CTA participated in the Global Innovation Summit, an event celebrated from the 18th to the 20th of May in a hybrid format from Austria and organised by Eureka with the collaboration of SFG and FFG. This summit, with over 3.000 participants, is an international event for innovative companies, researchers and funding experts that allows them to stablish contacts, share knowledge and develop new business ideas.

The Civil Engineering and Building Technical Officer, Carlos García, and the consultants José Díaz and Marta Macías presented the results of the European project INNOWWIDE at this event, in a session dedicated to talk about associations between the European Union (EU) and Latin America to promote innovation, organised by ENRICH.

Coordinated by CDTI, INNOWWIDE has funded 120 Viability Assesment Projects (VAPS) of innovative SMEs from Europe, in collaboration with technological providers from third countries.

Emerging markets, like the Latin American, offer huge opportunities to promote new products, services or processes based on innovative technologies. To compete there effectively, European companies, especially SMEs, need to develop alliances with the main innovation actors from these regions and better understand their context, their needs and the demands from the users. This contributes to guarantee acceptance and local success.   

The European project INNOWWIDE has shown to be an effective funding instrument in the internationalisation of SMEs from Europe and the creation of alliances with third countries. Over 1.000 SMEs from all over Europe have participated in two INNOWWIDE calls, and 120 received funds.  

Latin America represents 29% of the funded projects, with 428.000 euros. Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Mexico are the most popular target countries. Most funded projects of this region are from the energy, agriculture and environmental sectors.

INNOWWIDE is co-funded by the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Union.