Start date: 01/09/2022
Project end date: 31/08/2025
Duration: 3 years
Total project budget: 1.442.542,36 €
THE PROJECT AND PARTNERS
The project involves 5 European partners: Venetian Cluster (Ita), France Clusters (FR), Cluster IDIA (SP), ITALCAM (DE), Open Hub Creative Cluster (RO), plus there are 11 associated partners supporting and giving visibility to the project, including the Veneto Region, European Universities and Chambers of Commerce.
The overall objective of the FRIEND CCI project is to help improve the resilience of the creative cultural industries ecosystem in Europe and enhance its green and digital transformation, through the creation and development of a Eurocluster network aimed at supporting SMEs and other ecosystem actors.
The activities predicts three calls for proposals: the first call will be aimed at finding service providers for innovation, digitisation and internationalisation, while the second and third calls will be aimed at operators in the culture and creativity sector who, in cooperation with other companies from other sectors, will be able to access funds.
The FRIEND CCI project will involve small and medium-sized enterprises at European level by supporting them economically for their development and promoting the exchange of innovation between companies and sectors to increase resilience and boost the twin transition.
The importance of an Eurocluster
Clusters at regional, national and international level can support SMEs and other actors in the CCI ecosystem to address various challenges by providing them with a framework to facilitate cross-sectoral collaboration within their ecosystem and beyond, to overcome fragmentation and become more competitive. Clusters can support SMEs in particular, through specialised business support services, as well as in retraining and upskilling, increasing their excellence and innovation capacity. A CCI Eurocluster at European level could even help to build a strong and resilient CCI sector in Europe by bringing together clusters and companies from different European countries, with different experiences and representing different European excellence.