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Description
The project led by the Cluj IT Cluster, with help from the EEA and Norway Grants, focuses on supporting Romanian companies in their transition towards sustainable practices and ambitious carbon emission reduction targets. By providing expertise in green and digital innovation, the project aims to establish a collaborative platform for businesses, stakeholders, and academia. This platform will enable them to transform their processes, business models, and public entities through digital technologies and automation. The project''s activities prioritize raising awareness, building competence, and fostering a culture of cooperation, addressing both the essential skills and core values of sustainability. Ultimately, it contributes to systemic policy changes that aim to improve living conditions for all.
The main aims of the project includes increased business competitiveness and transition Romania towards a greener and more sustainable future. This will be done by establishing a Green Innovation business ecosystem, with specific goals like building the "Green Innovation Network," fostering international knowledge exchange, conducting competence transfer workshops, and raising awareness through communication activities.
To achieve this a series of key activities will be concluded, including:
- Project Management
- Competence Transfer & Ecosystem building
- Capacity building with bilateral focus
- Project Publicity
This capacity also has a bilateral component through a partnership with the Norwegian company "Smart innovation Norway". Smart Innovation Norway will contribute to capacity building through study visits and training activities. These types of bilateral cooperations contribute to further development of market exchange and networking in Romania and Norway
Summary of project results
The project aimed to support Romanian companies in their transition towards sustainable practices and achieving ambitious carbon emission reduction goals. It provided skills and knowledge in green and digital innovation, creating a collaborative platform for businesses, stakeholders, and academia to transform their processes and business models through digital technologies and automation. The project''s activities included raising awareness, competence transfer, and fostering a culture of collaboration, addressing both hard skills and core values of sustainability and cooperation.
Specific activities of the project included ecosystem charting and gap analysis, competence transfer and ecosystem building, institutional capacity building, and management and communication. These activities involved strategic inception meetings, study visits, trainings, workshops, and the development of strategic roadmaps and communication plans. The project aimed to ensure operational sustainability, transparency, and commitment from partners, ultimately contributing to a systemic change policy that improves living conditions for all.
The project involved a series of activities aimed at promoting green digital innovation and enhancing the competitiveness of the Romanian IT sector. The project began with ecosystem charting and gap analysis, where the cluster performed a value chain analysis to identify bottlenecks, opportunities, and potential members and stakeholders. This analysis was complemented by discovery workshops to validate and complement the findings.
The project also focused on competence transfer and ecosystem building. This included strategic inception meetings with relevant stakeholders, a study visit to Norway in partnership with Smart Innovation Norway, and various trainings and workshops. The trainings covered topics such as green digital transformation, process automation for manufacturing efficiency, and strategies for achieving net-zero emissions. Workshops focused on financing green innovation for SMEs and exploring entrepreneurial opportunities for start-ups.
In terms of outputs, the project delivered several key results. These included a value chain analysis report, an assessment of training needs, and the training of 15 participants in three training sessions and three workshops in Romania. Additionally, 12 participants were trained through knowledge transfer activities in Norway. The project also produced an institutional strategy document, an implementation roadmap, and a communication and marketing plan. The main deliverables aimed to ensure operational sustainability, transparency, and commitment from partners, ultimately contributing to a systemic change policy that improves living conditions for all.
One of the primary outcomes was the enhancement of the Cluj IT Cluster''s organizational capacity through the establishment of "The Green Innovation Network." This network brought together relevant actors from business, academia, and administration, fostering long-term adoption of green innovation through competence and technology transfer as well as public policies.
The project also facilitated knowledge exchange and competence transfer between Romania and donor states, particularly through a partnership with Smart Innovation Norway. This included strategic inception meetings, study visits, and training sessions that educated participants on green digital transformation, process automation, and strategies for achieving net-zero emissions. These activities directly benefited SMEs, start-ups, and public institutions by providing them with the skills and knowledge needed to implement sustainable practices and improve their competitiveness.
In terms of tangible outputs, the project delivered a value chain analysis report, an assessment of training needs, and trained 15 participants in three training sessions and three workshops in Romania. Additionally, 12 participants were trained through knowledge transfer activities in Norway. The project also produced an institutional strategy document, an implementation roadmap, and a communication and marketing plan.