GREen Startup Support
The need to promote a shift towards a low-carbon economy represents many business opportunities. The Small Business Act highlighted that the EU and Member States should enable SMEs to exploit these opportunities.

There are many good practice examples which build the capacity of green and blue companies, but unfortunately, many of these examples are not replicated in other regions, and remain unexploited.

The objective of GRESS is to improve policies for SMEs competitiveness by strengthening capacities to trigger and support formation of sustainable and competitive start-ups and spin-offs within the green economy.

The partners (NO, EL, PL, IT and BG) apply a policy-learning process in in five steps, 1) status on green growth in each region, 2) scan and exchange of experience and identification of good practice for mutual learning, 3) assessment and ranking of relevant practices through peer assessments in RSGs, 4) idea generation on policy intervention with interregional knowledge transfer, and 5) development and monitoring of regional action plans.

Five policy instruments will be improved through governance measures, new projects and structural change. 26 MEUR in Structural Funds, as well as 7 MEUR of other funds are estimated to be influenced by the project.

The policy improvements are envisaged to improve awareness on the opportunities for SMEs the in green & blue economy, increase the no. of participants at and improve the quality of training programmes for green start-ups, attract more SMEs to participate and succeed in public procurements of green products and services, improve access of SMEs to risk capital outside the local region, make cities and regions more attractive for young entrepreneurs in green sectors, introduce improved incentive schemes for green start-ups, enhance the performance of ecosystems, increase the no. of competitive start-ups and spin-offs within the green economy and improve their chances of survival.