Futures By Design (Copy)

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Futures by Design (FBD) aims to enable less prosperous SMEs, in regions of lower economic success, to innovate, grow or increase productivity. Such SMEs are often critical to regional economies but their capacity for success can be limited by insufficient access to data and the inability to analyse data to drive innovation and improved results. The six project regions are: Cambridgeshire (UK), Antwerp (B), Groningen (NL), Osterholz (DE), Halland (SE), Fryslan (NL). Each has a sub-region of lower economic success. Health technology, light engineering and agri-technology are the new common industry sectors within the regions, all a with clear SME demand for supporting growth through better data - about finance, legal changes and markets; how to respond to technology, data-analytics and disruptive change. We will work with 50+ SMEs in each partner region, sharing knowledge, ideas and regional experiences to support SMEs to become more data-driven and better informed about the economic, technological, policy and supply chain changes that will shape their futures. We will create a virtual transnational horizon-scanning and knowledge transfer (HSKT) hub connecting 6 real hubs in each region to support sustainable SME growth, innovation and productivity. Amongst our target 300+ SMEs we expect to enable 150 to grow, innovate, increase productivity and 150 (many the same SMEs, but not all) to make a major step to being better equipped for the digital age, and for future success. Information added on 2020-05-18, regarding the mitigation of the effects of COVID-19 (the coronavirus pandemic that started in 2019) (English language only): FBD is developing resources to help SMEs who are looking for ways to use data and data tools to drive innovation that will help them out of the current crisis. They will provide tools, guidance, a series of webinars and online support from mid- June 2020.

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