The project unites three clusters: Estonian ICT Cluster as coordinator (legal entity: Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications; representing a Strong Innovator region and bridging the project with three large European networks, the European Digital SME Alliance, DIGITALEUROPE and ITS Nationals), MOBINOV automotive cluster from Portugal (representing a Moderate Innovator region and leveraging outreach of the project to other EU mobility and automotive clusters via the European Automotive Cluster Network) and Georgian ICT Cluster (representing a Modest Innovator region and linking the project with the Georgian Digital Transformation Consortium and other national innovation actors). The consortium also includes Baltic Innovation Agency (Estonia), an experienced innovation management company and representative of Enterprise Europe Network in the project. Together the partners will act as a driving force to build strategic collaboration between their ecosystems and encourage the involvement of more diverse innovation stakeholders (with a specific focus on stronger involvement of woman entrepreneurs) as well as building contacts with innovation ecosystems from other countries. The main aim of INFIMO is to foster the development of interconnected and inclusive innovation ecosystems via a strategic collaboration between clusters and a variety of innovation actors, focused on using ICT for digital and twin transition in various economic sectors aligned with the industry 5.0 (and emerging industry 6.0) framework. Related to this, INFIMO develops and validates two collaboration models: (1) a generic model supporting digitalisation and sustainability in a variety of economic sectors; (2) An advanced model facilitating the twin transition and higher competitiveness in the mobility sector based on joint RD&I pilots as well as an open innovation competition. Both models can be used to in a wide range of European innovation ecosystems in the future.

The ELOBIO project (EIC Pathfinder Challenge, 2023-2026) aims at advancing biomass electrolysis as a novel technological mean of green H2 production. ELOBIO will demonstrate that electrocatalytic oxidation of biomass-derived molecules offers the possibility to simultaneously reduce the energy cost and improve the chemical value of H2 production compared to the current water splitting technology. ELOBIO targets the development of low-temperature functional electrolysers capable of a large-scale production of H2 and value-added decarbonized chemicals, originating from the cellulosic biomass renewable exploitation. The project will design, build-up, test and improve a labscale prototype electrolysis cell at TRL4 involving a selective electrocatalytic cathode for the hydrogen evolution reaction and an electrocatalytic anode capable of selectively oxidizing biomass-derived compounds. Aldose-type sugars and furanic compounds were selected as model biomass for the validation of the concept. These molecules will be selectively converted to value-added chemicals. Furthermore, several emerging technologies rely on electrolysis assisted with an additional renewable source of energy (ultrasound, magnetic field) or coupled with the concept of electrochemical promotion of catalysis will be explored to further enhance the energy efficiency of ELOBIO electrolysers. The additional partner, the Baltic Innovation Agency (BIA), an Estonian SME, will help ELOBIO to strengthen the exploitation plan, long-term strategies and visibility of innovative ELOBIO electrolysers trough stakeholders mapping, value chain and market analysis and communication activities. In addition, BIA will promote the participation of stakeholders from Estonia and other Baltic states and will take part in the exploitation activities of the green hydrogen portfolio via the Buildit Accelerator, a Latvian based accelerator.

BalticSeaH2 will establish the first, largescale interregional hydrogen valley in Europe. BalticSeaH2 will build a main cross-border Hydrogen Valley between Finland and Estonia and connects it with local valleys in different countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. The ultimate goal is to develop an international hydrogen economy and markets that work optimally both from the technical, economic and environmental perspectives across country borders in the Northern Europe, more specifically around the Baltic Sea. The project will develop, scale and demonstrate hydrogen use in production, storage and distribution, and in Use Cases in different sectors from industry, mobility and energy. The learnings from the cross-border build-up of a hydrogen economy will be shared with specifically identified Connected Valleys and replicated across borders between them, but furthermore, shared to boost replication and initiate new hydrogen valleys across Europe. The cross border Main Valley is to be located in the region of Southern Finland – Estonia. These regions are already connected with a natural gas pipeline, transmission cable and maritime operations and the Transmission System Operators (TSO) in both countries collaborate actively in the further development of the cross border infrastructures. The cross border nature of the Main Valley makes is possible to develop cross border markets and businesses for green hydrogen production, transport and use from the start, including also development of cross border neighbouring pricing zones for renewable electricity to reach optimized system, market and business designs for an efficient hydrogen economy.

Social entrepreneurship is still developing in the Baltic States. There are low numbers of social enterprises (SEs), and most of them lack profit-generating business models. Moreover, social entrepreneurs lack connections with the overall innovation ecosystem. The goal of the Integrated Baltic Ecosystem for Social Innovation project (IBESI) is to ease the access of Baltic States’ social entrepreneurs to the resources of innovation ecosystems. Two objectives will help to achieve this goal. First, the project aims to strengthen the social economy of the Baltic States by integrating social innovation actors with existing entrepreneurship ecosystems. Second, it aims to increase the number of the region’s social economy actors having strong entrepreneurial skills. The project also intends to encourage the transfer of knowledge and interlinking between a more mature social innovation market - the Nordics - and Baltic States as well as between social innovation actors within the region. The activities of the IBESI project target key challenges preventing the development of the social economy in the region. Social innovation training for hubs will improve entrepreneurs’ knowledge about social innovation and their motivation to contribute to this sector. Hackathons aim to decrease the lack of SEs in the region, while accelerators that partly rely on the knowledge transfer between social entrepreneurs and experts from other sectors will ensure that social entrepreneurs have the competencies necessary to develop successful SEs. The mapping of the social finance ecosystems in the region and crowdfunding pilots will improve SEs confidence to apply various financial strategies, while Nordic/Baltic workshops for investors will encourage impact investments. The reports, study visits and workshops for policymakers intend to scale successful innovation models from the Nordic to the Baltic countries.