Sustainable SMEs – Supporting Small Businesses in the Green Transition
Project Overview: Sustainable SMEs
The “Sustainable SMEs” project (01.04.2025 – 31.03.2028) is led by JAMK University of Applied Sciences and brings together partners from Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Ireland — including IWIN — to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the NPA area in their sustainable transition. interreg-npa.eu
The project aims to help SMEs meet sustainability reporting requirements (such as ESG disclosure demands) by improving their understanding of sustainability transition, promoting collaboration, and offering practical tools and pilot activities for implementation. interreg-npa.eu
Working under the EU priority “Enhancing sustainable growth and competitiveness of SMEs” (Objective 1.3), the total budget for the project is approx. €1.395 million, with co-financing of approx. €906,457 from the NPA programme. interreg-npa.eu
What IWIN’s Role Is
As a partner in the project, IWIN is dedicated to representing the Irish wood and interiors manufacturing sector. Our role includes:
Engaging Irish SMEs in the wood & interiors sector to identify their needs around sustainability reporting and digital readiness.
Sharing first-hand insights from our member companies to help shape project tools, training modules and pilot activities.
Helping plan co-learning workshops and piloting activities that are both practical and relevant to smaller manufacturers.
Supporting communication and dissemination of project results to the Irish industry so that the learnings from across the NPA region are captured locally.
Why This Matters for Irish Wood & Interiors SMEs
Many large companies now require ESG documentation from their supply chains. SMEs often struggle to meet these demands because of limited resources, lack of knowledge, and minimal experience with sustainability data. The project addresses these challenges. interreg-npa.eu
Through this project, SMEs in our sector will gain access to peer-learning, digital reporting tools, and pilot approaches customised to their scale and context.
Being part of this transnational initiative allows Irish SMEs to benchmark themselves against companies in other parts of the NPA region and adopt best practices in sustainability reporting and digitalisation.
What’s Coming Up
Regional co-learning workshops where IWIN will help design and deliver content tailored to the needs of Irish manufacturers.
Pilot testing of tools and methods for sustainability data collection and reporting, with Irish companies participating and feeding back.
Communication campaigns and stakeholder engagement to raise awareness in the Irish contracting interiors and manufacturing sector about the sustainability reporting transition.
Delivery of joint outputs such as the Piloting Roadmap and reporting frameworks that are aligned across partners but also adapted for local contexts.
Project Partners:
The project is coordinated by JAMK University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and involves partners from Finland, Sweden, Iceland, and Ireland.
Funding Information (required text):
This project is co-funded by the European Union through the Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme 2021–2027.
Interreg
