
On the 7 June, 2022, I4MS held their next Regional Workshop in Sofia, on the topic of “Scale UP 2022: Opportunities for SMEs”.
The ‘SCALE UP 2022’ event brought together companies, technology providers, manufacturers, business support organisations and organisations managing funding for innovations from a large number of European countries.
It was a unique opportunity to get information about available funding in the period 2022-2023 for digital transformation, support programmes for internationalisation, market trends, and to generate new business contacts.
The topics covered included:
- Digital transformation for manufacturing
- I4MS Cascade funding opportunities
- Best practice sharing
- Cluster Networks in favor of SMEs
- Third countries market opportunities
- Trainings and study visits
- Exchange of experience
- Showcasing of projects and products
The event was organised by ICT Cluster Bulgaria, Cluster for Digital Transformation and Innovation, DigiTech 4.0 and I4MS, and supported by the European Commission within the projects: DIH -World, C2Future, Bridge, EXCITE, and Better Factory.

Better Factory presented our project, covering our aims, objectives, challenges, milestones, and current KTE teams.
In particular, one of our beneficiaries, Europack Bulgaria, a manufacturing SME taking part in the experiment FOLD, took to the stage to explain how Better Factory has benefited their manufacturing SME.

The next Open Call was also discussed, offering attendees an in-depth explanation of how to apply, and the chance to ask questions 1:1 after the presentation.