T.G.R. SOCIETA A RESPONSEBILITA LIMITATA

Their core work

T.G.R. is a Bologna-based product company that designs and commercializes powered stair-climbing devices aimed at removing mobility barriers for people with disabilities. Their flagship product — developed under the SIRENA brand — is an electric stair climber capable of transporting both disabled users and goods across stairs and inaccessible environments. They moved from concept validation to full product development within the H2020 SME Instrument programme, demonstrating a clear product-to-market trajectory rather than a research orientation. Their practical focus is on assistive transport hardware that works in real-world urban and built environments where lifts and ramps are absent.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

T.G.R.'s entire H2020 activity is concentrated on a single product line — the SIRENA electric stair climber — progressed through the two-phase SME Instrument structure. The 2017 Phase 1 project focused on feasibility and the user-empowerment framing, while the 2018-2020 Phase 2 project expanded the value proposition to include goods transport, suggesting the company found a broader commercial angle beyond personal mobility aids. There is no evidence of diversification beyond this domain, which points to a company that has doubled down on one product rather than building a portfolio of technologies.

T.G.R. appears to be a single-product company that completed its EU-funded R&D cycle by 2020; any future collaboration would likely be in commercialisation, manufacturing scale-up, or accessibility market expansion rather than new technology development.

How they like to work

T.G.R. used the SME Instrument exclusively, which is a solo-company grant — so their H2020 record shows zero consortium partners by design, not by preference. This means their collaboration track record in multi-partner EU projects is unknown. They consistently took the coordinator role, which in the SME Instrument context means they were the sole applicant and grant holder, managing all deliverables independently.

T.G.R. has no recorded consortium partners from their H2020 participation, which is expected given their exclusive use of the SME Instrument (now EIC Accelerator), a single-company funding mechanism. Their actual industrial network — suppliers, distributors, clinical partners — is not visible in the CORDIS data.

What sets them apart

T.G.R. is one of the few Italian SMEs to have successfully secured both phases of the SME Instrument for the same product, indicating the European Commission validated their business case at feasibility and then again at full development — a meaningful quality signal. Their specific niche — electric stair climbers that serve both people and goods — sits at the intersection of assistive technology and last-mile logistics, which gives the product dual market relevance. For a consortium needing an end-user or commercialisation partner in the disability transport space in Italy, they offer direct product and market access.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SIRENA
  The SME-2 phase secured €861K — a competitive EIC-predecessor award — validating the commercial potential of their electric stair climber across both personal mobility and goods transport markets.
• SIRENA
  The SME-1 Phase 1 feasibility grant (2017) was the entry point that unlocked the larger Phase 2 award the following year, demonstrating a clean two-phase progression through the SME Instrument — a rare achievement.