The Partners

• Univerza v Mariboru, vodilni partner (Slovenija)
• Regionalna razvojna agencija Mura (Slovenija)
• Inštitut za transport in logistiko (Italija)
• Nacionalno združenje obrti ter malih in srednjih podjetij Modena Province Association (Italija)
• SATA Advanced Technology Application (Italija)
• Valenciaport fundacija za raziskave, promocijo in poslovne študije v regiji Valencija (Španija)
• CIERVAL (Španija)
• AFT Regionalna delegacija Rhone Alpe (Francija)
• Regionalna razvojna agencija Slavonije in Baranje (Hrvaška)
• Center za podjetništvo Osijek (Hrvaška)

Problem description

In comparison to large companies, SMEs are generally slow to adopt energy efficient solutions as there is not enough communication and coordination between the R&D sector and SME systems, which evidently prevents technology and know-how transfer. The premise, on which this project is based, is that a permanent collaborative framework for energy efficiency and use of renewable resources linking SMEs, the R&D sector, as well as other institutional stakeholder in the Mediterranean area, will be able of improving collaboration between SMEs and the R&D sector and inducing important behavioural and technological changes in the field of energy efficient operations and production processes.

Solution

CO-EFFICIENT is aiming to advance innovation and already available technologies for energy efficiency and use of renewable resources in operations and production processes of Mediterranean SMEs.

The framework, applied in all partner countries through the establishment of local LL pilots, will coordinate cross-border living labs active in all partner countries and seek to involve R&D organisations, SMEs, and other stakeholders to co-create new solutions for better use of energy in production and operations.The Living-lab framework will result in creation of user-centred, open innovation ecosystems based on a systematic user co-creation approach integrating research and innovation processes.