ANKARA SANAYI ODASI

Their core work

Ankara Sanayi Odası (ASO) is the Ankara Chamber of Industry, a major public body representing industrial enterprises in Turkey's capital region. Within H2020, they operate as part of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) Anatolia consortium, delivering innovation management support services to SMEs — including benchmarking, assessment, and capacity building. Their core function is helping small and medium-sized manufacturers and technology companies improve their innovation processes and access EU funding instruments like the SME Instrument and Fast Track to Innovation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ASO's H2020 involvement is remarkably consistent — all four projects are successive cycles of the same EEN Anatolia innovation support program (2015-2021). Early work (2015-2018) focused narrowly on core innovation management and key account management for SMEs. By the later period (2019-2021), the scope broadened to include specific EU funding instruments (SME Instrument, Fast Track to Innovation), suggesting ASO evolved from general innovation support toward more targeted funding access advisory.

ASO is expanding from general innovation management toward helping SMEs navigate specific EU funding pathways, making them increasingly useful as a gateway to Turkish industrial SMEs seeking European partnerships.

How they like to work

ASO has exclusively participated as a partner, never coordinating — consistent with their role as a regional EEN node within a larger consortium. They have worked with only 5 unique partners in a single country, indicating a tight, stable consortium that renews together across funding cycles. This makes them a reliable, low-risk partner but one with a narrow collaborative network.

ASO works within a small, stable consortium of 5 partners concentrated in a single country (likely Turkey), reflecting the regional structure of Enterprise Europe Network operations. Their network is narrow but deeply established through four consecutive project cycles.

What sets them apart

ASO's value lies in being a gateway to the Ankara industrial ecosystem — one of Turkey's largest manufacturing hubs. As a chamber of industry with EEN experience, they can mobilize Turkish SMEs for EU projects and provide on-the-ground innovation support services. For consortium builders needing a Turkish partner with institutional weight and SME access, ASO is a well-established option with proven EU project track record.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EENinnoSMES4
  Most recent and highest-funded cycle (EUR 17,575), expanded scope to include SME Instrument and Fast Track Innovation advisory.
• EENinnoSMES
  The original 2015 project that established ASO's EEN Anatolia participation, launching a continuous four-cycle engagement with H2020.