SMEs in the agri-food sector face various common challenges: increasing costs, technological hurdles, and climate-related issues. Furthermore, the flow of knowledge between academia and the business sector is limited, especially in the more rural areas of the SUDOE region, hindering their competitiveness and talent retention. In this context, ASCA will develop a collaborative framework among training centers, students, and SMEs, with the objective of: ? Strengthening the capacities and knowledge of sector SMEs to facilitate their smart and sustainable transition through a CHALLENGE-based approach; and ? Facilitating the practical application of acquired knowledge through a hands-on approach geared towards PROJECT development. Based on the elaboration of a Transnational Strategy, the territorial capacities will be pooled to address the common challenges of agri-food SMEs, aligned with the RIS3 strategies of the 3 territories. To achieve an effective transfer to SMEs, two complementary actions will be designed: 1) Knowledge transfer through a Challenge-based approach. ASCA will develop 2 common training programs: The first will be aimed at 170 agri-food SMEs, who will be helped to understand their challenges and potential solutions. The second will be for 280 higher education, master’s, or doctoral students, who will participate in the knowledge transfer of the subsequent phase. 2) Concretization of Challenges into Projects. The programs will be intertwined, assigning 100 qualified students to 100 SMEs that wish to concretize the selected Challenge into a Project, under the supervision of a tutor from the partner entities. ASCA represents significant innovation compared to traditional schemes, as it stems from a transnational approach in which 10 important entities from our territory will work together and facilitates direct and practical collaboration between students (STEM) and SMEs, where students will act as facilitators of companies’ smart transition, fostering talent retention in the territory and the circulation of knowledge.