The vision behind the mentoring programme is to address the complex needs of the SMEs that generate radical innovative products or processes which bring an outstanding contribution to tackling and reversing the effects of climate change. In most cases, such ”breakthrough” and revolutionary product or process innovations demand large-scale resources, research and innovation infrastructures, extensive competencies and teams, as well as strong networking. The aim of the ”Breakthrough to Scale” mentoring approach is to offer systematic support for these needs, by providing a bespoke, adapted, and result-oriented mix of training, mentoring, and coaching, based on state-of-the-art methods and tools for performant in-house innovation management. Furthermore, the mentoring programme will funnel additional resources and connections at an international level, for the specific benefit of the selected mentees. The “Breakthrough to Scale” support package is structured on 5 key Drivers and 3 Enablers, which will be delivered to the SMEs either individually or combined, based on the needs identified through an innovation diagnostic and a thorough needs analysis process. The mentoring programme will offer up to 25 hours of mentoring for each beneficiary company. Moreover, the programme offers a cross-cutting component of the mentoring package, dealing with climate-specific methods, tools and KPIs for SMEs.
