CReative Actions For Tailoring Smes' COmpetitive DEvelopment
The European Crafts sector is a rich and complex interwoven tapestry combining tradition, heritage, culture, skills and design. Crafts encompasses a wide range of disciplines as a mirror of the diversity of European cultural identity. In economic terms the crafts industry is characterized by small entrepreneurial businesses that provide viable, sustainable business development and employment source. Crafts may be better understood as a distinctive set of knowledges, skills and aptitudes, centered around a process of reflective engagement with the material and digital worlds.The project idea is based on efforts made by the partners for the implementation of policies and projects supporting the competitiveness and the skilling up potentials of SMEs belonging to the crafts sector, in order to innovate it and mitigate the risk of disappearance of many traditional crafts and manufacturing. Crafts is a peculiar productive sector deeply linked with tradition and transmission of "knowledge", and plays a key role as innovator in Europe’s economy and social stability, even if most SMEs are not performing R&D activities as traditionally defined. Their competitiveness depends on their capability to improve processes, products and services. Through CRAFTS CODE, partners have decided to tackle adequately the key issues fostering knowledge about the development of innovation adapted to processes and products for micro and SMEs in the crafts sector. The new technological paradigms make the need to be increasingly present and pressing new and more effective strategies between traditional development models and new frontiers, with a view to market opportunities, requiring more efficient synergies system among the actors involved. The Overall objective is to improve the SMEs competitiveness in the crafts sector by developing a framework stimulating policy learning and capacity building activities and improving the implementation of regional development policies and programmes.