AGENEX participated last week in an international seminar organized in Velenje (Slovenia), in the framework of the COMMIT project, on strategies and policies to support the transition of small and medium-sized enterprises to a low-carbon economy.

The aim of the meeting, attended by representatives of the project partners and policy makers, is to share and discuss the design of strategies to support the decarbonization of SMEs, as well as to present the work carried out during the first half of the project.

The event took place over two days, on September 17 and 18, during which AGENEX presented the Consolida Pyme aid line, launched by the Regional Government of Extremadura to facilitate the transition to a green and circular economy for companies and the self-employed.

The first day featured the intervention of Elena Kostadinova, representative of the EU Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (REGIO), who explained the European approach to support policies for SMEs and industry, as well as the different areas in which to work at regional level to support their development, from training, capacity building, innovation and financing. All with a common goal of job creation, talent retention and economic growth.

In addition, some local initiatives that are being developed in the Slovenian region of Savinja-Šalek, where the meeting is taking place, were presented to encourage the green transition of its business ecosystem, traditionally associated with mining and coal.

On the other hand, the various partners gave examples of regional best practices that have been developed in recent years.

The seminar ended on Wednesday with more working meetings, where the conclusions of the meeting were presented.

COMMIT PROJECT

AGENEX participates in this project together with eleven other partners from Slovenia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Bulgaria, Norway, Greece and Serbia.

The COMMIT project (COMMIT - Low-Carbon SME Development and Transition | Interreg Europe - Sharing solutions for better policy), which belongs to the Interreg Europe program, started last April and will run until June 2028 with an overall budget of 2.4 million euros. Its main objective is to help local and regional authorities develop an ecosystem of support for SMEs to advance the industrial transition.