MobiliseSME brings EU funding to Agribusiness
Paolo Sospiro is the director of a Belgian organisation that supports SMEs in the search for projects and tenders at European level, and Mauro Picardo is the representative of a pomegranate cooperative in Italy. These two professionals have been collaborating through the MobiliseSME programme since April 2021.
In March this year, Paolo registered his association EUAbout in the programme managed by the Chamber. He was looking forward to sharing his experience and expertise in European tenders and projects with other SMEs and to expand his network of contacts in the agribusiness sector at European level.
In the framework of the MobiliseSME programme, he decided to join forces with Mauro Picardo, head of Melograno Vita, a pomegranate cooperative in the Marche region that uses innovative technologies to harvest, process and produce pomegranate in the most environmentally friendly way.
At the beginning of their exchange, Melograno Vita was interested in developing a methodology for collecting data from the cooperative’s members and finding out how to enter EU projects.
Thanks to the collaboration with Sospiro, they have successfully submitted two calls for proposals at European level and one at national level, as well as partnering with the Polytechnic University of Marche to work on bio-packaging. As a result, Melograno Vita, the Polytechnic University of Marche and SIPREM decided to become the shareholders of the new spin-off of the cooperative, Melograno biotech, a start-up dedicated to R&D activities for the production and transformation of pomegranate.
In addition, they have met with regional authorities and companies in the value chain to prepare for new regional agricultural calls for proposals.
On the other hand, to meet the EuAbout objective of expanding its professional network in Agribusiness, Melograno Vita has shared its Italian contacts in the sector while supporting Paolo to improve his knowledge on the specific systems of organic circular economic production of pomegranate.
Paolo Sospiro and Mauro Picardo are great examples of a successful collaboration focused on innovation and the development of new products and services.
Click here to find out more about the MobiliseSME programme.
Contact us to register in the programme by sending an email to mobilisesme@e-camara.com
