2nd CAN SME Project meeting: How to adress and motivate SMEs? New CAN partnership discussed adjusted approaches and (digital) activation tools.
Originally planned in Liège, Belgium, the second project meeting of CAN SME took finally place online on 24-25 November 2021 (because of Covid-19 pandemic health situation). 18 representatives from cities, city networks and energy agencies from Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands met to discuss about the development of strategies to address and motivate SMEs to take energy saving measures.
The activation of the new target group (small and medium-sized enterprises) presents lot of challenges, especially in times of Covid-19 pandemic. That is why the transnational exchange of experiences is crucial. Each partner was able to share ideas and experiences related to their plans to reach SMEs. Paul Maassen also presented the approach of the city of Arnhem triggering enterprises to take sustainable measures to the CAN partnership.
The identification of “early-birds”-enterprises, the cooperation with multiplicators such as business parks or associations as well as face-to-face communication are some of the strategies that should help municipalities and agencies to reach SMEs.