CANAKKALE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Their core work

Canakkale Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a regional business support organization in northwestern Turkey, representing local SMEs across trade, manufacturing, agriculture and maritime sectors. Within H2020 it acts as a regional delivery partner of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), helping SMEs from the Western Marmara region access EU markets, find international partners, and strengthen innovation management capacity. Their core contribution is acting as a trusted local interface between Turkish SMEs and European innovation services. They are an SME-facing intermediary, not a research producer.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the earlier WESTinnoMAR project (2015-2017) the focus was narrow and operational — delivering Key Account Management to a handful of high-growth SMEs that had won SME Instrument funding. By the second and third projects (2017-2019) the scope broadened to general innovation enhancement, R&D advisory and broader SME outreach, with energy emerging as a recurring sector tag. The trajectory shows a maturing EEN node moving from one-to-one client coaching toward wider regional innovation support.

They are consolidating as a long-term EEN delivery partner for the Western Marmara region, useful to consortia that need a credible local channel to Turkish SMEs.

How they like to work

They consistently participate as a partner — never as coordinator — in the same recurring WESTinnoMAR consortium across all three projects, which signals a stable, loyal partnership rather than a hub strategy. The consortium is small (only two unique partners across all projects, all within Turkey), suggesting a tightly-knit national EEN cluster. Working with them is best understood as plugging into their established regional SME network, not as engaging a research-led collaborator.

Their H2020 network is small and domestic: two recurring partners, all within Turkey, across three sequential CSA projects. There is no evidence of cross-border consortium activity beyond the EEN framework itself.

What sets them apart

Most useful as a regional gateway to SMEs in Canakkale and the wider Western Marmara region — an area with strong agriculture, maritime, and emerging energy activity that is underserved by Istanbul- or Ankara-based intermediaries. Unlike research institutes or technology providers, they bring direct access to local enterprises and chambers of commerce networks. Partner with them when your project needs Turkish SME engagement, dissemination, or regional pilot recruitment, not when you need scientific R&D capacity.

Highlights from their portfolio

• WESTinnoMAR
  Their flagship engagement — three consecutive CSA projects from 2015 to 2019 delivering Enterprise Europe Network services to SMEs in the Western Marmara region.
• WEST-MAR H2020.2019
  The 2019 continuation that confirmed their role as a stable, repeat-funded regional EEN delivery partner.