbon-zero Living Lab Matosinhos” tests sustainable and innovative solutions, products and services to foster a local carbon market in an industrial coastal municipality. Local residents and businesses are encouraged to develop and propose projects, which are then implemented and made available for municipal use. The local carbon market uses CO₂ emissions credits gained through the adoption of sustainable solutions such as bike sharing, sustainable lighting or artificial intelligence applied to building management. The credits can be exchanged for goods and green services and are an incentive for sustainability in the municipality, which previously had a high carbon footprint.

How did you first hear about the national competition and why did you decide to enter?

The Municipality of Matosinhos was contacted by CEiiA – Centre for Engineering and Product Development, and jointly we decided to apply to the EEPA 2018 with the project “Carbon-zero Living Lab Matosinhos” due to the creative and innovative characteristics of the initiative. The information about the national competition was provided by IAPMEI by e-mail and through their website and social networks.

How did you prepare your application?

The application was prepared in collaboration between the Municipality of Matosinhos and CEiiA, with contributions from other project partners. IAPMEI gave us a lot of strong support throughout the process.

What was it like to win the award?

It was a great honour to win this award. It is perfectly aligned with our strategy to transform Matosinhos into an intelligent, sustainable and inclusive city. Winning is also a recognition of the work the Municipality of Matosinhos is doing to benefit its companies, organisations and citizens.

How did winning the award impact your work?

The European award was very important for both national and international visibility to the project. This recognition is a relevant tool to promote the attractiveness of the city of Matosinhos for talents, tourists and investments. Moreover, the “Carbon-zero Living Lab Matosinhos” focused on the development and testing of low-carbon solutions in a specific area of the city, with the final objective being the replication of these solutions in other parts of the territory, and even exporting them to other cities and regions in Portugal and abroad. The award represents an opportunity to disseminate the project and increase this replication potential.

Why should others enter EEPA 2019? What advice would you give them?

Participation in EEPA is a good opportunity to share experience and good practices with other European organisations, and to become aware of innovative and creative initiatives that are being implemented in Europe.

What are your plans for the future?

The “Carbon-zero Living Lab Matosinhos” is part of an integrated strategy to promote the decarbonisation of the municipality. We will continue the development of this project, enlarging its scope in terms of partners, solutions to be tested and users.

Read about Matosinhos in the EEPA 2018 compendium and keep coming back to the News Portal for further EEPA updates!

The 12^th edition of the European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA) is now over, and after months of waiting we now know which projects were crowned best in Europe. Congratulations to all of the winners in the EEPA ‘Class of 2018’, your hard work has paid off! Have a look below to find out more about this year’s winners, and click on each project to see their video presentation from the SME Assembly 2018 in Graz, Austria. 

Grand Jury Prize: Lean Landing, Denmark

Promoting the Entrepreneurial Spirit: Piraeus Blue Entrepreneurship, Greece 

Investing in Entrepreneurial Skills: i2c STARTacademy, Austria

Improving the Business Environment: Open Innovation 4.0., Spain

Supporting the Internationalisation of Business: Kasvu Open – company growth sparring programme, Finland

Supporting the Development of Green Markets and Resource Efficiency: Matosinhos Carbon-zero Living Lab enhanced by local carbon market, Portugal

Responsible and Inclusive Entrepreneurship: ProjectTogether, Germany

Stay tuned for the publication of the 2018 Compendium of winners brochure (in English) to find out more about this year’s winning projects, and don’t forget to have a look at the EEPA 2018 ceremony photos here.

Keep following right here on the Portal and across social media (Twitter and Facebook) for winner interviews and updates.