RISE – Resilient Innovation Ecosystems for EU Value Chains

Project RISE aims to accelerate innovation deployment and foster sustainable cooperation in less developed regions—Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Portugal, being supported by transitional regions in Spain, Finland and Sweden and gathering experience from developed regions from France and Italy.

RISE is built on 5 major pillars: Focus on innovation for less developed regions; Providing support in key areas; Identification of shared S3 areas; SMEs in the centre of activities; Developing a Pipeline of relevant projects.

Grant agreement: 101133160

Funding: Programme: Interregional Innovation Investments Instrument, European Regional Development Fund

Start Date: 01.11.023

Closing Date: 31.10.2025

Duration of the project: 24 months

Project activities:

Analysis of the Status Quo and setting up a pan-European ecosystem
Ecosystem building and facilitating collaboration in EU value chains
Pipeline of investment projects
Bringing projects close to market

Expected results of the project implementation:

Prepared assessment of local innovation ecosystems in underdeveloped regions and comparing them with the European standard, assessing their opportunities for development and implementation of various innovations, offering recommendations for improvements
Creating local roadmaps connecting companies and promoting cooperation between local and regional companies and international and European stakeholders
Organizing an event where SMEs from different regions can meet
Creation of consortia of different companies to propose their ideas
Selection of projects ready for financing and investment planning for them
Prepared plan and road map for financing with developed model for mixed financing
Holding a seminar to discuss the results and propose policy measures, including special proposals for less developed regions.

Partners:

The consortium of eight partners, led by Cleantech Bulgaria in it’s role of coordinator, N-ABLE’s (France), Cluster Portugal Mineral Resources or ACPMR’s (Portugal), Fundación ICAMCyL (Spain), LE2C – Lombardy Energy Cleantech Cluster (Italy), DIGIPOLIS (Finland), PAPER PROVINCE and TECOS (Slovenia) will drive the green and digital transition, emphasizing on key areas such as Efficient and Sustainable Manufacturing, Bioeconomy, Smart Technologies and more.