The priorities of the European Union are very important for the evolution of the European Society, the European economy and in general the development of the European world. It is important for those priorities to be met. As a result, all of the European calls for proposals focus on those priorities. And of course, the number of proposals written for these calls exceeds expectations.

The Energy Efficiency Directive is a call answering to one of Europe’s most pressing matters. The Energy Efficiency problem. It appears that one of Europe’s top priorities is to manage and save energy. This is going to be beneficial in many different ways. This priority focuses on the environment, first and foremost!

In particular, this call encourages SMEs to undergo energy audits that will help them save energy. These audits will provide them with the appropriate energy saving actions that will help businesses worldwide save energy. Saving energy is very important nowadays. This is why Green Entrepreneurship is growing more and more popular around businesses. Now, due to the fact that green entrepreneurship is utterly connected with energy audits for businesses, it is important to combine the two in order to achieve maximum results.

Under this premise, the Institute of Entrepreneurship Development has developed a research idea that can fairly easily be added to this call and enhance its results to the maximum.  Green Entrepreneurship is generating a growing demand for new professionals equipped with the skills necessary to support the entrepreneurial activities combined with the specific domain of the environmental areas. A professional who will be able to:

• Support the creation of -or the transition to- “green companies” by means of measures such as waste prevention, eco-design, recycling or efficiency;
• Promote entrepreneurship education in VET, creating awareness about environmental problems linked with entrepreneurship opportunities;
• Provide technical knowledge to help entrepreneurs to identify green gaps in the market and to find corresponding solutions;
• Increase the employability of unemployed workers, women and young people providing support and guide to start a career as entrepreneurs in the field of green economy.

The GREEN MENTOR WP aims to design and elaborate innovative VET contents and products to encourage the new professional profile of Mentor for Green Entrepreneurs, identifying and developing the competencies, methodologies, and tools required by these Mentors to effectively support green entrepreneurship in Europe through VET.

EU’s scope for this call!

Proposals should focus on one, or more, of the following issues:

• Staff training and capacity buildings programmes, facilitating SMEs to undergo energy audits and to implement the recommended energy-saving measures, shall be developed according to SMEs specificities (size, sectors, lifetime of the company etc.) and highlighting the financial aspects. Programmes should aim at bridging the gap between demand and supply side (SMEs, auditors, finance institutions, managing authorities of supporting schemes). Active participation of both managerial and operational staff must be ensured. The proposed solution should be tailored to national/local conditions in order to ensure the effective uptake by the SMEs.
• Capacity building to support the take-up of audits recommendations and undertake the actions necessary to reduce energy consumption (maintenance or investments in new equipment but possibly also behavioral actions) in the companies required to undergo energy audits (large enterprises). Development and implementation of corporate policy measures involving all actors (from decision makers/corporate board members to employees in each department) willing to undertake more efficient energy-related actions (motivations, behavior change, mitigation of perceived risks and barriers). Evaluation of the total costs of building investments, in terms of financial, environmental and health impact.
• Initiatives supporting the Member States in empowering or establishing national supporting schemes for SMEs providing appropriate incentives to undergo energy audits and/or to implement the recommended energy-saving measures.

Proposals should demonstrate how the proposed activities will be continued commercially beyond the project lifetime. Involvement of relevant multiplier organizations is also encouraged.

The Commission expects that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 1 and 2 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

The Expected Impact

Proposals are expected to demonstrate, depending on the scope addressed, the impacts listed below using quantified indicators and targets wherever possible:

• Primary energy savings triggered by the project (in GWh/year);
• Investments in sustainable energy triggered by the project (in million Euro);
• Market stakeholders with increased skills/capability/competencies (to be measured in the number of people with increased capacity) and long-lasting training schemes;
• Number of people/enterprises with enhanced energy culture documenting why and how changes are an effect of particular measures taken as a consequence of energy audits, as well in terms of the sustainability of the behavioral change;
• Policies and strategies created/adapted at the national level (to be measured in a number of initiatives/actions taken to improve/create audit supporting schemes and/or number of SMEs supported in the implementation of energy audit).

Additional positive effects can be quantified and reported when relevant and wherever possible:

• Reduction of the greenhouse gases emissions (in tCO₂-eq/year) and/or air pollutants (in kg/year) triggered by the project.

IED’s research idea, GREEN MENTORS, is the kind of idea that can become a strong asset for any proposal that can answer this call. The Institute of Entrepreneurship Development, with over 14 years of experience in the field of EU Projects and Programmes, has developed a research lab for this purpose. Our team of experts researches develops new and innovative ideas that can be added to the most important calls for proposals, focusing on Horizon 2020.

If you want to see more of our research ideas visit our website and see what we have developed so far. If you are interested in making us your partner and strengthen your consortium make sure to contact our offices today. We would be very happy to talk to you and find the perfect call that could guarantee our mutual success!

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