Overview of the project

ESECA is a partnership formed by five clusters from Spain, Germany, Italy and France and funded by the European Commission. Together, our networks bring together around 550 organisations and almost 290 SMEs. ESECA specifically aims to support the internationalisation of European SMEs in the renewable energy and smart grid sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Five target markets have already been pre-identified to promote collaboration between European and African SMEs:

1. Senegal,
2. Ghana
3. Kenya,
4. Tanzania and
5. Rwanda.

In particular, the project aims to:

1. Intensify collaborations between European SMEs…
   – Promote cooperation and the creation of trans-regional partnerships between clusters and SMEs
   – Help SMEs to identify business and internationalisation opportunities
   – Position SMEs in trans-European consortia
2. … Renewable energy and smart grids sectors… Targeted technologies:
   – Distributed energy resources
   – Smart grids
   – Solar and wind energy and other renewable energy sources
   – Energy storage solutions
   – Innovative monitoring and digitalisation
3. …To develop a common internationalisation strategy
   – Identify and analyse potential target markets
   – Develop specific market reports
   – Define a strategic internationalisation plan
   – Organise missions to target countries
   – Sign cooperation agreements with intermediary structures in Africa.