SUCReD –
Scaling Up R&D Commercialization
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.
SUCReD addresses the critical gap between academic research and industry by creating a standardized, self-paced digital course available in multiple languages.
The project strengthens the link between universities and SMEs by fostering a shared understanding of commercialization and knowledge transfer.
As one of the project’s key innovation hubs, Iceberg+ plays a central role in localizing the content, engaging ecosystem actors, and facilitating technology transfer between academia and business.
Regional Impact
The project empowers both universities and SMEs across Romania, Poland, and Greece.
In Romania, Iceberg+ helps connect UMFST and other local institutions with real business needs, promoting skill-building in commercialization and fostering stronger university-industry cooperation at the regional level.
Market Context
Romania, Poland, and Greece continue to rank low in the European Innovation Scoreboard due to limited commercialization capabilities.
SUCReD helps close this gap by equipping students, researchers, and SMEs with practical knowledge and tools. Iceberg+ ensures that these tools are effectively transferred to local ecosystems and that the curriculum aligns with market realities.
Beneficiary
- Primary: University students and researchers seeking skills in R&D commercialization.
- Secondary: SMEs, innovation hubs, technology transfer offices, and external actors such as accelerators and IP consultants.
Stakeholder Network
Partners include Cracow University of Technology (CUT), University of Ioannina (UoI), UMFST (RO), ICEBERG PLUS SRL, KiNNO, and CreateHub.
Iceberg+ also supports outreach to external advisory bodies such as STARS EU and tech transfer networks.
Results
(Short Timeline Yearly)
Year 1
Curriculum and digital platform development
Initial training of trainers and pilot testing with students
Year 2
Full course deployment to universities and SMEs
Expansion to external innovation organizations
Sustainability via local-language 'train-the-trainer' programs
OUT
SMART THE MARKET
THINK THE STRATEGY
DO THE STATUS QUO
SMART THE MARKET
For startups, SMEs, academia, authorities.
For Bold ones.