Grande Région: What’s in for you? Your next partners on your doorsteps!
Looking for business opportunities abroad but afraid of the costs related to partnerships set too far away? The EEN - Enterprise Europe Network’s “Grande Région” is the right solution to find new partners on your doorsteps!
The Enterprise Europe Network brings together 600 business support organisations from 53 countries, closely working together to help small companies make the most of the business opportunities in the European Union and beyond.
Within this large network, some organisations work even more closely together for the benefit of their clients thanks to their geographical proximity. They are the EEN members active in the “Grande Région” which brings together Brussels, Wallonia, Flanders, Rhône-Alpes, Champagne-Ardennes, German Switzerland, Rhénanie-Palatinate, Luxembourg, Alsace, Lorraine, Burgundy, Franche-Comté and Saarland
These EEN advisors meet twice a year to exchange good practices, set up and fine-tune common matchmaking events such as “Pollutec”, “Micronora”, “Business Meets Research”, “Greater Region Business Days”, etc. But on a daily basis they are very active to detect and create business and collaboration opportunities for their clients, all business or economic sectors included.
What does it mean into the practice?
It means that – further to the specific development or internationalisation strategy/need shared by a given company to a its local EEN advisor – this latter asks for customised support from his/her Grande Région colleagues to identify potential partners in their respective areas. This is usually done by describing - in an anonymous way - the company’s activity and expertise, the kind of cooperation offered and/or requested, the specific characteristics /main advantages of the product/service/solution offered or requested.
What’s in Grande Région for me?
Here are some practical examples, among others, Enterprise Europe Brussels’ advisors @ ABE are working on, right now:
-
The “Melt Static Crystallisation (MSC) processes for the high purification of products” developed by a company based in Alsace generated the request of a Brussels-based company for direct contact in order to evaluate potential collaboration.
-
“A new regenerable polymeric filter aid for beer filtration (applicable also to wine, cider and juice filtration)” jointly set up by a Brussels-based research institute and the Unit of High Polymers of a Brussels-based university caught the attention of a brewery in Rheinland-Pfalz in SW-Germany
-
The “GPU cloud computing (gaming) hosting solutions for remote implementation of interactive 3D real time visualization software” proposed by a Brussels-based company are considered as interesting solutions by some companies in Trier
-
A “Brussels-based company active in the valorisation of European craftsmanship and which developed the first database coupled to a multi-languages portal gathering together European traditional art crafts, handmade products and talents “ is now in the process of receiving active support to gain visibility within the Grande Région
Behind these examples there are Brussels-based companies which bet on the geographic proximity offered by EEN Grande Région to expand their business beyond the Belgian frontiers, find new partners, penetrate new markets with a low investment of time, money and resources to dedicate since distances may be covered in a round-trip day.
Interested in learning more and understand how your business as well could benefit from Grande Région? Do not hesitate to ask for a meeting with Barbara Andreani