While traditional manufacturing companies are aware that innovation is vital to addressing the environmental crisis and thus reflect it in their strategic plans, very few manage to effectively integrate it into their production processes. In this regard, since innovation in a corporate environment is quickly hampered by the complexity and duration of its implementation, it is the startups who are the most outstanding in this field, because by their size and business model they are better adapted to change and disruptive scenarios.
The SCAIRA project, co-financed by the regional development programme Interreg SUDOE 2021-2027 with 1.865.807,42 euros, has as its main objective to advise entrepreneurs in the creation and acceleration of startups in rural areas within the aerospace and automotive sector.
The initiative, which will extend until the end of 2026 and is driven by a collaborative consortium of twelve entities from France, Portugal and Spain and led by the aerospace engineering hub Aerospace Valley, will be developed by five incubators, two of them equipped with research infrastructures. Entrepreneurs will be able to apply through three calls, of which at least 45 business projects are expected to crystallize. Also, five clusters of partner regional ecosystems will identify industrial, territorial and environmental challenges.
And it is that, in recent years, it has been observed how rural areas of southern Europe have experienced an increase in depopulation and de-industrialization, with a decrease in the population of 0.1% annually. (Eurostat, 2023). The SCAIRA programme will be very beneficial for the regions involved, as it will contribute to the expansion of their productive and entrepreneurial fabric through job creation and the promotion of a culture of green entrepreneurship.
