The AER member region Umbria, together with its Regional Development Agency Sviluppumbria, has developed a project idea to improve the communication with SMEs in order to facilitate their understanding and access to funding opportunities. This new project is designed in the framework of the EU funding programme Interreg Europe (first call for project proposal, having its deadline on 31 May 2022).

About the project idea

Technical language used by public bodies can be an obstacle to understanding their contents and therefore approaching opportunities. This is particularly true for SMEs, especially during the COVID emergency, when a larger amount of funds was released across Europe, driving SMEs to seek professional help to navigate the bureaucracy. Indeed, during the COVID period, Umbria region tested innovative ways to communicate to SMEs, based on a participatory approach, bi-directional exchange of information, involvement of beneficiaries in the development process, and investment on self-explanatory video tools, which lead to an increased request for funds.

This new project aims to scale up this experience and the current policies by exchanging practices with other European regions.

About partner(s) searched

Umbria region is looking for partners to join its consortium. Specifically, regional institutions/public authorities in charge of releasing funds to SMEs or communicating to SMEs funding opportunities that have similar policies and experiences and which are willing to exchange good practices and, through the learning process, to improve current policies and integrate mainstream tools.

In case you are interested to join this consortium led by Umbria region, please send your expression of interest by 6 May (extended deadline) to:

Agnese Pantaloni – AER European Projects Coordinator, [email protected]

Chiara Dall’Aglio – Sviluppumbria Responsible for EU cooperation and projects development, [email protected]

More information on the project idea is available here.

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash.