Success stories

Sometimes tragic events can give people great ideas – as the story of Emergency Eye demonstrates. With this software from Corevas, emergency response centres can pinpoint the exact location of an accident and ensure emergency services are deployed rapidly. Thanks to the Enterprise Europe Network, the world’s largest support network for small and medium-sized enterprises, the fledgling company found the right IT partner.

The internet is everywhere, from the planes in our skies to the trains under our feet – but venture underwater and the situation is very different. Radio waves travel much slower through water and can easily be disrupted, making cableless communication incredibly difficult. However, an Italian technology firm has pioneered the underwater Internet of Things, allowing for secure communication between underwater sensors and vehicles resulting in the better monitoring of marine environments.

For small businesses with big ideas, raising the capital needed for research and development investment is the first and often the biggest challenge. With support from the Enterprise Europe Network, an Italian SME sought to make its cookware products, anti-bacterial, greener and more efficient using nanotechnology and specialised coatings.

Households account for almost 20% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. Political efforts to offset this environmental burden are driving demand for more energy efficient buildings. The Enterprise Europe Network helped an Estonian manufacturer of green buildings take advantage of this opportunity by expanding into Sweden, where they have laid the foundations for more sustainable housing. With two contracts in Sweden, together worth EUR 2.5 million, Timbeco is now looking to expand even further.

Over 11 million hectares of land in Europe are dedicated to organic farming and demand for organic products continues to increase. For Polish SME BHZ Agromat, this presented a real opportunity to scale up their organic grain business and start trading across Europe. Agromat became one of Poland’s biggest organic grain traders thanks to the Enterprise Europe Network’s support.

Electric vehicles will play a key role in driving the decarbonisation of our cities, but the business case for ditching fossil fuel buses has so far been lacking. Heliox, a Dutch SME, has developed a super-fast charging system for electric buses and is now taking their sustainable solution global, thanks to support from the Enterprise Europe Network.

Harvesting the energy of our tides could be the next big source of clean, cheap and reliable electricity, but the sector is still in its infancy. Thanks to local support from the Enterprise Europe Network, Scotland’s Nova Innovation Ltd was able to connect its tidal technology to the grid well before the big multinational energy companies.

With support from the Network, Peter Langer, CEO of Novihum Technologies, started manufacturing an innovative soil conditioning technology that improves soil fertility while reducing water use and pollution.

Sports equipment innovation developed in Sweden undergoes expert testing in Italy thanks to the Enterprise Europe Network.