Opening indoor hygiene SME’s exports to Middle East construction markets

Programme Priority: P1 Competitive economy

Programme Specific Objective: 1.3. More exports by the Central Baltic companies to new markets

Sub-programme: Central Baltic

Duration: 01.03.2018 - 31.05.2021

Total budget: €2 176 372

ERDF: €1 662 352

Project Summary:

Novel solutions are desperately needed to prevent the global spreading of serious infections. IHMEC-project combines existing offerings to tailored indoor hygiene (IH) solutions and exports them to the Middle-East (ME) markets. The ME climate forces people to remain indoors and hence, large crowds meeting daily at e.g. shopping malls, airports, schools, and hospitals are at risk of catching infections. Although ME market holds lucrative business opportunities, they cannot be utilized by a single company or cluster. All actors involved in planning, designing, building, and furnishing indoor spaces are needed to reach effective IH results. However, most of the business actors in IH field are small or middle sized (SMEs) and lack the necessary knowledge and resources to export to host markets of considerable cultural and physical distance.

IHMEC offers a combination of local, indoor hygiene, and marketing capabilities. IHMEC creates and exports joint IH solutions of Central Baltic (CB) area SMEs into Middle-East construction markets using indoor hygiene as a competitive edge. IHMEC integrates relevant clusters from Sweden, Estonia and Finland into a meta-cluster; compiles a database on IH research, technology, and the target markets; develops, tests & tailors IH solutions; designs viable networked business models, market entry strategies & sales operations; as well as involves experts from the host markets for CB companies to enter the markets and close sales. The aim is to target customer segments with which long-term business relationships can be developed.

IHMEC novelty highlights: 1) Integrated CB region meta-cluster on indoor hygiene (IH), 2) Up-to-date knowledge data-base on IH technology and reliable test results, 3) Novel and tailored IH guidelines and IH solutions that fit the target markets, 4) Networked business models that support the export of the IH solutions, 5) Tailored market entry process to ME markets resulting in 12 export sales.

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Lead Partner

Turun yliopisto

Country: FI

www.utu.fi

Partner budget: 670.797 EUR

Amount of ERDF funding: 502.292 EUR ERDF

Project Partners

Satakunnan ammattikorkeakoulu

Country: FI

www.samk.fi

Partner budget: 452.850 EUR

Amount of ERDF funding: 339.637 EUR ERDF

Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan

Country: SE

www.kth.se

Partner budget: 323.840 EUR

Amount of ERDF funding: 242.880 EUR ERDF

Uppsala Universitet

Country: SE

www.uu.su

Partner budget: 420.106 EUR

Amount of ERDF funding: 315.079 EUR ERDF

Sihtasutus Tartu Ärinõuandla

Country: EE

http://arinouandla.ee

Partner budget: 71.708 EUR

Amount of ERDF funding: 60.952 EUR ERDF

Eesti Puitmajaliit

Country: EE

http://www.woodhouse.ee/

Partner budget: 237.072 EUR

Amount of ERDF funding: 201.511 EUR ERDF

Associated Partners

Suomen Sairaalatekniikan yhdistys ry

Country: FI

Expected results

The main results of IHMEC will be eight new sales by the meta-cluster companies in the Middle-Eastern target markets (ISaudi-Arabia). Of the eight (8) three will be achieved during the project duration and five more within a year after the project ends. This result is directly linked to the programme result indicator; the number of cluster co-operations exporting to new markets, as the export sales are the results of the co-operation and joint offering of the integrated meta-cluster.

The main results will be achieved through the following sub-results:
a) Integrated indoor hygiene (IH) meta-cluster of Sweden, Estonia and Finland clusters.
b) Data base on IH research and test results & novel technology – know how on building hygienic indoor spaces to the target markets
c) Personnel development resulting in participating companies’ export capabilities tailored to the target markets.
d) Market studies of the target markets. Discovered business opportunities
e) Results of pilot / feasibility studies leading to f)
f) Novel, tested, and attractive IH solutions customized to the target markets, produced and marketed using showrooms and viable networked business models.
g) Market entry strategies suitable for the networked IH solution business models.
h) Execution of the market entry strategies to export sales.