The proactive participation of the IFAB members in the CAFEIN project has been a pivotal factor in its success, particularly in the development of the Joint Action Plan (JAP) and in raising aware-ness at the national/international level, for example vie the TAFTIE network. The signing of this Memorandum is crucial, as it guarantees the continuation of the productive dialogue established between the innovation agencies, the cluster networks involved in the consortium, and new inno-vation actors who will be engaged in the implementation of subsequent CAFEIN follow on activi-ties.
Indeed, the co-signing of the JAP by the five national innovation funding agencies is considered a major achievement and prepares the ground for future bi-lateral and multi-lateral cooperation. This is expected to arise through existing funding mechanisms such as EUROSTARS, strengthen existing cross border initiatives such as France/Spain and raise the awareness of the role of clus-ters in supporting industrial SMEs along their transition journey. Access and the support of the national agencies has also facilitated connections to networks that are not readily open to cluster organisations, such as TAFTIE, thanks to Bpifrance, offering scope to connect with additional national funding agencies.
Beyond the initial 5 Member States participating in the IFAB, representatives from 7 additional European countries have expressed strong interest in the project. These countries have been in-vited to sign the memorandum supporting the JAP and to contribute to its implementation.
Furthermore, registering CAFEIN’s network on the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) will significantly enhance its visibility and potential member base and foster connections with other European innovation stakeholders. Clusters from 9 new countries declared an interest in joining the CAFEIN movement: Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Romania. Two of them have already ended up signing the JAP: Lithuania and Romania – during the C2Lab event attended by several CAFEIN partners, in Strasbourg September 2024.
Furthermore, CAFEIN publications or other types of content produced within CAFEIN activities have been published on the ECCP GTS website, after internal evaluation, and targeting specifical-ly clusters or SMEs, providing knowledge/methods/tools that can support them in their green transition efforts (
https://www.clustercollaboration.eu/search-results?search_api_fulltext=cafein(öffnet in neuem Fenster)). And ECCP is thinking about building on the work planned in the JAP and would be particularly interested in exploring synergies in the implementation under the Task 3.2.2 Develop a Common Framework for Green Transition support.
