The future economic development of the South Baltic area (SBA) is strongly influenced by the development of SMEs within the blue and green sector industries, e.g., maritime, tourism and hospitality, forest/wood, bio/food and supporting networks. At the same time, the business development of SMEs, particularly in these sectors, is highly dependent on the advancement of their innovation capabilities and exploration of their internationalization potential, as well as, on strengthening/establishing collaborative ties with R&Ds thus, the HEIs across the entire SBA.
Although, there is still one untapped opportunity for sustainable business development in the SBA. It is all about a targeted stimulation of the SMEs within the green and blue sectors and their engagement in a digital transformation for internationalization purposes.In order to facilitate the SMEs orientation transformation from domestic to global business practices, it is essential to ensure efficient cross-border cross-cultural cross-sectional learning, platforms for networking, business advisory and matchmaking actions as other business promotion activities, which gradually will open up for the upscaling and expansion of SMEs within and beyond the SBA.
The main objective of the project is to establish cross-sectional partnerships focusing on smart specializations and the regional development strategy aspects of the regions engaged in the project. That way, to strive to increase the presence of the blue & green SMEs in international markets to enable their global competitiveness.
