On 18 February 2026, one day before the official completion of the GREET CE project, the partnership gathered in Brussels for the GREET CE Final Conference – “Strategy to Scale: Interregional Innovation Investments for a Resilient Europe.”
The hybrid event took place at the prestigious University Foundation (Fondation Universitaire), Rue d’Egmont 11, bringing together nearly 100 participants onsite and additional stakeholders online from across Europe. The historic wood-panelled meeting hall — a venue that hosted Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientific minds in human history, during his visits to Brussels in the 1920s — provided a symbolic setting for reflecting on Europe’s long tradition of knowledge, innovation and cooperation.
27 months of interregional cooperation and innovation
After 27 months (Nov 2023 – Feb 2026), GREET CE successfully demonstrated how interregional ecosystems, SMEs and innovation actors can collaborate to advance the green transition across Central Europe.
The conference highlighted results from GREET CE 4 pilots and investment pathways.
Strong EU policy and innovation dialogue
High-level speakers from EU institutions and European networks addressed the role of interregional cooperation and investment instruments, including:
Maja Ferlinc (EISMEA) — Supporting circular supply chains with I3
Davila Diaz (DG AGRI) — Sustainable agriculture and resilience
Daniel Ács (BEC) — Bio-based value chains
Mickael Bianchin (FEDARENE) — EU policy perspectives
They were joined by regional agencies and cluster representatives including KSSENA, CCIS, EIHP, EGEC, DELFY and others.
SMEs and pilots driving real innovation
The programme featured several SMEs and innovation actors involved in GREET CE pilots and value chains, including:
MYCOPOR / Rutena (SI) – mycelium-based composites
CELIQUM (RO) – cellulose insulation
SADDAR (PL) – recycled plastic anchoring systems
Indeloop (HR) – circular composite recycling
Biograda (SK) – bio-waste valorisation
VoltVert (RO) – renewable energy communities
Sewergy (HU) – wastewater heat recovery
NON TOX HUB (SI) – bio based building materials
These examples illustrated how GREET CE supported market-ready circular solutions across sectors from construction to energy and materials.
Supporting I3 cascade funding: DEREMCO
A dedicated session presented results of the DEREMCO I3 project, including cascade funding to SMEs. Slovenian company MYCOPOR (Rutena d.o.o.), part of the GREET CE eco-construction pilot, was among funded innovators developing mycelium-based circular composite materials.
Lasting legacy beyond the project
Although the GREET CE project formally concludes on 19 February 2026, its impact continues.
Its legacy remains preserved on the project platform: 👉 www.greetce.eu
and will live on through:
new interregional innovation partnerships
collaboration between SMEs and support organisations
investment-ready circular value chains
continued cooperation among regional intermediaries
GREET CE has demonstrated that interregional cooperation can turn green innovation into scalable business reality across Europe.
Crowdfunding and crowdlending in Poland are developing dynamically, enabling the raising of capital from the community. Crowdfunding includes various models (equity-based, reward-based, and donation-based), while crowdlending involves providing loans with an obligation to repay them with interest. As a partner of the GREET-CE project, Mazovia Energy Agency prepared a draft report, that highlights although charity-based and reward-based crowdfunding are better known and widely trusted in Poland, investment crowdfunding and crowdlending have encountered significant challenges. These difficulties are mainly the result of well-publicised failures and fraud scandals, which have significantly reduced public trust in these financing models. The report analyzes economic, legal, and social factors impacting crowdlending, including public attitudes, demographic profiles, and recent experiences with various crowdfunding models (charity, bonus, and investment). It also reviews the sector’s decline following scandals in crowdinvesting, which damaged trust. Nevertheless, new, licensed platforms such as Crowd Real Estate, Europpa, and Finansowo.pl mark a shift toward safer, more credible investment environments. Key recommendations include increasing financial education, rebuilding trust through transparent communication, and leveraging media to promote positive outcomes. Crowdlending could become a powerful tool for mobilizing capital for innovative and socially impactful ventures, particularly in bioeconomy, real estate, and green energy, if public trust and awareness are adequately nurtured. The report concludes likewise that crowdlending in Poland can develop successfully if supported by strong regulation, transparent communication, financial education and effective use of digital and social media channels. Rebuilding trust and increasing public awareness are essential for crowdlending to become a meaningful source of financing for green and innovative projects in Poland.
What is more, another report[1] analyzes polish regulations, with a focus on crowdfunding used for business and investment purposes. It describes crowdfunding as a method of raising funds online from a large number of people through dedicated platforms. Furthermore, it outlines the role of European Union law, in particular EU Regulation 2020/1503, which introduced a unified legal framework for crowdfunding services across the EU. This regulation aims to standardize rules, increase investor protection, and enable crowdfunding platforms to operate more easily across borders. The report explains also, how Poland implemented this EU regulation through a national law adopted in July 2022. This Polish law sets out the legal conditions for operating crowdfunding platforms in Poland and ensures compliance with EU requirements. It also highlights that crowdfunding platforms operating under this framework must obtain authorization and are supervised by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF). Overall, the report provides a legal overview of the crowdfunding framework in Poland and is intended for businesses, investors, and crowdfunding platform operators who want to understand the applicable regulatory requirements. On 18 November, 2025 representatives of the Mazovia Energy Agency participated in the National Eco-Energy Festival in Opole to promote crowdfunding and crowdlending opportunities in Poland. The event aimed to raise awareness of eco-energy, support knowledge exchange, and connect science, business, and investors, with a strong focus on local governments and prosumers. A key element of the festival was the good practices workshops and the participation of international experts sharing technological and financial solutions. During the event, Cezary Molski presented on the Green Transition in Central Europe, highlighting the role of crowdfunding and crowdlending within the GREET-CE project. The festival provided an excellent platform for networking, international cooperation and promoting innovative green energy solutions aligned with GREET-CE objectives.
The GREET CE – Green Transition in Central Europe project, implemented over a multi-year period from 20 November 2023 to 19 February 2026, is approaching the conclusion of its interregional cooperation activities aimed at strengthening bioeconomy-based innovation ecosystems and supporting the green and circular transition across Central and South-Eastern Europe.
To mark this important milestone, the GREET CE consortium is organising the Final Project Conference – Strategy to Scale: Regional innovation driving Europe’s green and competitive future, which will take place on Wednesday, 18 February 2026, in Brussels, with the possibility of hybrid participation (on-site and online).
The Final Conference represents not only the formal closure of the GREET CE project, but also a strategic opportunity to reflect on achieved results and to look forward. It provides a dedicated space to build upon and upgrade the bioeconomy and value chain approaches developed within the project, with a particular focus on less developed regions and their potential to actively participate in interregional and European innovation ecosystems.
By bringing together companies, innovation intermediaries, regional and national authorities, policy makers, investors and EU-level institutions, the conference aims to support the continuation, scaling and replication of GREET CE project pilots and business cases beyond the project lifetime. Special attention will be given to how bioeconomy-driven value chains can be further strengthened and connected across regions, contributing to competitiveness, resilience and sustainable growth in line with the European Green Deal, Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) and the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) Instrument.
The conference is designed as a forward-looking platform, encouraging dialogue on future cooperation, investment pathways and policy support mechanisms that can help transform project results into long-term structural impacts at regional and European level.
Event details
Date: 18 February 2026
Venue: University Foundation, Egmontstraat 11, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Format: Hybrid (on-site & online)
Travel dates for on-site participants: from 17 February 2026
Project Pilots at the core of GREET CE
The GREET CE project is structured around four Project Pilots, each designed to support the bioeconomy, the European Green Deal, and the transition towards a sustainable, circular and resilient European economy. By addressing key sectors such as construction, energy, agriculture and waste-based resource management, the pilots demonstrate how regional strengths can be transformed into scalable European value chains. At the Final Conference, we expect the active participation of at least four companies per pilot, resulting in a minimum of 16 companies from the project partner countries and/or other EU Member States.
🔹 Eco Construction pilot focuses on resource-efficient and circular construction, including sustainable building materials, circular material flows, eco-design approaches and climate-resilient construction solutions. The pilot addresses the construction sector’s role in reducing emissions, material consumption and waste while increasing innovation and competitiveness.
🔹 Regenerative Farming pilot supports sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices, bio-based value chains and soil-friendly production models. It aims to strengthen resilience in food systems, promote biodiversity and support innovative agri-business solutions aligned with the bioeconomy.
🔹 Renewable Gases pilot focuses on circular energy solutions, including biogas, biomethane, hydrogen and other renewable gas technologies. The pilot explores the integration of renewable gases into regional and interregional energy systems, contributing to decarbonisation and energy security.
🔹 Digital Energy pilot addresses digitalisation in the energy sector, including smart energy management, energy efficiency solutions and data-driven optimisation of energy systems. A key component of this pilot is the integration of innovative financing mechanisms, including crowdfunding and crowd-lending approaches, to support investment in clean energy solutions.
WP4 – Crowdfunding and innovative financing
A horizontal focus of the Final Conference will be placed on WP4 – Crowdfunding and innovative financing mechanisms, demonstrating how crowdlending and alternative finance tools can support SMEs across all four Project Pilots.
The conference will showcase practical experiences, lessons learned and business cases where crowdfunding mechanisms have been used to improve access to finance, investment readiness and market uptake of green and circular innovations.
Conference programme highlights
The Final Conference programme will include:
presentation of key GREET CE project results and impacts,
in-depth presentation of the four Project Pilots and developed value chains,
company business cases and SME pitches,
EU policy perspectives on the Green Deal, circular economy and the I3 Instrument,
business–investor dialogue sessions,
panel discussions on scaling green and circular innovations across Europe,
discussion on future cooperation and investment opportunities beyond the project lifecycle.
To support on-site participation, the GREET CE project offers a flat-rate reimbursement of up to 800 EUR (VAT excluded) per company for participation in the Final Conference.
The reimbursement is intended to cover travel, accommodation and subsistence costs for one company representative. The reimbursement process will be coordinated by the project coordinator, KSSENA, in line with the project reimbursement guidelines. Interested to attend the conference on project costs? Contact us here>>
About GREET CE
GREET CE is a European project funded under the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) Instrument, supporting green transition, circular economy and innovation-driven value chains in Central and South-Eastern Europe.
More information about the project, its pilots and activities is available at: www.greetce.eu
Further information on registration and participation will be published soon. We warmly invite companies and organisations from across Europe to join us in Brussels for the GREET CE Final Conference.
The webinar features highly innovative, proven and scalable digital solutions that facilitate the technical and business preparation and project bundling of geothermal, ambient and waste heat utilisation projects for heating and cooling purposes. It will explore relevant experience, the rationale for using these solutions, blended funding (with public money or commercial loans) and the French regulatory system promoting crowdfunding and innovative practices in using heat pumps in geothermal, ambient and waste heat utilisation.
Idrogeo has been instrumental in developing and implementing highly innovative energy projects in Italy, such as low-enthalpy geothermal utilisation (using heat pumps) in Montecattini Terme or in the historic city centre of Florence. It can prepare digital groundwater hydrogeological models, as well as seismic, geomorphological, hydraulic and hydrogeological availability surveys.
Enerfip is a leading crowdfunding European service provider focusing on sustainable energy crowdlending. Using its digital platform, democratising energy project finance it has raised over EUR 700 million financing for renewable energy projects. It has recently acquired two leading sustainable energy crowdfunding service providers. In December 2025 it acquired Dutch Duurzaaminvesteren that has raised EUR 400 million. In November 2025 it acquired French Lumo that has raised over EUR 150 million.
Sewergy can facilitate much lower cost, faster, less human resource need, less risk, within election cycle wastewater waste heat utilisation project preparation – a major untapped and profitable local source of energy in cities. Such economically viable projects can also have a role in electricity grid balancing by wastewater waste heat utilisation (large scale heat pumps used for demand response).
CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) are European associations that bring together national standardization bodies from 34 countries. They provide the institutional framework for developing European standards across a wide range of sectors — from construction, energy, materials and ICT, to smart systems and electrotechnical infrastructure — supporting innovation, reducing market fragmentation, and enabling interoperability across the Single European Market.
In the context of Europe’s green and digital transitions, standardisation is gaining increasing relevance as a strategic instrument for fostering innovation, supporting regulatory coherence, and enhancing the competitiveness of industrial ecosystems. Within the GREET CE project, which promotes cross-regional collaboration and value chain development in fields such as bio-based construction, renewable energy systems, industrial symbiosis, and innovative sustainable finance, standardisation provides a critical enabler for scalability, interoperability, and market uptake of new technologies and business models.
New Survey to Support Evidence-Based Innovation Policy
To advance a comprehensive understanding of how standardisation contributes to innovation and policy, the European Commission has launched the second edition of the European Standardisation Panel Survey. The initiative collects structured insights from stakeholders on the integration of standards into R&I activities and their role in achieving strategic goals under Framework Programme 10 (FP10) and the future European Competitiveness Fund.
Institutional Commitment to Standards in Innovation Ecosystems
CEN and CENELEC welcome this initiative and reaffirm their commitment to enhancing the role of standards within Europe’s innovation ecosystem, in line with their Strategy 2030. This ongoing commitment aligns with broader EU efforts such as the EU Industrial Symbiosis Standardisation Roadmap, developed through the RISERS project, which brings together key European stakeholders to promote industrial transformation aligned with circular and sustainable principles.
Call for Stakeholder Participation
Stakeholders from industry, research and innovation, public authorities and civil society are invited to participate in the survey and contribute to shaping the future of European standardisation policy. The results will be published in 2026 and are expected to inform the direction of future EU innovation programmes and funding instruments.
