BOWI Corridor
Facilitating SME access to advanced digital technologies
Regional Impact
The project targets three transition regions: Western Macedonia (Greece), Centru (Romania), and Southeastern Bulgaria. These areas face the dual challenge of economic restructuring and fossil fuel phase-out.
COALition strengthens local ecosystems, builds capacity, and helps secure funding, laying the foundation for sustainable growth and job creation in emerging sectors like renewables, hydrogen, and energy efficiency.
Market Context
Coal regions across Europe are under pressure to phase out fossil fuels while preserving economic stability.
Despite their challenges, they also present major opportunities — with estimates of up to 314,000 jobs created through clean energy investments by 2030.
EU policies like the Green Deal, Just Transition Fund, and Hydrogen Strategy support this shift, yet local coordination, strategic planning, and skills development remain key barriers.
Beneficiary
Primary beneficiaries include workers in coal-related industries, regional and local authorities, innovation ecosystem stakeholders, academic institutions, and SMEs in the energy and tech sectors.
Broader beneficiaries include residents of transition regions, future investors, and the extended EU innovation community focused on clean energy and climate neutrality.
Stakeholder Network
COALition is implemented by a diverse consortium of partners from Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria, including public institutions, universities, regional agencies, private companies, and NGOs.
Key members include CERTH (leader), Iceberg Plus, UMFST Târgu Mureș, Sofia University, Mureș County Council, Stara Zagora REDA, and many more.
BOWI Corridor explores how regional digital innovation hubs (DIHs) can collaborate to accelerate the adoption of advanced technologies across European industry.
It brings together four deep tech solutions—ranging from AI to AR and computer vision—and tests them through real-world pilot projects with SMEs.
The corridor framework enables knowledge transfer, tech deployment, and long-term innovation capacity building between more and less digitally mature regions.
Regional Impact
By connecting Romanian DIHs and SMEs with innovation leaders from digitally advanced regions, BOWI Corridor unlocks new opportunities for regional development.
The project has strengthened the innovation ecosystem in cities like Brașov, Miercurea Ciuc, and Cluj by enabling the hands-on application of AI, robotics, and predictive analytics in manufacturing environments. This regional collaboration model supports resilience and smarter growth through practical innovation.
Market Context
European SMEs in manufacturing face persistent challenges in accessing and adopting deep tech—due to high integration costs, lack of expertise, and fragmented innovation support.
BOWI Corridor addresses these gaps by enabling scalable, validated technology pilots within real operational settings. The initiative directly supports EU strategic goals for Industry 4.0 and the Digital Europe Programme by bridging regional disparities in tech readiness.
Beneficiary
- Manufacturing SMEs in Romania, especially in the central and north-western regions
- Regional innovation hubs looking to grow their technical and support capacities
- Tech developers aiming to validate and scale solutions in real-world environments
- Local governments and institutions interested in fostering smart regional development
Stakeholder Network
- Iceberg+ (Romania) – Regional DIH and national innovation catalyst; coordinated all Romanian pilot activities, facilitated SME onboarding and ensured knowledge transfer between stakeholders
- TNO (Netherlands) – Expert DIH from a digitally mature region; knowledge partner and mentor for regional capacity building
Solution Providers:
- ARBIRA – AR for robotic simulation
- MIDEMPLAN – AI-based demand forecasting
- VIA – Computer vision for quality assurance
- EYESENSE – Attention tracking Chrome extension
Results
(Short Timeline)
Initial phase
Identified and matched promising tech solutions with regional SME needs
Deployment phase
Ran 4 innovation pilots in operational manufacturing environments
Analysis & transfer
Synthesized key learnings and shared methodologies across the BOWI network
Scale-up potential
Solutions and corridor model are now ready for replication across other EU regions
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