Facilitated access to open innovation testing facilities for SMEs in the construction sector (METABUILDING LABS)

The UN Climate Change Conference in Paris 2015 set the ambitious goal of nearly energy- and emission-free buildings. METABUILDING LABS aims to take a great leap towards reaching this this goal by unlocking the innovation potential of SMEs in the construction sector.

The five-year project builds on the partner project METABUILDING, which is based on the concept of metaclustering: By linking already existing clusters in the construction sector and related sectors, the outreach to numerous SMEs throughout Europe shall be enhanced significantly. The central tool is a  digital platform that acts as a central access point to innovation opportunities. Building on this, METABUILDING LABS develops services around Open Innovation Testbeds (OITB) so that new and innovative solutions for building envelopes can be developed and tested.

The aim is to lower the entry barriers for testing innovative solutions in a network of test facilities for SMEs. For this purpose, test facilities from all 13 participating countries are involved, which are utilized in a pilot phase by participating SMEs within the framework of the project. The direct feedback from the end users gained this way is incorporated into the target group-oriented design of the services.

A consortium of 40 partners from 13 EU countries is involved in the implementation. A considerable number of up to 30,000 SMEs are to be reached via 180 existing clusters.  

In the project, Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum supports the communication and dissemination of the project results. In particular, networking and communication with SMEs in the construction sector as the most important stakeholder group is an essential task.

Further information:

• Funding: European Commission, Horizon 2020 (No. 953193)
• Funding budget for all partners: around EUR 15 million.
• Participating countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom
• Project duration: 01/2021 - 02/2026