In particular, ELCA promotes international actions to strengthen cluster management excellence and facilitate exchanges, and strategic partnerships between clusters and specialised eco-systems across Europe. ELCA fosters the collaboration, networking and learning of cluster and business support organisations and their members towards the specialised and customised business support services provided and channelled to SMEs.
Therefore, ELCA works for innovation, driven by research, industry and SMEs, municipalities and their citizens and helps the acceleration of uptake of Best Available Technologies by taking initiatives on the European level, demonstrating, experimenting, sharing knowledge and communicating.
ELCA strongly promotes the participation of SMEs associated to its members in projects’ actions aimed at business development actions, internationalisation, and innovation and sustainability driven growth, through:
– services, for example the ongoing opportunity to partecipate in the extra-EU public procurement tenders under the EXTRA LIGHT project;
– lump sum travel vouchers for the participation in the short-term mobility program for proffesionals, within the EU ClusterXchange Scheme activated in the EPIX project;
– economic support for internationaization activities, in Europe and third countries like trade missions to Canada, India and Brazil offered within the ICBUILD project;
– financial support (cascade funding) for talent placement services, adoption of advanced technologies, participation in international events to support SMEs in digitising their business operations, driving their circular transition and enhancing connections with technology ecosystems under the SILEO Open Calls and many more.
ELCA’s active projects:
– ECOSLIGHT – Environmentally conscious smart lighting, Erasmus+ Programme
– EXTRA LIGHT – Bolstering European lighting SMEs participation in public procurement extra-EU, EU COSME Programme
– ICBUILD – Boosting the internationalisation for circularity in the building environment, EU COSME Programme
– CULTURE LIGHTS – Bridging sustainable lighting and value preservation in cultural buildings, Erasmus+ Programme
– EPIX – Eco-system Partnership for Interclusters and smart cities eXchanges, EU COSME Programme
– SILEO – Supporting recovery and business transformation of lighting & furniture SMEs for the Europe Industry of Tomorrow, Single Market Programme
