The South Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency Nonprofit Ltd. participates as a partner in the FIRECE CE1131 INTERREG CENTRAL EUROPE project. The main objective of the project is to increase regional capacities to manage energy plans, in particular local resources, which will help the industrial sector, including SMEs, to invest in renewable energy sources.

The project consists of two technical work packages. WPT1 focuses on supporting the governance of regional energy strategies and the development of the FIERCE Action Plan, while WPT2 aims to develop innovative financial instruments, test and transfer activities. The last more than six months have focused on the implementation of pilot projects in the WPT2 work package. The aim of the first pilot project is to develop innovative financial instruments involving a total of six project partners representing Germany, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The Hungarian innovative financial instrument was developed by the Ex Ante Consulting Ltd. The second pilot project will be implemented with the participation of five partners, with the aim of monitoring the completed or current energy efficiency investments of 8 SMEs per partner, and, as an optional activity, supporting SMEs in writing new projects.

DDRIÜ Nonprofit Ltd. organized an online workshop on 9th July 2020 to present the results of the project and the introduce the innovative financial instrument. At the meeting the employees of the Ministry of Finance and representatives of SMEs operating at local and regional level were attending.

The video, presenting the Hungarian innovative financial instrument is available at the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkAXE3BsEno&feature=youtu.be

At our organization’s next workshop, scheduled for August, participants will learn about additional innovative financial instruments developed under the first pilot project and their evaluation.

The FIRECE project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and Hungary.