Global Opportunities for Small/Medium Enterprises in emobility (GO4SEM)

Europe has successfully extended its competencies in key enabling technologies for electric mobility in recent years, especially in the field of information and communication technologies, components and systems (ICT). Small and medium size companies (SMEs) have played a crucial role as sources of creativity at all stages of the supply chain. Given the new supply chains for e-mobility being established worldwide, many potential target markets are located outside of Europe, e.g. in highly innovative regions such as the United States, Japan and South Korea or in emerging markets like China and India. In light of this situation, “Global Opportunities for Small and Medium Size Companies in Electric Mobility” (GO4SEM), coordinated by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA), is aimed at giving policy advice to sustain and enhance the successful access of European SME’s in supply chains in the abovementioned global markets. For this purpose the GO4SEM consortium (consisting of SMEs and regional clusters, Tier-1 automotive suppliers, and research institutions from all around Europe) intends to spread awareness of international market developments and technological trends in the electric mobility context, triggering an engagement of European SMEs in global FEV value chains by indicating potential and to show opportunities for bringing in expert knowledge. Furthermore, recommendations on standardization, education, and research matters are formulated. In a broader sense, the project will support to strengthen the global competitiveness of the European industry being active in the domain of electric mobility by linking the relevant stakeholders, preparing them for and increasing the awareness of the opportunities and challenges of worldwide developments. This contribution will present the output of the first term of the project. Firstly, in terms of mapping the global e-mobility supply chains and identifying possible entry points considering the above-mentioned target markets.