Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) still have great potential to increase their energy efficiency. The aim of the recently launched Interreg Europe SMEPlus project is to exploit this potential and initiate change. To this end, the partner regions will compare their energy policies, get in touch with key stakeholders, exchange solutions and adapt their policy instruments in relation to SMEs. As industrial SMEs represent 95% of all companies, their impact on the economy is immense. On September 9, 2019, the partners met at the University of Gävle (Sweden) for the official launch of the project.
The Interreg Europe program aims to improve policy instruments or conditions in various thematic areas. To achieve this, it is important to establish regional networks and interest groups. As a first step, SMEPlus partners will therefore identify key regional stakeholders involved in the energy efficiency of SMEs in their regions. Political, economic and social factors will influence the development of stakeholder groups in the partner regions, including municipalities, business associations and environmental protection agencies. A series of regional stakeholder meetings will follow to capitalize on experience, expertise and networks. The first stakeholder meetings will take place in Austria (March 2020) and Romania (May 2020). A visit to industrial SMEs in Sweden is planned for November 2019. The visit will help the partners to understand how SMEs deal with energy efficiency issues and what barriers prevent SMEs from using funding from support programs efficiently. The results of the study visit will be taken into account when developing measures to improve the respective policy instruments. In the coming months, the SMEPlus partners will also evaluate the energy policy instruments for industrial SMEs in the partner regions. A questionnaire will be developed for this purpose, which is aimed at SMEs and stakeholders. The assessment of processes and impacts, barriers and drivers for energy efficiency as well as important non-energy based benefits will be considered in the survey. To find out more about the project and keep up to date with the partners’ work, you can follow the project on Twitter and YouTube. A short video is already available online. Follow #SMEPlus to get the latest findings! Link: SMEPlus project website