Strategy Archives - META Group

New course: How to write an impactful EU Horizon proposal?

Clémence Contant — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 13:13:11 +0000

In the dynamic European landscape of research and innovation, mastering the art of proposal writing for Horizon Europe is central. With solid experience in EU grant writing and EU-funded project development, META Group is thrilled to announce an exclusive Horizon Europe proposal training opportunity to help you build comprehensive and impactful proposals.

April 23 – 25, 2024 | EU quarter, Brussels, Belgium | Intermediate and advanced levels

30 years of experience of EU grants participation and development

Our team at META Group understands the challenges that come with writing winning proposals, and that is why we have handpicked our best-experienced trainers to guide and coach you through the process. Their expertise, honed through successful experiences in Horizon Europe grants, will provide you with invaluable insights and strategies to enhance your proposal writing skills.

Not only is META Group well-versed in the Horizon Europe grants landscape, but we also have been the framework contractor for the European Commission’s Horizon Results Booster support to grant beneficiaries since 2020. This unique position allows us to offer a holistic approach to proposal development, incorporating real-world insights into our training.

An Impact-driven approach

What sets our training apart is our commitment to ensuring your success, particularly in addressing the pivotal Impact section of your proposal. Our META Group experts will equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to create a compelling Impact section that significantly increases your chances of winning a Horizon Europe proposal.

Registration is now open for this new training opportunity. Don’t miss the chance to elevate your proposal writing skills, gain a competitive edge, and increase your success rate in securing EU Horizon Europe grants.

Training Agenda

DOWNLOAD THE DETAILED AGENDA

Day 1: Setting the Foundation for Successful Project Planning

Explore the fundamentals of successful project planning, focusing on Expected Impact and understanding how it influences the Excellence section. Delve into pain points, explore the role of Impact in the Horizon Europe policy, and master the preparation process. A hands-on session will guide you in deconstructing the call for proposal and defining your project’s logic of intervention.

Day 2: The Impact Section – A Key to Success in an Impact-Driven Program

Dive into the crucial Impact section within an Impact-driven program. Understand the essentials, from glossary terms to tips and tricks for smooth writing. Develop a solid methodological approach, including pathways towards impact and project development tasks for maximising impact. A hands-on session will guide you in designing the pathways towards impact for your project.

Day 3: Implementation and Evaluation of Proposals for EU Services Relevant to Impact

Explore the links between Implementation and the Impact section. Learn how to prepare the Work Package on Exploitation, Dissemination, and Communication. Build up strategic involvement of third parties, successfully link work packages between them and reach expected outcomes and evaluate the impact section proposal. Discover relevant European Commission services, including the Horizon Results Platform, Horizon Results Booster, and Open Research Europe.

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights, practical skills, and tips from META Group experts in EU Horizon Europe proposal writing. Register now to enhance your proposal development capabilities and maximise impact of your projects!

Contact us

Any questions about the training or the registration process? Contact our team at trainings@meta-group.com

The post New course: How to write an impactful EU Horizon proposal? appeared first on META Group.

META Group: 30-years bringing knowledge to market

Lucía Cortés — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 14:26:22 +0000

Three decades ago – while the world was enjoying Nirvana’s last album and Nelson Mandela was receiving the Nobel Peace Prize – in the heart of Italy, META Group emerged as a knowledge-based consulting firm founded by a group of visionaries.

What initially began as an engineering firm in Terni (Umbry region), expanded its horizons to become an international powerhouse, with a presence in Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Slovenia. Very soon, the company became pioneers in the field of Regional Innovation and Technology Transfer Strategies, collaborating with RITTS Umbria.

Fostering entrepreneurship, knowledge transfer and innovation

In 2000, META Group shifted gears with a strategic focus on University spin-offs. Our approach, rooted in a technology-driven and problem-centric methodology, proved revolutionary. This shift not only spawned proprietary tools and methodologies but also became the cornerstone of our commitment to fostering entrepreneurship, knowledge transfer, and innovation.

Our problem-solving approach is based on the observation that solution-based strategies often falter. By learning from our experiences, we emphasised the importance of understanding customers and the problem/customer fit. The lean start-up approach became integral to our structured methodology, especially when collaborating with researchers.

Contractor for the European Commission: Horizon Results Booster initiative

Since 2020, we have been at the forefront of the European Commission’s Horizon Results Booster initiative. This game-changing endeavour aligns clearly with META Group’s core mission: optimising the utilisation of research outcomes. Our participation in this initiative brings us immense pride, recognising our potential to catalyse transformative impacts. The Horizon Results Booster is distinguished by its reliance on a top-notch group of experts proficient in a diverse array of topics.

Their role is to assist, guide, and support EU funded research teams in maximising the broader impact of their results. This initiative stands as an example of our commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation and ensuring that research results not only flourish but also contribute significantly to societal progress.

META Group Inspiring and reshaping innovation and research

For nearly three decades, we have nurtured entrepreneurship at both micro and macro scales—mentoring researchers, empowering entrepreneurs, developing innovation strategies, and managing regional co-investment early-stage funds.

Today, META Group encapsulates this wealth of experience in a diverse range of solutions and proven methodologies, addressing the most pressing challenges faced by research and innovation actors worldwide. Our journey continues to inspire and reshape the landscape of innovation, ensuring that knowledge finds its way from inception to market fruition.

The post META Group: 30-years bringing knowledge to market appeared first on META Group.

We are hiring: Marketing and Communications Manager

Lucía Cortés — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 07:00:39 +0000

Looking for a dynamic organisation and the opportunity to work and grow at the intersection between science, innovation and entrepreneurship? Join our team!

We are looking for a problem-solving, go-getting, dynamic and adaptable marketing person with experience in marketing campaigns for innovation services both on the operational and strategic level, with a flair for communication to join our Brussels office.

Objectives of the Role

Establish positioning, identify target audiences, and develop marketing plans with specific objectives across different channels and segments
Promote the company products and services and ensure all messaging, from a community email to a tweet, align with the values of the business
Execute marketing campaigns from start to finish, leveraging internal support and driving collaboration
Analyse customer insights, market reports and marketing best practices to build successful strategies
Create, maintain, and conduct analytics reporting across multiple platforms and extract key insights for future campaign development and go-to-market strategies, complete with formal proposals and recommendations on tactics
Develop and handle information output, press releases and media requests, social media and/or advertising efforts
Be part of the Sales/Proposal Writing Team

Daily and Monthly Responsibilities

Conceptualize and execute on site and online campaigns across the prospect and customer lifecycle, ensuring the alignment of communications and messaging across all channels
Manage content and updates, proposing budgets, participating in events, documenting business processes, and providing additional sales support
Working in partnership with the production teams, develop creative content to meet objectives for advertising and public-facing communications, including print, digital, and video assets
Gather customer and market insights to inform outreach strategies, increase customer conversions, and generate more qualified leads
Identify effectiveness and impact of current marketing initiatives with tracking and analysis, and optimize accordingly
Present ideas and final deliverables to internal and external teams, and communicate with C-level about marketing programs, strategies, and budgets

Skills and Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, or related field
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Experience of communicating complex information to diverse audiences
At least 5 years of proven experience developing marketing plans and campaigns for service companies
At least 5 years of experience in social media management and digital communications
Metrics-driven marketing mind with an eye for creativity
Experience and knowledge in copywriting, proofreading and editing
Experience in the Sales process
Experience with marketing automation and CRM tools

Preferred Qualifications

Proficiency with online marketing and social media strategy
Established press and media contacts
Excellent written and spoken English Master’s degree in public relations, communications or similar relevant field a plus
Experience in content production is a big plus
Experience of working in communications roles on collaborative EU-funded research and innovation projects (e.g. Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe)
Team player, creative with a structured approach, having the ability to prioritise tasks and juggle multiple projects

Why join us

We have an informal culture, international working environment and excellent professional development opportunities.

CV and motivation letter to be sent to personae@meta-group.com

The post We are hiring: Marketing and Communications Manager appeared first on META Group.

How to Stay on Top of Megatrends

Lucía Cortés — Thu, 18 May 2023 07:00:47 +0000

In research and innovation (R&I), megatrends can reveal emerging opportunities and challenges in particular sectors or at the level of society that have to be addressed.

Megatrends can be defined as extensive patterns that are likely to shape the future of our world for the next 10 to 20 years and beyond. They are expected to impact multiple aspects of society, including economics, politics, technology, culture, and the environment. These trends have the potential to create new industries, reshape existing ones, and alter the way we live and work.

Unlike short-term trends, megatrends form and span over multiple years. They can create significant opportunities and challenges for individuals, businesses, and governments, and it’s essential to understand them to prepare for the future. In research and innovation (R&I), megatrends can reveal emerging opportunities and challenges in particular sectors or at the level of society that have to be addressed. They can also inform about new funding sources and potential collaboration with new actors and stakeholders.

In a previous article, we explained why megatrends are important for scientists and innovators, and and how can research organisations include them in their strategies to gain momentum and take advantage of the opportunities of the future. We have also shared use cases of EU research and innovation in some of the most impactful megatrends: climate, society, technology, energy and economy.

In this article, we share some tips to help you stay informed and foresee what the future can bring.

Read widely: Stay up-to-date on news and trends in your industry by reading a variety of sources, including trade publications, blogs, social media, and newsletters.

Attend industry events: Attend conferences, trade shows, and other events in your industry to stay up-to-date on the latest developments and to network with other professionals.

Join professional organizations: Join professional organizations related to your industry to network with peers and stay informed on trends and developments.

Network: Build a strong network of industry contacts who can provide insights and information on megatrends.

Conduct market research: Conduct market research to identify emerging trends and shifts in consumer behavior.

Follow thought leaders: Follow thought leaders in your industry on social media and subscribe to their newsletters and blogs to stay informed on their insights and predictions.

Monitor emerging technologies: Keep an eye on emerging technologies that could disrupt your industry and explore how you can use them to your advantage.

Stay open-minded: Be open to new ideas and be willing to pivot your strategy as needed to stay ahead of megatrends.

One of the main reasons to include megatrends in your research or business strategy is that they inform on the most pressing challenges of society, which translates into the opportunity of solving real problems by developing new solutions.

If you want to go deeper and learn how to use megatrends in your advantage, focus on a problem-led approach, and make the most out of your innovation strategy and processes, get in touch with our experts.

Photo by Werner Du plessis on Unsplash

The post How to Stay on Top of Megatrends appeared first on META Group.

META Group Strengthens Its Operations in Central Europe with META Circularity

Lucía Cortés — Fri, 12 May 2023 07:00:26 +0000

The Company becomes a Shareholder of the Ljubljana-based firm Giacomelli Media. META Group extends its regional operations in Central Europe by acquiring equity stake (25%) in the Slovenian company Giacomelli Media, which becomes “META Circularity.”

This new partnership is the result of our ongoing collaboration with the advisory firm based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and is a strategic step towards the development and roll-out of key innovative actions in the fields of the circular economy and sustainability. Ultimately, it will enable META Group to increase its contribution to key European research and innovation programmes in the region.

“Strengthening the collaborations between the two companies means creating a solid foundation to support regional innovation with a full range of solutions and expert assistance in developing circular economy business models,” said Alessia Melasecche, CEO of META Group.

Switching to circular economy is a strategic EU priority. The transition is expected to reduce pressure on natural resources, create sustainable growth and jobs. However, many innovation initiatives related to key industrial sectors and value chains across the EU including the shift to renewable energy sources are facing challenges on their exploitation path to technology maturation and investor readiness, which represents a key focus of this strengthened alliance between META Group and META Circularity.

“This development represents the maturation of a year-long cooperation with META Group. It will sharpen our positioning as an innovation protagonist at the international scale dealing with business model design and corporate transformations for circularity and sustainability,” said Jurij Giacomelli, CEO of META Circularity.

META Group has been present in Slovenia working with several startup accelerators including Inkubator Sezana and Incubatore Creativo Istria as well as research, innovation and ecosystem partners such as Jozef Stefan Institute, Technology Park Ljubljana and TECOS, providing capacity building support for the advancement of emerging technologies and training for scale-up and growth of early-stage knowledge-intensive startups. META Group and META Circularity are jointly part of the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley initiative.

For more information, visit www.meta-circularity.eu

The post META Group Strengthens Its Operations in Central Europe with META Circularity appeared first on META Group.

How Izmir is strengthening the innovation and entrepreneurial potential of the region

Lucía Cortés — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 11:24:54 +0000

Deeptech innovation in fields such as AI, IoT, biotechnology, robotics, and augmented reality applications mean unique products, new jobs, and new markets. Insufficient financial resources, lack of support mechanisms, and difficulty in innovating while serving customers often hinder the development of solutions in these fields.

Izmir city in Turkey is one of the administrative centres that is actively working on overcoming these barriers. The goal is to transform innovative ideas in the field of technology into value-added products and services by creating an entrepreneurial-friendly ecosystem. A series of support-programmes have been launched in the past years to develop the infrastructure and enable researchers and entrepreneurs to acquire new skills and get access to professional networks and funding opportunities.

Izmir NIC project

“There are a lot of different initiatives dedicated to boost the innovation potential and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region. They are on the right path, but still at an early stage,” said Lorenzo Valeriani, Senior Expert at META Group. Lorenzo participated in the İzmir Network and Innovation Centre Project (İzmir NIC), which aimed to stimulate the development and commercialization of innovative solutions to meet the needs of users in an international context.

Funded through EUROPAID, the project aimed to improve early-stage start-ups investment readiness through:

Ecosystem building: increase the capacity of the ecosystem through training, networking, legal support, awareness raising and the creation of a partnership framework.
Technology framework: create a reliable and scalable technology infrastructure to allow the efficient delivery of Izmir NIC Hub services.

“One of our main objectives was to equip local trainers with the necessary concepts and methodologies required when mentoring innovators working in very competitive and highly specialised fields. The trainers we have worked with had different backgrounds but were very engaged and eager to learn international best practices. If all the players in the ecosystem are involved and willing to work together, great results can be expected in the following years,” Lorenzo added.

Bringing innovation to the market

Laying the foundation of a strong ecosystem is a prerequisite for encouraging innovators to develop novel solutions. Another one is providing them with expert support in complementary areas that allow for their solutions to reach the market and generate impact.

In Izmir, this second phase is addresses by the D-TECH4ENT initiative. The aim of this project is to nurture promising disruptive ideas by providing deep-tech entrepreneurs with support for prototyping, validation, and demonstration in real world conditions, and allowing for wider deployment, scale-up and uptake.

The incubator serves as a “hatchery” for early-stage high risk deep-techs startups, with training programmes covering marketing, pitching, financing and management. After the trainings, the organizers will hold a match-making meeting in İzmir to bring together corporate companies, investors, and start-ups from the relevant ecosystem, and to increase their opportunities for cooperation. D-TECH4ENT expects to facilitate the development of 12 new and innovative products, as well as 6 national and 2 international patent applications.

Deep tech startups offer unique opportunities by developing impactful solutions to real life problems like climate change, healthcare, or access to green energy. In Europe, and according to the 2023 European Deep Tech report by Dealroom, European deep tech startups raised $17.7B in 2022, a 22% decrease from 2021. The four main categories in deep tech are novel AI, future of computing, novel energy, and space tech.

Initiatives like İzmir NIC and D-TECH4ENT enable deep tech innovators and entrepreneurs to build the next generation of category-defining businesses that will shape our societies. Contact our team to learn how META Group can support your organisation with similar support solutions.

META Group Appoints New CEO and President

Lucía Cortés — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 07:00:08 +0000

We are pleased to announce the recent appointment of Alessia Melasecche Germini as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of META Group. Aswell, Andrea Di Anselmo is the new President of the company.

Alessia Melasecche succeeds the co-founder Luigi Amati. Alessia is an experienced executive who has been an integral part of the entrepreneurial journey of the company. Luigi will continue to play a pivotal role in META Group’s future development as a board member.

Andrea Di Anselmo, co-founder, was appointed as the new President of META Group. Andrea has acted as Vice President since the company’s inception.

“As we move into an era of increasing innovation demand, it is great to see META Group still leading across Europe after 30 years since its foundation. It is even greater to see this happening while smoothly transitioning towards a new generation of leaders, full of energy, enthusiasm, and passion about the knowledge-to-market path,” says Luigi Amati.

From knowledge to market

This recent change also mirrors the evolution of the complex ecosystem in which META Group operates. The science community is constantly faced with the challenge of translating research results into societal impact. META Group bridges the gap between researchers, investment groups, corporates and policymakers. META Group provides expert support in building up knowledge-intensive startups and scaleups.

“This change comes as a natural stage in the organization’s evolution after reaching maturity, refining its strategy, and moving towards the next phase of growth. It also reflects META Group’s current focus on strengthening the company’s leadership position in maximizing the exploitation and impact of innovation.” – Alessia Melasecche Germini, CEO of META Group.

The other main shareholders of META Group will continue to be actively involved in the company’s activities. This includes, of course, the third co-founder Anna Amati and Francesca Natali.

Making Innovation Happen

META Group operates internationally in the field of creation and development of research-based companies to make the knowledge-to-market process effective and profitable. It provides advisory, strategy, training, and implementation services to governments & development agencies, public & private investors, research organizations, start-ups & entrepreneurs.

Having supported thousands of researchers, universities, and innovation players, META Group is the European pioneering leader in exploiting research results funded by the European Commission’s Framework Programs. For almost three decades, the company has helped innovators translate science concepts into concrete, impactful solutions while providing innovation policy expertise to EU institutions, governmental organisations, and consultancy/services/financial companies worldwide through three main pillars:

Advisory: Hundreds of international institutions and national and regional agencies supported through innovation and entrepreneurship policy and strategy services.
Academy: More than 15.000 R&D projects participants coached and tutored with proprietary formats on investor readiness and go-to-market.
Investment: Unique expertise in developing and implementing public/private equity financial instruments with a large portfolio of innovative companies and hundreds of millions of euros deployed in various funds in several European countries.

META Group appoints new CEO and president

About Alessia Melasecche Germini
Alessia Melasecche Germini is the CEO of META Group. She started as a junior expert in the company 20 years ago. From there, Alessia developed her career working across a variety of innovation services dedicated to increasing the impact of research. She holds strong operational and strategy capabilities coupled with a strong academic background and entrepreneurial skills. These skills made her the unanimous choice of the META Group shareholders to guide the new development phase of the company. Alessia has an academic background in Economics in Economy and Business, a PhD in Internationalization of SMEs. She is a former University Marketing Professor at the Faculty of Business of Perugia, Italy.

About Andrea Di Anselmo
Andrea Di Anselmo is co-founder and President of META Group. He is a seasoned international expert in innovation strategies, financial tools and support to knowledge-intensive enterprises, and exploitation of research results. Andrea has a background in civil engineering and research experience in materials science at the University of Storrs Connecticut (USA). He is member of the Board of Directors of different EU associations.

About Luigi Amati
Luigi Amati is co-founder and board member of META Group, President of META Ventures and President of Business Angels Europe, the Confederation of European Angel Investing. He graduated Summa cum Laude in Engineering from the University of Rome. Luigi also holds a Master of Science and a Diploma from Imperial College London. His career started as a researcher and software engineer in Computational Mechanics at LUSAS. This is a spin-off of Imperial College in London.

The post META Group Appoints New CEO and President appeared first on META Group.

Supporting SMEs Through Policy With Scale-Up

a.bassetti — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 09:45:09 +0000

Innovation can be the lifeblood of a region

It’s a known fact that when regions manage to attract entrepreneurial talent, young start-ups and SMEs to their area, the entire area benefits as a result.

Innovative companies bring young, highly skilled workers, who have a dynamic lifestyle, who have young families, who avail of the already-existing businesses and services in the area. This injection of workers to a community can boost local businesses and increase employment opportunities.

However, innovative companies also have very specific needs, and the regions in which they settle need to be able to address these concerns. The Lazio Region in Italy knows this and has already put in place a number of initiatives to make the area more friendly to start-ups.

Now, those start-ups are growing up, and it’s time to support them to scale-up at the national and international level.

The “SCALE-UP Supporting concentration and robustness of SMEs within the renewed EU industrial policy” project involves several regions across the EU. It’s funded by Interreg Europe and LazioInnova is a partner in this project. The goal is to improve the policy instruments – such as Regional Action Plans – that support SMEs’ capacity to grow, both at national and international level.

LazioInnova has selected META Group to define a new Regional Action Plan that will outline the path that the Lazio Region needs to take in order to attract and retain innovative companies, as part of the SCALE-UP project.

META Group analysed all the good practices that LazioInnova and the other partners have shared regarding their regional policies. META Group also provided LazioInnova with a SWOT analysis and a validation of these best practices. Next steps will be the preparation of the Regional Action Plan to pave the way to the adoption of the selected practices to boost scale-up.

Read more about the SCALE-UP project here: https://www.interregeurope.eu/scaleup/

For more information contact us

The post Supporting SMEs Through Policy With Scale-Up appeared first on META Group.

Financial instruments for the bioeconomy

a.bassetti — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 16:04:05 +0000

At META, we recently carried out an analysis of the private and public financial instruments that are available for the innovative bioeconomy or the bio-based industry.

Bioeconomy challenge

Developing the bioeconomy is one of Europe’s responses to the key environmental challenges that the world is facing today. A thriving bioeconomy would reduce dependence on natural resources, transform manufacturing, promote the sustainable production of renewable resources from land, fisheries and aquaculture and their conversion into food, feed, fibre, bio-based products and bio-energy, while growing new jobs and industries.

META Group’s participation

META Group is a partner of Power4Bio, an EU-funded initiative empowering regional stakeholders to boost the transition towards the bioeconomy in European regions by providing them with tools, instruments and guidance to develop sustainable bioeconomy strategies.

Our role within this programme is to identify private and public financial instruments for innovative bio-based solutions and provide bioeconomy regions with recommendations and guidelines on how effectively design and access to properly develop their bioeconomy industry.

We’ve analysed successful practices from Europe and abroad, including countries such as Canada, the US, China and Malaysia.

Thanks to this research, we can provide national and regional authorities with a full spectrum of financial solutions that can help them in better supporting their rural economies and the switch to the circular economy.

In a sector such as the bioeconomy, start-ups are one of the driving forces; high-growth firms can power regional economic development and the availability of funding for those companies depends heavily on their stage of development.

That’s why we have put a particular emphasis on equity. This is considered as it’s one form of finance that is more appropriate for the early development stages of innovative enterprises.

We firmly believe that equity financial instruments co-financed with public resources can be a powerful catalyst for the creation and development of venture capital ecosystems in Europe.

Some successful practices

Here some of the best practices we found:

Ag-West Bio’s Technology Commercialisation Investment Fund – CANADA

Launched in 1989 by Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Agriculture. Since then, Ag-West Bio has been working to support commercialisation of bioscience technologies in the areas of sustainable crop production, food processing, health, environment, biofuels and bioproducts. West Bio can provide early-stage capital and help secure matching funds for qualified start-ups, or for expanding bioscience companies through a matching fund: Ag-West Bio’s Technology Commercialisation Investment Fund.

Hauts de France CAP 3RI – FRANCE

The investment fund rev3 (CAP 3RI) brings together public and private, French and European financial players (European Regional Development Fund, European Investment Bank, Groupama North East and Crédit Agricole Nord de France).

The aim is to finance companies whose projects are linked to the priorities of the Third Industrial Revolution (renewable energy, energy management, smart mobility, energy efficiency, circular economy). This investment fund intervenes in equity and quasi-equity in the companies located in Hauts-de-France.

ECBF – European Circular Bioeconomy Fund – EUROPE

ECBF is the first venture fund exclusively focused on investing in circular and bio-based industries – in the EU and the 16 HORIZON 2020-associated countries.

The aim of this programme is to support innovative circular bioeconomy companies and projects in order to fill the funding gaps. For that the aim is to attract private investments that bring bio-based innovations closer to the market. In addition, help the EU reach its environmental, climate and biodiversity targets in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This investment is backed by a guarantee from InnovFin.

ECBF started operations in October 2020 and the first two investments in two innovative growth-stage companies have already been closed.

Agriculture and Bioeconomy Programme Loan – EUROPE

This financing initiative is managed by the European Investment Bank and targets investments by private cooperatives and companies in the agriculture and bioeconomy sector and finance future capital expenditures and RDI programmes.

This loan is available to smaller agri-cooperatives with fewer than 3000 direct employees, innovative small businesses and mid-cap companies, involved in the primary production sector (animal and crop production, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture) or in up/downstream manufacturing (such as forest, paper and pulp industries, bioenergy production, resource protection, food retail/ wholesale, etc.).

The EAFRD Fund of Funds – ROMANIA

The EAFRD Fund-of-Funds (EAFRD FoF) is a funding agreement signed between the EIF and the Government of Romania, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. It is financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), through the National Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, together with resources from the national budget.

The objective of the Fund of Funds is to address specific market failure by facilitating access to finance to final recipients. All this is in cooperation with selected financial intermediaries active on the Romanian market, through the implementation of a portfolio risk-sharing loan.

The post Financial instruments for the bioeconomy appeared first on META Group.

Technology and Innovation for Inclusive Growth – INSME 2015

a.bassetti — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 15:17:08 +0000

Andrea Di Anselmo, META Vice-President: In order to generate jobs and wealth we need innovation at both business and institutional levels

Cape Town, INSME. The 11th Annual International Network of Small and Medium Enterprise Forum (INSME 2015) took place this year in South Africa, where Andrea Di Anselmo, META Vice-President and INSME President expressed META’s views on “Technology and Innovation for Inclusive Growth”.

“In order to generate jobs and wealth we need innovation at both business and institutional levels. The public sector is called to develop the most favorable support ecosystem having in mind that the entrepreneur has to be the one in the driver’s seat. The most effective support for inclusive growth should take into consideration the differences between entrepreneurs by necessity and entrepreneurs by opportunity,” says Andrea Di Anselmo, META Vice-President & INSME President.

The goal of these discussions focused on “Technology and Innovation for Inclusive Growth” is to find new ways to develop local institutions by highlighting the importance of technology and innovation in raising the institutions’ competitiveness level and enabling them to achieve growth

“Moreover, today’s technologies like 3D printing make possible the unleashing of entrepreneurial potential of creative talents, opening up international markets for their products, while crowdfunding provides finance and visibility to this new generation of makers. South Africa has all the assets to make this possible”, concluded Mr. Di Anselmo.

The INSME annual forum is an important platform that offers service providers and Small and Medium Enterprises sector supporters the chance to take advantage of each other’s experiences.

The post Technology and Innovation for Inclusive Growth – INSME 2015 appeared first on META Group.