The transition to economic, environmental and social sustainability has become a major priority for the new European Commission. At the same time, it is recognised that this transition must be based on a strong and resilient economy and that small and medium-sized enterprises provide the backbone for this. Therefore, it has become a political priority for the EU to ensure that the sustainability transition goes hand in hand with SME growth. All partners of P4SME are Science and Technology Parks (STPs) that belong to the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation, whose mission is to respond to new needs of companies in new market conditions to drive growth and internationalisation. The integration of the sustainability approach into their portfolio of services will allow STPs to provide SMEs hosted in their facilities with a more complete support, helping them to seize new opportunities and to introduce their sustainable products and services into the market to achieve a steady growth. Thus, the main goal of the P4SME project is to improve the support services that partners are currently offering to SMEs by introducing the sustainability concept and by helping companies to integrate the sustainability into their business strategies. For that purpose, partners will share good practices, tools and initiatives that tackle the three dimensions of sustainability, that is, the social (people), the environmental (planet) and the economic (profit) dimensions, and will count on the support of relevant European external experts. The findings of the peer-learning group will be collected in a Design Options Paper and will be disseminated among international networks, whose members provide support services to SMEs, and among relevant stakeholders and authorities at all levels. By doing so, all organisations working with SMEs might enhance the quality of their sustainability support and contribute to the competitiveness of the SMEs within their orbit.

An eco- industrial park is an area where businesses work together to optimize the use of resources. Waste from one company provides the raw material or energy for another. This synergy between industries fosters economic benefits while contributing to sustainable development. The main purpose of the project Recycling Business Models – RBM is indeed to investigate and analyse the possibility to transform traditional science and technology parks in more sustainable areas, to establish the basis of models of Eco science and technology parks. The principal objective of the project is indeed to create a methodology and a specific strategy to impulse especially the creation of new business opportunities for SMEs and the creation of new companies, based on the revalorisation of the wastes, equipment and its reincorporation in the life cycle of the companies located in science and technology parks. More than 80% of the companies located within technology park in Europe are SMEs, which create the majority of new jobs in the economy of these countries. The development and improvement of ecosystem of innovation support to SMEs is indeed crucial for the scale up of the companies and the creation of new jobs, including the recruiting of talent. RBM is based specifically on the opportunities for SMEs and companies the Circular Economy (CE) perspective can bring. New business models within this concept are beginning to deliver success and impact in terms of driving competitive benefits. Creating enterprises around sustainable models can improve both their environmental impact and competitiveness. Great opportunities are arising due to new consumer demands, environmental regulatory pressures and innovation challenges, and early SMEs adopters are likely to enter the market and attract investment so the project will investigate on the establishment of new strategies for the design and delivery of more adequate innovation support programmes for SMEs within the field of CE.

"The project m-commerce developed a course to qualify employees of SMEs for introduction and operation of m-commerce services in the company. M-commerce as a specialization of E-commerce is due to the increasing popularity of smartphones, a fast-growing segment in online trading. Although the customers are ready because of their technologisation it is not optimally treated by many companies. Therefore SMEs need employees who have the appropriate knowledge and skills to implement M-commerce in a SME.The project had the following outputs :1) Assessment of current status of M-commerce in different regions of Europe2) Collection of best-practice examples from different regions3) Creating teaching and learning materials for the M-commerce course4) Running the course in all seven partner countries The determination of the current status of M-commerce took place over the collection and linking of data from different sources: online survey, conducted interviews in all partner countries, publicly available statistics and current literature . A "" by-product"" was a collection of best-practice examples. This practice examples described complete M-commerce solutions or only some aspects .The preparation of the training material was done by the partner FH JOANNEUM , University of Timisoara, Center for Knowledge Management and University of Alcala . To ensure the quality and the unified structure a specially created template was used for the development of individual topics . A further quality assurance measure was the mandatory peer review process for all modules . For each module we defined one evaluation partner. The whole course was translated into eight languages.The course consisted of three modules (each two days) and one practice work. Module one contained all the basics needed to create a strategy for the entire business process from marketing to delivery economically optimized and legally correct. The second module dealed with the topics of online marketing and consists of items like search engine optimization and social media marketing. An important aspect was the evaluation of this marketing mix. In the third module, where the technical contents were included. These enhanced the appearance and the usability of the existing e -commerce activities for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs. The practicle part tranfered the content of the course to the need of the existing e-commerce solutions from the participating SMEs. Each training day was supplemented by appropriate practical tasks relevant to the own projects of the participants. The time each participant invests, was an indicator for the quality of the result .The e-learning platform of the FH JOANNEUM was used to support the executing of the course in seven countries. The platform made content sharing and communication between the participants available. Because all participants communicated in English, a course- wide communication for the exchange of experiences was possible.The evaluation and reflection after the first implementation of the course was done by all learners, teachers , organizers and producers and allowed an adaptation of the course. This feedback process was used to increase the acceptance and to improve the course for the following participants.The target group can be described as follows: Participants, that are already responsible for online agendas in a SME or should overtake them in the near future, were qualified to be a M-commerce manager. They were be responsible for the creation of the M-commerce strategy for the SME, subsequently the implementation of the marketing plan and optimization of the SME-website or webshop. The SMEs whose employees participated in the course, got support in the preparation M-commerce activities, thus expanding their customers and market presence. The positive effect of the course will be medium to long term, as all measures need time to convert and to act .The following organizations took part in the project:FH JOANNEUM GESELLSCHAFT M.B.H.: University of applied sciences from AustriaCenter for Knowledge Management: Consulting Company from MacedoniaJOHANNEBERG SCIENCE PARK: Businesspark from SwedenTEHNOLOSKI PARK LJUBLJANA DOO: Technology park from SloveniaUNIONE REGIONALE DELLE CAMERE DI COMMERCIO INDUSTRIA, ARTIGIANATO E AGRICOLTURA DEL VENETO: Chamber of commerce from ItalyUNIVERSIDAD DE ALCALA: University from SpainUNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMISOARA: University from Romania"

THUMBS UP aims to develop and demonstrate thermal energy storage (TES) at daily (based on environmental friendly PCM) and weekly level (based on TCM sorption technology) solutions to be easily integrated in EU buildings (both connected and not-connected to DHN) to increase their energy efficiency as well as to exploit Power-to-Heat (PtH) approaches also to make EU Buildings as grid flexibility actors. THUMBS UP wants to overcome all the limits of state-of-the-art building-integrated PCM and TCM TES technologies, increasing TES energy density and reducing CAPEX. THUMBS UP innovates at different levels, from modelling to materials and enhance heat exchanger solutions, targeting demonstration at TRL 7. High-performance TES solutions part of an EU sustainable economy is a factor at the core of THUMBS UP. The project develops truly i) bio-based PCMs from raw materials currently wasted in the EU food industry, turning them into valuable TES materials and ii) TCMs relying exclusively on non-hazardous materials and on water as working fluid. THUMBS UP TES will be demonstrated in 3 demosites (a single-family building in Spain and 2 multi-family buildings in Sweden/Spain) in different EU climates and energy market contexts also to assess THUMBS UP replication potential in two replication sites (ITA, NL). Via its demonstration and replication campaign, THUMBS UP promotes TES role as key enabling technology to optimize thermal comfort and energy efficiency in buildings as well as to promote PtH as facilitator of RES grid integration in a sector coupling approach, to be studied via innovative modelling tools. THUMBS UP gives specific attention to how to fully integrate TES solutions into buildings and wider smart energy networks by combining the technology advancements with TES-tailored digital innovations. THUMBS UP widens the capability to control, monitor and forecasts how to operate building-integrated TES systems to provide services toward both the H&C and power sector.

The IRIS project supports the Lighthouse cities of Utrecht (NL), Göteborg (SE) and Nice Côte d’Azur (FR) and their Follower cities Vaasa (FI), Alexandroupolis (GR), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (ES), and Focsani (RO) to address their urgent need to deliver energy and mobility services in their cities that are cheaper, better accessible, reliable, and that contribute to a better and more sustainable urban quality of life. By demonstrating smart solutions that integrate energy, mobility and ict, rooted in a City Innovation Platform, IRIS quantifies their value, and connects interests of many different stakeholders in innovative business models, allowing for upscale and replication of integrated solutions for sustainable cities across Europe and world-wide. To achieve this, IRIS works along five Transition Tracks based on common challenges, encompassing 16 integrated solutions that cities can mix and match according to their characteristics and district specific needs. Track 1, 2 and 3 enhance energy efficiency and utilize grid flexibility by balancing supply and demand dynamically and by 2nd life battery and V2G storage, to allow increase of renewable energy production and roll-out of e-cars and e-buses. Track 4 supports this by data sharing, a common architecture, use of standards, and governance practices accelerating innovation, standardisation and implementation of affordable smart applications. Track 5 integrates interdisciplinary citizen engagement and co-creation in Tracks 1 to 4, connecting the needs of end-users with those of other stakeholders, in further support of innovative business models. The expected impacts of IRIS are an open innovation ecosystem motivating citizens to act as prosumers; more effective urban planning and governance of integrated solutions; exploitation of validated innovative business models based on multi-stakeholder collaboration; more stable, secure and affordable energy and mobility services for citizens, with improved air quality.