FU-TOURISM – An Ecosystem for the Green and Smart Transition of Tourism
The FU-TOURISM project supports the green and digital transformation of SMEs in tourism through financial support, education and mentoring in six European countries. Worth €4.18 million, the project contributes to sustainable development and innovation in line with the European Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Wise transformation of tourism for a sustainable and digital future
Tourism is one of the world’s largest, most widespread, and most attractive industries, accounting for 10% of global GDP and touching nearly the entire planet and all sectors. Tourism has the potential to connect and integrate even the most remote territories, diverse industries, people, and cultures while creating significant positive and negative impacts on all of them and vice versa. Therefore, the wise transformation of tourism is of immense global importance and holds great potential for contributing to the overall wise transformation of society and the economy.
This is precisely why we designed and launched the project “FU-TOURISM—A Future-Ready Ecosystem Supporting the Transition of SMEs Toward Green and Digital Resilience.”
This project represents a groundbreaking initiative to establish a support system for the green and digital transformation of SMEs in tourism and related activities. The project provides financial support, education, and mentorship for 102 SME projects in the tourism sector and related fields by creating a pilot network of entrepreneurship and innovation support organisations in six European countries. Through financial support alone, nearly €2.5 million has been secured for innovative SME projects, to be distributed through two calls for project proposals.
Project Objectives
Project Objectives:
- Providing financial and expert support to SMEs to enhance resilience, competitiveness, sustainability, innovation, and digitalisation by applying principles of the regenerative economy and technologies to benefit people, communities, and nature and developing new business models.
- Strategic capacity building and developing strategies for at least two pilot destinations (Valencia and Poreč-Parenzo), demonstrating best practices at the destination level and supporting innovative SME initiatives.
- Developing a sustainable support system through a platform and network of innovation labs and clusters fosters increased collaboration between SMEs and other stakeholders while encouraging investments in sustainable, intelligent, innovative solutions, processes, products, and services.
The project aims to create strategic partnerships that foster green, digital, social, and economic innovation in products, services, processes, and business models. This ecosystem seeks to activate local and global business opportunities, paving the way for an exciting future and a wise transition in tourism and related sectors.
Related sectors include the experience industry, sustainable and smart mobility, food and beverage production, souvenir and local product manufacturing, sports, recreation and health, and cultural and creative industries. It also encompasses opportunities from new technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, the Internet of Things, big data, and more.
The future of tourism envisioned by this project aligns with the vision of a wisdom economy and society. Tourism of the future not only sustainably manages and protects but also systematically restores and wisely utilises destinations’ natural, cultural, spatial, social, and economic resources.
Project Partners
FU-TOURISM Project Consortium includes:
- Eupolis Group d.o.o. – Project initiator and lead partner (Croatia)
- CEDRA Split d.o.o. – Entrepreneurial support institution, associated partner (Croatia)
- City of Poreč-Parenzo – Pilot destination, partner (Croatia)
- City of Valencia – Pilot destination, partner (Spain)
- Las Naves, Center for Social and Urban Innovation, a public institution under the Delegation for Innovation and Knowledge Management of the City of Valencia, associated partner (Spain)
- Finnova Foundation – Entrepreneurial support organisation, partner (Belgium)
- Envolve Entrepreneurship – Entrepreneurial support institution, partner (Greece)
- SYNYO GmbH – Research and development and technology agency, partner (Austria)
- Vestbee – Leading platform for connecting startups, support institutions, and investors, partner (Poland)
- Open Impact – a startup spin-off of the University of Milano-Bicocca that provides services and develops digital products for measuring, valorizing and managing impacts in the context of integrated sustainability – partner (Italy).
The project partnership spans seven European countries, with pilot SME support programs and partner initiatives being implemented in six countries: Austria, Belgium, Greece, Croatia, Poland, and Spain.
Pilot Destinations of the FU-TOURISM Project: The City of Poreč in Croatia and Valencia in Spain
Project Value
The project’s total value is €4,182,065.13, of which €3,999,998.98 is financed through the Single Market Programme (SMP) under the call SMP-COSME-2022-TOURSME-01. The project contributes to the goals of the European Green Deal and the Digital Single Market, as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
You can find more information about the project on the project website .
See our other projects too:
EuPolis Split was our first major investment project in spatial development and public-private partnership. It represented the first experiment in integrated urban development based on the principles of wise spaces.
In the late 1990s, following the end of the Croatian War of Independence, the city of Split became a “case city” within Croatia and broader European contexts due to the high rate of hard drug abuse among its youngest population. Experts, politicians, parents, educators, media, and the public were deeply concerned.
After its renovation and opening in 2014, the fortress became a prestigious stage for cultural events and an example of successful regeneration of cultural heritage with the use of EU funds.