E-BOOST project for a dynamic and resilient European electromobility ecosystem

The E-BOOST project seeks to develop a dynamic and resilient European electromobility ecosystem by supporting SMEs’ transformation towards a greener and more digital economy

• The consortium involves six partners from six countries who will offer mentoring programs, B2B events and internationalisation plans
• With a budget of 1.4 million euros, this initiative entails cascade funding for SMEs by means of calls of proposals to grant products, services and innovative processes

Zaragoza, 17^th January 2023.- Supporting European electromobility SMEs to recover from the COVID-19 crisis with a range of services to strengthen their resilience, green and digital transformation, and internationalization. This is the main objective of the E-BOOST Eurocluster, which brings together six partners from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and Spain. Funded by the European Union with a budget of 1.4 million euros, the project entails cascade funding by means of calls of proposals that will be published in order to grant products, services and innovative processes regarding transformation towards a greener and more digital economy.

The Automotive and Mobility Cluster of Aragon (CAAR) headquarters has hosted today the General Assembly of the E-BOOST project with the presence of members of every partner involved: CARA (France), DITECFER (Italy), ANL (The Netherlands), LIHH (Germany) and ZNIK SP ZOO (Poland). These organizations are benchmarks in all models of transport, such as the automotive industry, industrial vehicles, buses and coaches, railway, maritime transport, logistics and active mobility, and they also have relevant experience in the electromobility field, each with specific and complementary focus.

The E-BOOST project will work to develop a European electromobility ecosystem over the next 30 months: from December 2022 till the end of May 2025. It includes a cascade funding system of 700,000 euros for SMEs and start-ups in the field of mobility products and services, which makes the participating entities “accelerators” of this kind of initiative. It involves a range of work packages, ranging from identification and address the innovation needs of EU SMEs to the dissemination and social awareness raising, through definition of business strategies, staff training in order to strengthen the professional skills of clusters managers and SMEs and support to find international partners by cooperation agreements and foreign markets penetration.

The cascade funding consists of seven calls for proposals for innovating products, services and processes and up to market support services –such as intellectual property, projects financing, business model and market research. Secondly, the mentoring programme foresees two types of training to clusters and SMEs with regards to good practices in fields such as digitalisation, competitors, product and service development, strategy, sales and business development, member engagement and management. The aim is to reinforce clusters managers and SMEs workforce job skills.  Finally, the project will work on an internationalisation strategic plan which includes market analysis by country and policy framework, a portfolio of services and matchmaking events, as well as some ecosystem animation activities, such as visits and B2B events in order to facilitate business development and collaboration.

Six partners to ensure a large electromobility coverage at the European level

The technical coordination of this financing entity falls to CARA, based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It aims to be the leading French cluster in Europe, supporting the transformation of passengers and goods transport systems and works on six sectors: industrial vehicles, automotive, cable transportation, river transportation, active mobility, rail transportation. From the drawing board to the market launch, CARA implements collective actions: research and innovation projects, pilots in real life situation, and measures for the economic and industrial development of its members.

Spanish CAAR will carry out the leadership of the dissemination and communication tasks, as well as the coordination of the project with CARA. This cluster is the main representative organization of the automotive and mobility sector in Aragon with 120 members. It brings together an entire ecosystem that constitutes one of the largest concentrations of industrial capacity, knowledge and talent in southern Europe and employs 26,000 people in a wide range of companies that have a turnover of 11,000 million euros per year, export a third of what they manufacture and invest each year more than 350 million euros in R&D. Among its objectives are promoting cooperation and collaboration in projects between companies in the automotive and mobility sector in Aragon, optimizing the efficiency of their operations, promoting R+D+i, motivating the use of new technologies and improving both management and training of human resources and the competitiveness of their companies.

LIHH will be in charge of international strategy. With more than 550 member- companies and institutions from the Hamburg metropolitan region and beyond, the LIHH public-private partnership is the largest location network in the logistics industry in Europe. This network consists of logistics service providers, industry & trade, research & development, start-ups, numerous public institutions and industry-related companies. This partner support logistics-related companies and institutions and facilitate the transfer of knowledge between business, science, politics and administration. Whether global player, SME or start-up, systematically LIHH drive innovative solutions and the development of measures and projects along the entire supply chain.

ANL, which will try to build an EU wide electromobility collaborative ecosystem, is the cluster organization of the Dutch automotive industry (175 members), representing the sector, nationally and internationally. An important basis is formed by the national ecosystem that is part of the innovative Top Sector High Tech Systems & Materials (HTSM), in which industry, education, science and governments parties actively work together. Together with the automotive industry, ANL is continuously working on innovations to achieve the ambition to support an economic and social friendly user environment in the Dutch transportation domain.

Italian DITECFER will bring support for green & digital marketable projects led by SMES. It is a limited liability company with consortium purposes which extends beyond the Tuscan territory and brings together the most dynamic and collaborative companies and research organizations to represent a complete and integrated value chain in the railway sector capable of providing intelligent solutions and products that require high quality and innovation.

Lastly, ZNIK SP ZOO from Poland will be in charge of capacity building re-skilling and up-skilling. This cluster is an innovative partnership of Pomeranian business, science and local governments in the logistics, transport and distribution industry. It aims to create and develop the Pomeranian multimodal logistics hub, located on the route of the North-South corridor, including the route of the VI Pan-European Transport Corridor and supporting the use of environmentally friendly technologies in transport.

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