ACE-EX project provides a multidisciplinary profession, the “Expert at applying Circular Economy processes in agriculture” and tools to guarantee quality of training, recognition, transferability and exploitation. General objectives:- to support the agriculture sector in the transition to a Circular Economy (following “CE”);- to develop an entrepreneurial mind set for the new opportunities coming for the CE applications;- to facilitate the transition to a “green” chemistry using the waste/ surplus coming for agriculture;- to contribute to sectoral compliance with the EU Green Deal standards. Specific objectives:1. To upskill professionals working in the agriculture and industrial sector, specifically production of oil, wine and corn, in the reuse of agricultural production waste/surplus for the production of new business products and/or innovation of business processes by developing an innovative and multidisciplinary curriculum, also through V/R modules. 2. To provide Open Access and flexible training for a certification EQF 4 and 5, accessible virtually from professionals located in at least 9 EU and Extra Eu countries, guaranteeing sustainability of contents, constant update and scalability to an EQF 6 Master. Developing horizontal digital and green skills applicable to other professional sectors.3. To guarantee procedures for the RPL of professionals and link these arrangements with national accreditation authorities.4. To certify experts at applying CE in agriculture by developing professional skills that, on one side, enhance individuals’ employability and, on the other, are highly beneficial for agricultural firms, particularly wine, oil and cereals, since they provide them with the concrete opportunity of applying and benefit from CE practices.ACE-EX involves 20 consortium members from 9 EU and extra Eu countries, representing more than 200.000 agriculture firms Europe Wide, which will be approached during the project

There is a general lack of awareness of the importance of mineral raw materials in today’s society and an (overall) negative view on the concept of mining, strongly related to the use of non-modern, less environmentally-friendly and even outdated methods and technologies. This is particularly relevant for SMEs, which lack the tractor effect of big industries and therefore suffer from innovation deficit, cross-sector fertilisation and disruptive potential. In order to adapt to current trends and technologies, promote industrial modernisation and digitalisation of the sector, and embrace, interact and profit from other emerging industries, the mining & raw materials sectors must undergo a cross-sectoral and cross-fertilisation exercise, with a particular emphasis on SMEs, in order to develop novel industrial value chains that can support the integration of novel materials, techniques and processes. In this respect, industrial clusters and associated entities are therefore the ideal vehicle to promote and accelerate investments in order to develop innovation capacity and product development in SMEs. The overall aim of MINE.THE.GAP is to provide a support platform for the reinforcement of existing value chains and the development of new industrial value chains in the raw materials and mining "target" sectors by means of cross-sectoral and cross-regional innovation and support services in cluster-related SMEs through synergies and interactions with providers and facilitators from the existing and emerging fields of ICT, circular economy, resource efficiency and advanced manufacturing ("provider" sectors"). A well-balanced consortium comprising of 9 Clusters, 1 RTO and 1 Association from 9 regions and 7 European countries representing over 500 SMEs participate in the project to develop a three layered management structure, methodology and strategy including direct financial support to SMEs, additional business support services and access to new investments.

GreenOffshoreTech aims to support innovation in SMEs and fostering the development of the emerging Blue Economy industries by enabling the emergence of new cross-sectorial and cross-border value chains based on shared challenges and the deployment of key enabling technologies. This will result from the translation of advanced technologies among 8 sectors with strong synergies: offshore wind and other marine renewable energies, offshore and marine aquaculture, offshore oil & gas and waterborne transport, advanced materials, advanced manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and environmental technologies. GreenOffshoreTech will facilitate the creation of new products, processes or services with the ambition to make offshore production and transport greener, cleaner and modern towards a resource-efficient economy and EUs Green Deal. GreenOffshoreTech’s consortium will provide a structured framework to implement this innovation action and undertake two kind of activities to support innovation to SMEs directly: 1) Direct financial support to SMEs through a competitive Call of Proposal for innovation projects in relevant topics; and 2) A range of dedicated and tailored Business Support Services to the winner SMEs. In addition, GreenOffshoreTech's consortium will establish an open space, with a mixture of virtual and physical tools, to connect and facilitate collaboration of clusters and SMEs across sectors, regions and countries during and beyond the project. GreenOffshoreTech will support at least 82 SMEs and 82 SMEs innovation projects targeting to develop new innovative products, processes or services. GreenOffshoreTech is a cluster-facilitated project, bringing together 9 of Europe’s leading clusters and SME intermediaries from 15 regions and 7 countries: Norway, Portugal, Latvia, Poland, Iceland, UK (Scotland), Germany. In addition, 1 RTD and 2 SMEs as inter-cluster experts to support the project implementation. The GreenOffshoreTech is highly linked to Regional Smart Specialization Strategies and S3 partnerships.