The EENOVA consortium meeting brought project partners together in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, at a pivotal moment for the project. As EENOVA enters its final year, the meeting focused on consolidating results, aligning activities across work packages and preparing the final implementation phase across the five regional pilot areas.
For EEIP, which leads the project’s communication, dissemination and stakeholder engagement activities, the meeting also provided an opportunity to ensure that the knowledge generated throughout the project is translated into clear, accessible and impactful communication that supports the wider adoption of energy efficiency solutions across Europe’s agri-food sector.
Coordinating the Final Phase of EENOVA
Hosted by AgroTransilvania Cluster, the meeting brought together partners from across Europe to review progress, coordinate upcoming activities and strengthen collaboration ahead of the project’s final year.
Following the successful completion of three regional roundtable cycles, partners confirmed that the project is now moving into its fourth and final participatory phase. Discussions focused on consolidating technical findings, aligning regional experiences and preparing the final outputs that will demonstrate EENOVA’s impact.
For EEIP, consortium meetings such as this are essential for maintaining a common understanding across partners and ensuring that communication activities accurately reflect the project’s technical progress.
Turning Regional Knowledge into European Impact
A key part of the meeting revisited EENOVA’s structured roundtable methodology, which guides stakeholders through four successive stages: understanding the current situation, identifying opportunities, developing action plans and, finally, evaluating achievements.
The upcoming fourth round of regional roundtables will bring together the experience, data and lessons collected throughout the project. The objective is to validate results, identify transferable practices and strengthen the project’s replication potential beyond the participating regions.
The meeting also marked the formal handover of responsibility for the roundtable process from AgriFood Lithuania DIH, which led the third round under Work Package 4, to AgroTransilvania Cluster, now coordinating Work Package 5. This transition highlights the collaborative nature of EENOVA and the strong involvement of regional partners throughout the project.
EEIP Supporting Project Visibility
As leader of Work Package 6 on Communication and Dissemination, EEIP used the consortium meeting to coordinate upcoming communication activities, discuss dissemination priorities and prepare the final phase of stakeholder engagement.
With the project approaching its conclusion, ensuring that results reach businesses, policymakers, industry associations and other relevant stakeholders becomes increasingly important. Alongside technical achievements, the consortium discussed how project outcomes can be communicated effectively to maximise their visibility, uptake and long-term impact.
These exchanges help ensure that the knowledge developed within EENOVA extends beyond the consortium and contributes to wider discussions on industrial energy efficiency and sustainable food production across Europe.
Learning from the Romanian Pilot
On the second day, partners visited Moldovan, a meat-processing company participating in the Romanian pilot. The site visit provided valuable insight into real production processes and demonstrated how EENOVA’s collaborative methodology is being applied in practice.
Observing industrial operations first-hand allows partners to better understand the challenges faced by SMEs while validating the practical relevance of the project’s recommendations. For EEIP, visits like these also provide valuable material for communicating the project’s progress through concrete examples from participating companies.
Continuing Towards the Final Project Year
The Cluj-Napoca consortium meeting confirmed that EENOVA is entering its final implementation phase with strong momentum and close collaboration between partners.
Over the coming months, the project will focus on completing the final roundtables, consolidating results from the five pilot regions and preparing recommendations that support the wider adoption of energy efficiency measures throughout Europe’s agri-food sector.
EEIP will continue supporting this process by leading communication and dissemination activities that increase the visibility of project achievements, strengthen stakeholder engagement and help ensure that EENOVA’s results continue creating impact beyond the lifetime of the project.
Learn More About EENOVA
EENOVA helps small and medium-sized enterprises in the agri-food sector improve energy efficiency through regional collaboration, stakeholder engagement and practical decarbonisation strategies.
Visit the official project website to discover the latest news, pilot activities and project results:
Funding Acknowledgement
This project has received funding from the European Union’s LIFE Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101119476.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
