1 The main objective of the underlying Coordination Action is the creation of an international network of organisations capable to give a mentoring service to SMEs working in the agro-food sector, providing them opportunities to participate in the FP6 and FP7. SMEs participation will comprise:

Due to their importance in terms of human nutrition and health, SPAS will pay a special attention to innovations in the food-safety, organic food and functional food areas.

2 The project starts with the homogenization of activities and will develop a Best Practice Guide for trans-regional co-operation in order to encourage and guide SMEs towards the most appropriate instruments, in particular IPs and NoEs in the FP6 and further advances produced in the FP7.

3 Creation of an international structured pool of enterprises. SMEs will be identified and selected by consortium members in their own different regions in order to create an international structured pool of enterprises promoting emerging synergies among them. SMEs will be able to registered and get an on-line technology audit through the web-based tool. The tool will be developed within the project, starting from a self-assessment web tool designed by CARTIF and BESEL in a previous national project (www.cartif.com/dympyme).

4 The consortium will identify, contact and follow on going proposals, tenders, projects, and FP7 calls for proposal as well as technology platforms creating a dynamic on-line and updated information repository that will facilitate communication with SMEs and their participation in further tenders or memberships.

5 The website, which plays a key role in the project, is focused in promoting interaction among all organisations. It will include a great variety of proactive tools and services.

6 Results will be disseminated at regional and European level expecting that new entities from new countries will be interested in joining the platform.