TechyouWorld. An academy for the digital and green transition of SMEs

The project TechyourWorld - Cross-border academy for the digital and green transition of SMEs is funded by the European Union through the Interreg Italy-France Alcotra 2021-2027 programme, the European cross-border cooperation programme for the Alpine region between Italy and France. It aims to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to address the main job market challenges in the territories, by designing and developing innovative business solutions for the digital and green transition through cross-border cooperation. According to many studies, this has proved to be a boosting factor for both growth and internationalisation in SMEs.

10 SMEs (5 from Italy and 5 from France) will be involved in the programme. These will work together on joint innovation projects, receiving support by a cross-border network of professionals and 30 talented young people.

As part of the programme, SMSs will have access to opportunities aimed to enhance the development of innovative solutions, such as exchange visits, remote cooperation, consultancy services from a network of experts, and internships. The latter will be addressed to young digital talents, in order to enable them to follow the development of innovative business models within the SMEs of the two territories.

All the activities will be carried out within the courses and workshops of a cross-border Academy for the digital and green transition of SMEs, which will also be responsible to provide SMEs with specific training on the most relevant IT skills for companies and sustainability, in order to strengthen their work.

The Academy programme includes workshops and residential summer camps, to offer an immersive and practical experience to nearly 50 people (20 of the target SMEs and 30 young people from Italy and France), who will have access to training courses consistent with the innovative solutions under development within the SMEs.

The initiative will be open to the entire community thanks to the Tech-Clubs – i.e., dissemination evenings on digitalisation open to the public, with entrepreneurs and professionals who have distinguished themselves in digital innovation applied to sustainability.

Training activities will be organized according to the "Academy" method; in particular, this will include the activation of 6 workshops on digitalisation and sustainability, 3 Tech-Clubs and 2 summer camps.

The overall goal is to help SMEs in the digital and green transition, using new technologies and developing the necessary digital skills to adopt such innovations, including cross-cutting skills on sustainability and circular economy.

Besides coordinating the project together with the other partners at both scientific and operational level, FGB will also be in charge of some of the communication activities for the project. Moreover, Fondazione Brodolini will organise training courses for selected SMEs, to be held both in Italy and France. Finally, networking and discussion events (Tech-Clubs) will be held by Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini with the companies participating in the project, the other partners, and all the stakeholders present in the territory.

The head office for FGB's project activities will be Le Pépinières of Valle d'Aosta.

Expected results 

• Increase in the level of digital transformation and innovation of SMEs;
• implementation of joint innovation projects;
• Create awareness in other SMEs to increase the project's impact.