Related & Complementary Initiatives

In this section we provide links to other EU wide policy initiatives complementary to the Digital Innovation Hubs where synergies between stakeholders and local ecosystems are encouraged.

Related & Complementary Initiatives

  • Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) is the world’s largest support network for SMEs helping them innovate and grow internationally. SMEs can benefit from the tailored services provided ranging from access to finance to support for internationalisation. Clusters that are part of EEN consortia will be the basis upon which many European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) will be further developed.
  • Targeting EU's SMEs, the SME Strategy is in force since early 2020 with the aim to enhance capacity-building and support the transition to sustainability and digitalisation.
  • Startup Europe is an initiative of the European Commission that strengthens networking opportunities for deep tech scaleups and ecosystem builders to accelerate the growth of the European startup scene.
  • DIHNET.EU is an EU-funded project that enables the coordination of European, national and regional initiates directly supporting the digital transformation and Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH). The project aims to create a sustainable pan-European network of networks, with a focus on regional DIHs.
  • The European Clusters Policy portal provides tools and information on European initiatives, actions and events for clusters and their SMEs to create more world-class clusters across the EU. The European Clusters Excellence initiative is a capacity-building programme in force since 2014 that ensures the high quality of services offered to SMEs supporting their growth and digital transformation. 
  • EU’s Industrial Strategy was launched in 2020 ensuring the transition towards climate neutrality and digital leadership. Specifically targeting SMEs, the strategy aims to support them in doing business across the single market and beyond, accessing financing and helping lead the way on the digital and green transitions. The new Industrial Strategy is framed around 14 different ecosystems which represent around 90% of the business value added in EU. EU’s Industrial Strategy was updated in May 2021 to ensure that its industrial ambition takes full account of the new circumstances following the COVID-19 crisis and helps to drive the transformation to a more sustainable, digital, resilient and globally competitive economy.”