Strategy and concept for the greenSMEhub
The European manufacturing sector is lacking behind on the green transition and EU’s goal of becoming the first carbon neutral continent. However, the opportunities to create simple green improvements while maintaining competitiveness are available. By adopting the latest advanced technology and use social innovation practises, manufacturing companies can make a great contribution to the green sustainability transformation.
In order to support manufacturing companies in their transition, the greenSME HUB and community is created. The hub will function as an innovation one-stop-shop where key stakeholders can turn to get the latest knowledge on advanced technologies and their relation to green sustainability, as well as connect with service providers and learn about social innovation’s role in sustainable business model development.
In this report, the initial strategy for developing the greenSME HUB and building a community around it is presented. The greenSME HUB is developed as a replicable and scalable concept with three main components: 1) Community, 2) Capacity, 3) Action. The hub is a digital space, a website containing all functions and services for the manufacturing community:
- Online sustainability self-assessment tool
- Support for Advanced Sustainability Action Plan development
- Open call for funding of green competitiveness projects
- Match making portal to connect with service providers
- Communication of best practices projects and results
- Learning features and trainings with relevant experts GreenSME aim to develop a HUB and a community which is part of assuring a future operation of the services and the HUB, so that it can continue to contribute to partnerships and “green competitive actions” also after the project period.