Building Europe'sInnovation Infrastructure

Europe’s SMEs operate in one of the world’s most diverse and capable economic landscapes, yet many remain digitally underserved. Most lack access to coordinated innovation support. Regional disparities, scattered initiatives, and uneven levels of digital maturity create a fragmented system that is difficult to navigate. Even highly capable SMEs often struggle to identify the right tools, partners, or opportunities for their needs.

As a result, many organisations spend more time searching for support than receiving it or give up on becoming more productive altogether. Existing programmes tend to be short-lived, hard to compare, or narrowly specialised. Without a unified framework, valuable insights stay siloed, and the potential of millions of European businesses goes unrealised.

PromethEUs addresses these systemic challenges by proposing a cross-European foundation rather than just another platform. It is designed to strengthen local structures, connect stakeholders, and give SMEs a clear, secure pathway to discover and adopt innovation without borders.

PromethEUs proposes moving beyond fragmented, short-term innovation programmes toward a sustainable, interoperable European infrastructure, a space where SMEs, universities, startups, and public institutions collaborate within a framework rooted in European values. The goal is not to replace existing initiatives, but to connect them into a unified, long-term structure that supports growth across every region.

At the core of this vision is making help simple. SMEs explain what they need in everyday terms, and the platform points them to practical options and expertise from across Europe.

In this future, a small French manufacturing SME can describe its challenge and instantly discover a range of relevant solutions from across Europe. Perhaps one comes from a young Romanian startup whose lower operating costs allow it to offer a highly competitive, high-quality service. With trust, transparency, and interoperability built into the process, the French SME can confidently choose that partner, unlocking value for both sides and regions.

Or imagine a Dutch agri-tech startup that has built strong expertise but has remained largely confined to its national market. Through PromethEUs, they gain visibility into the needs of Polish farmers seeking digital tools to improve efficiency and build long-term partnerships. Barriers dissolve, expertise travels, and regional strengths finally meet regional needs.

This is the promise of PromethEUs: a unified digital town square where innovators can see real problems, propose solutions, and build relationships; where existing businesses can connect seamlessly across borders; and where opportunities are no longer limited by geography or information gaps.

The framework ensures that innovation support becomes as predictable and dependable as any essential public service, privacy-respecting, AI-Act-aligned, sovereignty-preserving, and ethically grounded. Most importantly, it strengthens the competitiveness and resilience of all SMEs, not just those in the most connected regions.