Enhancing the Competitiveness and Sustainable Growth in the Agrofood Sector through the promotion of Circular Economy

Acronym	AGROFFICIENCY
Project Number – MIS	5070657
Priority axis	1 - A Competitive and Innovative Cross-Border Area
Investment priorities	3a - Promoting entrepreneurship, in particular by facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas and fostering the creation of new firms, including through business incubators
Intervention fields	066. Advanced support services for SMEs and groups of SMEs (including management, marketing and design services)
Call	6th CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS
Lead Beneficiary	Chamber of Small & Medium Sized Industries of Thessaloniki
Beneficiaries	GREEK ASSOCIATION OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry Blagoevgrad RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES CLUSTER SMALL ENTERPRISES INSTITUTE - HELLENIC CONFEDERATION OF PROFESSIONALS, CRAFTSMEN AND MERCHANTS
Start Date	Apr 13, 2021
End Date	Apr 12, 2023
Budget	570.041,85 €
ERDF Contribution	484.535,57 €
National Contribution	85.506,28 €
Website	https://agrofficiency.eu/

AGROFFICIENCY’s Overall Objective is to enhance support offered to established and newly established SMEs of the CB agrofood sector, by creating a One-Stop-Shop business support center (BSC) that will work in an incubator-like model for the newly established and potential SMEs. BSC is going to provide the necessary training, mentoring, one-to-one consulting and networking during the project's implementation, giving the means and opportunity to local agri-food SMEs to develop their business tools, generate new ideas, and equip them with all the necessary know-how, properly manage, communicate and plan their operations, while creating a competitive advantage that will make them more enticing to investors. Moreover, the BSC will educate them on cost efficiency strategies and methodologies and promote the integration of Circular Economy and Contemporary Logistics in their operations. The BSC intends to follow a cooperation based approach by acting as a bridge between the 2 countries and promoting innovation in the agrifood sector and its wider value chain, by promoting the value of information exchange and stimulate collaboration and synergies between the end-users of the 2 countries.

The main project outputs are Training Sessions and Workshops, Targeted consulting of SMEs about existing Green Labeling Schemes (GLS) and Circular Economy (CE) best practices, an E-Support Platform and Hybrid Networking & innovation forums for Agrofood Sector Stakeholder. Its innovative character lies in the fact that it aims to offer a holistic set of services that will be complementary and offer a cohesive end result, which is the direct support of newly established SMEs. Its focus on businesses operating in the agri-food chain and its wider ecosystem contributes to its innovative side. Last but not least, the holistic character of the whole venture will create added value to the CB sectors of Agri-food, RES and Logistics.