cross-border collaboration

SustainableSolutionsMatch 2026 (SSM2026) highlights how international matchmaking can help SMEs and startups find partners, investors, and new business opportunities in the sustainability sector. Organised by the Enterprise Europe Network’s group of experts focused on sustainability, the event brought together over 1,600 participants from 62 countries, facilitating targeted B2B meetings, pitching sessions, and international collaboration. The event offered benefits for both companies seeking to grow internationally and the Network’s colleagues supporting SMEs through high-quality matchmaking and business development services. 

For SMEs from island regions, scaling abroad often starts with a different set of realities. Distance, connectivity, language, visibility and market access can all shape how international opportunities are found, built and sustained.

Through the experience of Enterprise Europe Network advisers working with companies from La Réunion, this article explores five daily realities of growing across borders from an island region, and what other SMEs can learn from them.

Once the beating heart of European towns and cities, covered markets have long been more than just venues to shop. They’re spaces of daily life where locals meet, stories are exchanged, and traditions are quietly passed on.