AZIENDA SPECIALE RIVIERE DI LIGURIA

Their core work

Riviere di Liguria is a special agency (azienda speciale) of the Savona Chamber of Commerce in the Liguria region of Italy, operating as a node of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). Their core function is delivering innovation support services to SMEs in North West Italy — helping small companies access EU funding instruments, manage innovation processes, internationalize, and scale up. They act as a bridge between EU research and innovation programs and local businesses that need practical guidance to grow.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015-2018), their work focused squarely on basic SME support: business coaching, innovation management fundamentals, and connecting high-growth companies to EEN services. From 2019 onward, the emphasis shifted toward more sophisticated services — exploiting research and innovation results, supporting scale-up and growth trajectories, and helping SMEs navigate EU instruments like the SME Instrument, FET-Open, FTI, and the EIC Pilot. This evolution reflects the broader EEN mandate shift from general awareness-raising toward active commercialization of research outputs and digital transformation support.

Moving from general innovation awareness toward hands-on support for commercializing research results and helping SMEs access advanced EU funding instruments like EIC.

How they like to work

Riviere di Liguria operates exclusively as a participant, never leading consortia — consistent with their role as a regional EEN node within a larger Italian network (the ALPS consortium covering North West Italy). With only 8 unique partners all in one country, they work within a stable, tight-knit Italian EEN partnership rather than building diverse international consortia. This makes them a reliable, low-friction regional partner but not someone who brings a wide European network to the table.

Their network is compact and domestically focused: 8 unique partners, all within Italy, operating as part of the ALPS INN3 consortium that serves the North West Italy EEN region. No international partnerships are visible in their H2020 portfolio.

What sets them apart

Their value lies in deep local access to the SME ecosystem in Liguria and North West Italy, backed by the institutional weight of the Chamber of Commerce system. For anyone needing a dissemination or SME engagement partner in this region, they offer an established network of local businesses and a track record of delivering EU-funded support services. However, their profile is narrow — they are a service delivery node, not a research or technology organization.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ALPS INN3 (2020-2021)
  The most recent and mature iteration, expanding into EIC Pilot support, digitization, and internationalization — showing the fullest scope of their evolved service offering.
• ALPS.INN3 (2015-2016)
  The founding iteration that established their EEN node role, providing baseline innovation management and business coaching to Ligurian SMEs.