OBJECTIVE

EPIX aims at reinforcing business relationship between its cluster-partners, SMEs and cities in the booming world of Smart Cities. EPIX will encourage clusters and entrepreneurs to participate in “smart city” interventions creating business-oriented networking and upskilling opportunities.

EPIX will empower and enable its partners for identifying and exploiting opportunities that will change the outlook of cities by making them smart and sustainable and provide added value services for the creation of data sharing communities formed by cities and businesses..

MISSION  – EPIX shall increase skills and competences of clusters managers on 5 technological trajectories (smart energy smart mobility and transportation smart data, smart IoT devices smart infrastructures) and on topics like sustainable smart cities, data sharing communities, public finance and investments. EPIX Consortium will promote cross cluster value chain interconnections to seize new growth opportunities emerging from smart cities technologies and data sharing communities and enhance SMEs practical collaboration in joint projects for public procurements bids

STRUCTURE – The projects includes the following pillars:

WP1 – EMPOWER: cluster as smart cities champions – This WP aims to empower clusters and their SMEs with skills, analysis and new services in line with current and future labor market needs, in relation to green and digital transitions. This WP includes also the support to the partnerso enhance clusters excellence through ECEI benchmarking and labelling process (bronze, silver or gold).

WP2 – ENABLE: cluster as smart cities business networks – This WP aims to enable SMEs to become more competitive when developing smart cities projects by fostering inter enterprise linkages as well as collaborative relations with local institutions. The WP includes the support to cluster managers to review current cluster strategies on smart cities.

WP3 – CONNECT: Clusters and smart cities for the EPIX ClusterXchange – This WP aims to implement the ClusterXchange professional programme and to boost and facilitate international, intra regional, sectoral and cross sectoral collaboration between EPIX clusters and their members with a particular focus on SMEs, scaling up organisations and city managers

WP4 – OUTREACH AND AWARENESS RAISING ACTIVITIES – This WP aims to ensure solid and constantly evolving outreach and awareness raising campaign to publicize the project, its goals, actions and results among its target stakeholders and wide public