Language and culture management as a driving force in the international competitiveness of SMEs

Programme 2014 - 2020 INTERREG V-A Belgium - France (France - Wallonie - Vlaanderen)

Date of latest update: 2024-03-25

Description

Description (EN):

The SIMILAR project aims to provide innovative solutions to SMEs so that they can operate more efficiently in a competitive, cross-border and multilingual business environment. The solutions also include the development of a strategy for managing languages and cultures specific to each company and the creation of common support tools. The project aims to meet three challenges: 1 - Offer an effective and innovative linguistic and cultural support strategy to facilitate the breakthrough or expansion of a company in a new cross-border market; 2-Improve the multilingual and intercultural skills of employees of SMEs and job-seekers in the regions concerned; 3-Facilitate the networking of different professional stakeholders to stimulate cross-border employment and enable a better match between supply and demand. All project activities contribute to the international competitiveness of companies and help open up the cross-border labour market by reducing cultural and linguistic barriers to mobility. These objectives are achieved thanks to the complementary expertise of a partnership composed of HoGent, ULille, UMONS and Syntra West, among others.

Description (NL):

Het project SIMILAR wil innovatieve oplossingen aanbieden die kmo's helpen om efficiënter te werken in een commerciële context die steeds competitiever, grensoverschrijdender en meertalig wordt. Deze oplossingen omvatten de ontwikkeling van een strategie voor het beheer van de voor elke onderneming specifieke talen en culturen en de creatie van gemeenschappelijke begeleidingsmiddelen. Het project wil drie uitdagingen aanpakken: 1-Het aanbieden van een efficiënte en innovatieve taal- en cultuurstrategie om de toegang tot of de expansie van een bedrijf op een nieuwe grensoverschrijdende markt te bevorderen; 2- Het verbeteren van de meertalige en interculturele vaardigheden van medewerkers in micro-ondernemingen en kmo's en van werkzoekenden in de betrokken regio's; 3- Het faciliteren van de netwerkvorming tussen verschillende professionele actoren om de grensoverschrijdende werkgelegenheid te stimuleren en om vraag en aanbod beter op elkaar af te stemmen. De activiteiten van het project dragen bij tot het internationale concurrentievermogen van de ondernemingen en openen de grensoverschrijdende arbeidsmarkt door taalkundige en culturele drempels voor de mobiliteit op te heffen. Deze doelstellingen worden bereikt dankzij de complementaire expertise van een partnerschap, bestaande uit o.a. HoGent, ULille, UMONS en Syntra West.

Description (FR):

Le projet SIMILAR vise à apporter des solutions innovantes aux PME pour qu'elles puissent opérer plus efficacement dans un environnement commercial compétitif, transfrontalier et multilingue. Les solutions consistent en outre en l’élaboration d’une stratégie de gestion des langues et des cultures spécifiques à chaque entreprise et la création d’outils d’accompagnement communs. Le projet ambitionne de relever trois défis : 1-Offrir une stratégie d’accompagnement linguistique et culturel efficace et innovante afin de faciliter la percée ou l’expansion d’une entreprise sur un nouveau marché transfrontalier ; 2-Améliorer les compétences multilingues et interculturelles des employés des PME/TPE et des demandeurs d’emploi des régions concernées ; 3-Faciliter la mise en relation de différents acteurs professionnels afin de stimuler l’emploi transfrontalier et permettre une meilleure adéquation entre l’offre et la demande. L’ensemble des activités du projet contribue à la compétitivité internationale des entreprises et permet de décloisonner le marché du travail transfrontalier en réduisant les obstacles culturels et linguistiques à la mobilité. Ces objectifs sont atteints grâce à la complémentarité des expertises d’un partenariat composé de, entre autres, HoGent, l’ULille, l’UMONS et Syntra West.

Achievements (EN):

E-learning courses: We have developed an online course program specifically for SMEs in the Hauts-de-France, Wallonia and Flanders regions. To this end, various e-learning modules have been developed to support cross-border collaboration. Look at what interests you. We offer you free access to all courses. Courses on campus: In addition to e-learning, we have developed various on-campus training courses to support cross-border activities for SMEs and smaller companies. The training focuses on the following topics: beer, chocolate, cheese, administrative processes/responsibilities, corporate social responsibility. Look at what interests you. We offer you free access to all training courses.

Website: https://www.interreg-fwvl.eu/

Expected Results (EN): Around 200 companies will benefit from innovative coaching and support tools. 30 joint training sessions will be organised for employees of participating companies and job-seekers.

Expected Results (NL): Ongeveer 200 ondernemingen zullen steun en innovatieve begeleidingsmiddelen ontvangen. Er zullen 30 gezamenlijke opleidingssessies worden georganiseerd voor de werknemers van de deelnemende ondernemingen en de werkzoekenden.

Expected Results (FR): Environ 200 entreprises bénéficieront d'un soutien et d'outils d'accompagnement innovants. 30 sessions de formation conjointes seront organisées pour les employés des entreprises participantes et les demandeurs d'emploi.

Expected Outputs (EN): The project will contribute to the international competitiveness of the region's businesses by opening up the cross-border labour market and reducing cultural and linguistic barriers to mobility.

Expected Outputs (NL): Het project zal bijdragen aan het internationale concurrentievermogen van de ondernemingen van de streek door de grensoverschrijdende arbeidsmarkt open te trekken door taalkundige en culturele drempels voor de mobiliteit op te heffen.

Expected Outputs (FR): Le projet contribuera à la compétitivité internationale des entreprises de la région en décloisonnant le marché du travail transfrontalier et en réduisant les obstacles culturels et linguistiques à la mobilité.

Thematic information

SME and entrepreneurship

Specific Objective: Create, develop and jointly use developments and support devices for SMEs to access the market

Thematic Objective: (03) enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs by:

Investment Priority: (03d) supporting the capacity of SMEs to grow in regional, national and international markets, and to engage in innovation processes

Partners (4)

Lead Partner: Hogeschool Gent

Address: Campus Schoonmeersen - Faculteit Bedrijf en Organisatie, Valentin Vaerwyckweg, 9000 Gent, Belgium

Legal status: public

Website: www.hogent.be

Total budget: EUR 226 347.45

ERDF budget: EUR 113 173.72

Université de Lille

Name: Université de Lille

Address: Rue Paul Duez, 59000 Lille, France

Legal status: public

Total budget: EUR 226 347.46

ERDF budget: EUR 113 173.73

Université de Mons (UMONS)

Name: Université de Mons (UMONS)

Address: Centre de Langues Vivantes, 7000 MONS, Belgium

Legal status: public

Total budget: EUR 226 347.43

ERDF budget: EUR 113 173.71

Syntra West

Name: Syntra West

Address: Spoorwegstraat, 8200 BRUGGE, Belgium

Legal status: private

Total budget: EUR 70 948.18

ERDF budget: EUR 35 474.09

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

University of Lille

Language and culture management as a driving force in the international competitiveness of SMEs

Partners and Projects info

Université de Mons (UMons)

Language and culture management as a driving force in the international competitiveness of SMEs

Partners and Projects info

HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts Ghent

Language and culture management as a driving force in the international competitiveness of SMEs

Partners and Projects info

Syntra West

Language and culture management as a driving force in the international competitiveness of SMEs

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Language and culture management as a driving force in the international competitiveness of SMEs

Project name (NL): Taal-en cultuurbeleid als sleutel tot internationaal concurrentievermogen voor kmo's

Project name (FR): La gestion des langues et des cultures comme facteur de compétitivité internationale des PME

Project acronym: SIMILAR

Project start date: 2019-01-04

Project end date: 2022-12-31

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 749 990.54

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 374 995.27

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, .

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 INTERREG V-A Belgium - France (France - Wallonie - Vlaanderen)

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2022-07-01

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

230 / 230 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

1 218 / 1 220 (99.84%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme. Information provided by the Programme. Data from project (DeEau) was retrieved by Interact from the programme´s website on the 2024-03-01. Regarding partners only data only main partners is available. Achievements were retrieved by Interact from the Programme website (https://www.interreg-fwvl.eu/en), or a website directly linked from it, on 2021-11-04 and 2024-03-07. Fields project name and achievement (from 53 projects) translated from French into English using the European Commission's eTranslation machine translation service.

The projects which fields include an eTranslation English text are the ones with the following acronyms: AD-In, A-P/RESEAU-SERVICE, Ardenne Attractivity - Ardenne Ambassadors, Bâti C², COFFEE, COMPOSENS, COSERDO, DIADeM, Dig-e-Lab, ECOPAD, FAI-Re, Feel Wood - Feel Wood, Feel Wood - FORET PRO BOS, Feel Wood – FormaWood, Feel Wood – ProFilWood, Feel Wood - Trans Agro Forest, Flandria Rhei – ECOSYSTEM, Flandria Rhei - Partons 2.0, GAF, GeDiDoT – BeVeGG, GoToS3 – ALPO, GoToS3 – BIOCOMPAL, GoToS3 – BIOHARV, GoToS3 - C2L3Play, GoToS3 - Codesign Aliment, GoToS3 – DURATEX, GoToS3 - Elasto-plast, GoToS3 - Factory 4.0, GoToS3 – RETEX, GoToS3 – TEXACOV, GoToS3 - TRIPOD-II, I SAID, NanoCardio, OBS, PNTH Terre en action, PROTECOW, RE C², RECY-COMPOSITE, SAPOLL, SMARTBIOCONTROL – BIOCOMGEST, SMARTBIOCONTROL – BIOPROD, SMARTBIOCONTROL – BioProtect, SMARTBIOCONTROL – BioScreen, SMARTBIOCONTROL – BIOSENS, TEC!, TECH2FAB, TENDANCES, TRANSPORT, TRANSUNIV, TVBuONAIR, ValBran, VALDEM and VISES.

Languages

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Language and culture management as a driving force in the international competitiveness of SMEs

Description

Thematic information

Partners (4)

Partners map

Summary

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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