Due to the COVID-19 global health crisis and its strong impact in the automotive industry, with the general temporarily shutdown of many manufacturing plants, the EACN project partners have been forced to ask the European Commission for the temporarily suspension of the project activities. After receiving a positive answer to our request, the project is now postponed for a 3-months period, until July 15th. As soon as we resume the EACN project in mid-July, we will inform about the next steps to take and the activities reschedule, having always in mind the safety conditions of all participants.
Meanwhile and despite this suspension, the consortium will keep on working in the following areas:
- The promotion of the EACN initiative, especially to encourage more SMEs to be involved in the joint projects resulting from the matchmaking events.
- The look for experts who can give technical assistance to SMEs and guide them for the successful development of the joint projects. For this aim, a special section is already available at the EACN website, where candidates can fill in a form and apply to the projects of their interest. Click HERE to access the new section.
- The use of the EACN partnership to analyse how clusters can support their companies to fight against the COVID-19 and transform this crisis into an opportunity. After a brainstorming meeting held on 23rd of April, three working groups are currently active with the following objectives:
- To analyse the future of the EU automotive landscape
- To share cluster initiatives launched to support companies against the COVID-19 crisis and help them to restart operations.
- To address financial issues and human resources questions.
The results from this collaborative work are planned to be ready in early June.
Other clusters can join the EACN Partnership and contribute to the ongoing discussions. In case of interest, please contact Thomas Röhr at the email tr@vehiculedufutur.com to have more details.
