Capacity Building for Greening BG Innovative SMEs

Project facts

Project promoter:
Foundation 'Applied Research and Communications Fund' (ARC Fund)
Project Number:
BG10-0012
Target groups
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€223,000
Final project cost:
€206,292
From Norway Grants:
€ 185,023
The project is carried out in:
Bulgaria

More information

Description

Tackling environmental challenges and enhancing competitiveness of SMEs through innovations rank high in the agenda of European countries. Capacity Building for Greening BG Innovative SMEs addresses both issues by aiming at the creation of green business opportunities that can accelerate the uptake of environmental technologies. The specific objectives of the project are to enhance the permanent green technology scanning and monitoring; build capacity in SMEs on green innovation, impact SME green behavior; and promote the benefits of becoming greener in Bulgaria. The project team proposes a package of activities with a focus on developing and providing SMEs with a web-based self-assessment tool for measuring green performance and two annual reports dedicated to green policies and business. The project seeks to induce behavioural change in 50 SMEs, which will achieve 10% higher energy savings than the economy average and 5% reduction in CO2 emissions for a period of up to 5 years.

Summary of project results

The majority of Bulgarian SMEs had been unaware of the economic benefits of innovative green solutions and reluctant to change behaviour, and/or undertake green investments. The project filled in an important void left by the current national and EU funding schemes, which targeted only first generation basic efficiency improvement in the environmental performance of the Bulgarian enterprises. The project went beyond that to include capacity building for green innovative SMEs, thus ensuring sustainability of the project outcomes. In addition it promoted a behavioural change through a package of activities with a focus on developing and providing SMEs with a self-assessment tool, allowing them to improve their environmental technology and energy management. During the project period the Project Promoter ARC Fund carried out 50 environmental performance assessments of local innovative enterprises from different industries across Bulgaria. The team elaborated and completed policy and regulatory framework monitoring and studied existing methodologies and tools for self-assessment of SMEs on green behaviour. The results of the studies were published in the annual Inovation.bg reports of the Applied Research and Communications Fund, which were presented during two consecutive annual National Innovation Forums under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria. This ensured the widest possible reach for the project outputs. The results from the research served as a foundation for the theoretical and practical concept of the online self-assessment tool. The tool’s 5 elements assessed the managerial practices of companies, their energy consumption, and their use of ICT. While this is a hard to quantify result, the project observed a shift in the approach towards green practices in many companies, which underwent the training and started to use the tool. The main output of the project was the online self-assessment tool, which was provided to the companies free of charge. Around 150 companies received training to use it and around 50 have adopted it in their daily management practices. The project delivered the first for the country Green Innovation Report, based on unique indicators of assessment, making it a standard benchmark for future monitoring.

Summary of bilateral results

ARC Fund’s project partner was the very reputable Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU). It is an independent social science research institute organised as a non-profit foundation. The project combined ARC Fund’s direct relations with Bulgarian innovative SMEs and hands-on knowledge of their green innovation potential and needs, with NIFU’s experience and excellence in designing statistical surveys and processing collected statistical data. Throughout the project, ARC Fund and NIFU continued to work on the analysis of the data collected through the company survey in order to complete an evidence-based study on the green performance of Bulgarian companies, which was published in the Innovation.bg reports as the first Green Innovation national assessment for Bulgaria. This was very beneficial for both partners as they were able to exchange knowledge and experience both in terms of research methods and the promotion of green innovation. The responsible NIFU staff member was able to attend one of the National Innovation Forums, which was an excellent opportunity for a more in-depth understanding of the state of Bulgaria’s companies, as well as the national policies supporting greener industries. The project contributed to a wider bilateral cooperation as it included the organization of matching visits to Norway for 3 Bulgarian innovation companies who won the Green Innovation special award in the Innovative Enterprise of the Year Award.