The SustainX project successfully organised a series of five peer-to-peer learning sessions, coordinated by IMP³ROVE Academy, bringing together SMEs, innovation actors and consortium partners from across the project’s regions. The sessions attracted approximately 300 participants in total and created a dynamic space for practical knowledge exchange, networking and interregional collaboration.
Across the five sessions, 26 SMEs presented their innovation journeys and business cases, representing Romania, Bulgaria, the Canary Islands, Latvia, Greece and the Czech Republic. The participating companies shared real-life experiences from a wide range of sectors, including circular economy, sustainable materials, AI-driven services, predictive maintenance, software and digital platforms, tourism, digital marketing, design-driven innovation and advanced technology adoption.
The training series covered five key topics designed to strengthen SME innovation capacity:
Introduction to Innovation Management
Innovation Strategy Development
Innovation Life Cycle Management Processes
Digital Marketing
Design Thinking for Better Innovation Management
Through these sessions, participants had the opportunity to move beyond theory and explore how innovation is applied in real business environments. The peer-to-peer format allowed SMEs to present not only their success stories, but also the challenges they faced, the decisions they made and the lessons learned throughout their innovation process.
The sessions offered concrete insights into innovation management, customer-driven product development, commercialisation, scaling strategies, digital transformation, sustainability-oriented business models and the use of design thinking in real market settings. This practical approach made the learning experience highly relevant for SMEs at different stages of innovation maturity.
At the same time, the series strengthened the interregional dimension of SustainX. By bringing together companies and partners from different countries, sectors and innovation ecosystems, the sessions encouraged cross-border knowledge exchange and helped identify complementary capabilities among participating SMEs. They also highlighted opportunities for future collaboration, consortium-building and joint innovation activities.
Overall, the SustainX peer-to-peer learning series, coordinated by IMP³ROVE Academy, demonstrated the value of mutual learning and practical case sharing as tools for accelerating SME innovation. By combining training, real business experience and interregional cooperation, the sessions contributed to the development of a stronger innovation community aligned with SustainX objectives.
The outcomes of the series confirm that peer-to-peer exchange can play an important role in supporting sustainable growth, enhancing SME competitiveness and creating long-term value beyond individual training sessions.
