Green-in-Med: cross-border eco-innovation

Promoting sustainable innovation in tourist accommodation in the Mediterranean

Project partner GREENinMED, financed by the European ENI CBC MED programme, Capenergies is helping tourist accommodations to be more efficient in their water and energy consumption. Through this action, Capenergies also wants to contribute to the new impetus given to the tourism sector in the Southern Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur and Corsica regions in the wake of the health crisis.

This European programme supports cooperation projects between Mediterranean countries to promote SME development, technology transfer, innovation, environmental sustainability, social inclusion and the fight against poverty. The GREENinMED project has a budget of €1.58m, of which the EU is co-financing 90% (€1.42m in aid). It is led by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce and Industry and includes the following 4 other Mediterranean partners:

• Capenergies for its technological expertise and its network of companies offering innovative energy solutions;
• The Israeli research centres Kinneret College and the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ;
• The Israeli Water Association.

To achieve its objectives, GREENinMED is setting up various support mechanisms aimed at tourist accommodation (hotels, campsites, resorts, etc.) and SMEs offering innovative solutions for such accommodation:

• Create a cross-border eco-innovation desk, based on a network of experts from the 3 partner countries which identifies and analyses the most relevant existing energy and water saving solutions for tourist accommodation managers and adapts them to their actual needs;
• Offering advice to SMEs through 30 innovation vouchersto encourage the adoption of their innovative energy solutions in a tourist structure based in one of the eligible areas.[1] ;
• Provide financial support for the rapid introduction or deployment of new solutions through 8 grants of up to €50k[2]. The aim is to finance validation and development tests or the actual application of the system on a pre-identified site.
• Provide pitching and fundraising training for start-ups and expanding companies in the field of eco-innovation in water and energy management.

The GREENinMED project plans to support around 150 Mediterranean SMEs.