Due to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, many European SMEs are struggling to stay afloat and adjust. The Enterprise Europe Network team at ZENIT GmbH (Zentrum für Innovation und Technik in NRW) is adjusting its approaches in order to befittingly help their clients in several ways. For example, by helping small businesses with accessing funding for the rapid implementation of home...

The European Commission is celebrating the cooperative actions taken by Romanian health professionals that travelled to Italy in order to assist in the current outbreak of COVID-19. The medical team was led by Major Joe Stroescu, comprising of three nurses and 11 doctors (lung specialists, anaesthetists and experts in intensive care and emergency medicine). All members of the team worked side-by...

On EuropeDay, Antonio Piscia, an Italian technician and member of the European Joint Research Centre (JRC), was celebrated for his efforts and support to hospitals during the COVID-19 crisis. He had designed valves which can be used for emergency ventilator masks. The valves were then produced by the Italian company Isinnova by converting snorkelling masks. The JRC’s technical workshop is also...

The COVID-19 outbreak is placing overwhelming pressure on healthcare infrastructures across the globe. Since early 2020, swiftly and on a massive scale, convention and exhibition centres have become part of the front line in fighting the disease, from serving as ICU hospitals to conducting thousands of tests a day. Many members of the International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC) and the...

Asociatia SMURD Galați is the management entity of the Innovative Health Cluster called Dunărea de Jos from the city of Galați in Romania. Asociatia SMURD Galati aims to develop the cluster and promote information and technology transfer to increase the performance of Smal and Medium Enterprises by collaborating with Research, Development, and Innovation entities (RDI). Asociatia supports the...

The Łukasiewicz-Institute of Aviation, a member of the Silesian Aviation Cluster, is currently offering research services of top quality. Following certified procedures, their highly qualified staff has been working intensively on the production of protective materials for hospitals amidst the global health crisis of COVID-19. In accredited laboratories t hey manufacture and produce protective...

A live webinar about the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on the Energy Efficiency Market will be held on the 12 th of May 2020 at 13:00 EEST (12:00 CEST). The hosts include Enterprise Ireland, Clean Energy Business Council, and the International Energy Agency. The speakers will be: Head of Energy Efficiency at the International Energy Agency (IEA), Brian Motherway. Executive Director at Dubai...

French clusters have been mobilising their teams and networks to contribute and develop innovative solutions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Many cosmetic, agri-food and textile clusters are diversifying their activities in order to produce medical equipment such as masks and hydroalcoholic gels or implementing platforms to draw up an inventory of companies and hospitals' needs. Digital clusters...

Danish clusters have always been very active in the globalisation of SMEs even before the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the clusters were active in more than 60 countries supporting 1,000s of SMEs to internationalise every year. In the recent online session hosted by Cluster Excellence Denmark, 15 internationalisation specialists from 15 Danish cluster organisations discussed the changes...

In Turin, Italy, over eighty companies, public and private institutions have formed an alliance to strengthen the local ecosystem and to improve the quality of doing business and finance by pursuing economic goals along with social impact objectives. It has been a very good example of how profit and non-profit, public, and private entities can join forces to achieve a common goal. They joined the...