CONFEDERACION DE EMPRESARIOS DE ANDALUCIA

Their core work

The Confederation of Employers of Andalusia (CEA) is the main employers' association in the Andalusia region of southern Spain, representing businesses across sectors. Within H2020, their role has been delivering innovation management services to SMEs as part of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). They help Andalusian small businesses assess their innovation capacity, access EU support instruments, and improve their competitiveness through structured advisory programs like Innovation Health Checks and SME empowerment initiatives.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2014-2016), CEA focused on establishing basic innovation management services for SMEs within the Enterprise Europe Network — essentially building the advisory infrastructure. From 2017 onward, their work matured significantly: they adopted structured methodologies like IMPROVE, Innovation Health Check diagnostics, and SME EMPOWER, while also aligning with the SME Instrument program. The shift from "establishing services" to deploying named, standardized tools indicates a move from setup to professional delivery of innovation advisory at scale.

CEA has progressively professionalized its SME advisory toolkit and increasingly serves energy-sector businesses, making it a maturing regional innovation intermediary.

How they like to work

CEA operates exclusively as a participant — never as coordinator — working within small, stable consortia (only 4 unique partners across all projects, within a single country). This is characteristic of an EEN node that receives recurring support action funding as part of a national or regional consortium. Working with CEA means partnering with a reliable, locally embedded intermediary rather than a research-driven consortium leader.

CEA has worked with just 4 consortium partners, all within one country (Spain), reflecting its role as a regional EEN node operating within a fixed national network rather than building international research consortia.

What sets them apart

CEA is not a research organization — it is the main employers' confederation in Andalusia, giving it direct access to thousands of regional businesses across all sectors. For consortium builders, this means CEA can serve as a gateway to Andalusian SMEs for technology transfer, pilot testing, or dissemination activities. Their five consecutive EEN innovation management projects demonstrate consistent institutional commitment to bridging EU research support and regional business needs.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CESEAND InnoAses2
  Largest single funding (EUR 61,002) and first scaling of the innovation advisory program after the initial pilot year.
• CESEAND InnoAses5
  Most recent project (2020-2021) with EUR 51,887, demonstrating continued EEN commitment and incorporating the full suite of IMPROVE/SME EMPOWER tools.