HEPHAESTUS
consortium
About consortium
The project consortium brings together 9 partners and 4 associated partners representing 5 countries – Denmark, Faroe Islands, Italy, Latvia and Sweden.
Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Department of Business Humanities and Law (BHL)
Copenhagen Business School (CBS) was established in 1917. Today CBS is one of the 8 Danish universities, with more than 21,000 students and 1,500 employees.
CBS is Denmark’s largest educational and research institution within business administration and economics in a wide sense. The university is committed to providing business-related education programmes and continuing education for the public and, in particular, the private sector. Programmes are based on a strong and internationally renowned research base which CBS works consistently to strengthen.
CBS is committed to communicating knowledge and new ideas to tomorrow’s business leaders and society in general. Its main contribution in this field is research and research-based education, and investment in research and high academic standards is therefore crucial to CBS’ contribution to society. Being a government-financed private institution, CBS receives most of its funding from the government.
BHL is a core part of CBS, one of its largest and most diverse Departments, dedicated to critical and cutting-edge research in the humanities, social sciences and law with a focus on the study of the human in society and regarding business and enterprise as key forces of social change.
Goeteborgs Universitet
The University of Gothenburg is a multidisciplinary university that dates back to 1891. We consist of eight faculties and 38 departments. Around 49 000 students and 6 000 staff study and work at UGOT, making it one of the largest universities in Northern Europe.
The University of Gothenburg meets societal challenges with a wide range of knowledge. Strong research and appealing study programmes attract scientists and students from around the world. The university are environmentally certified and work actively for sustainable development. With new knowledge and new perspectives, the university aims at providing students and researchers active possibilities to contribute to a better future.
The Hephaestus project is hosted by the Business and Design Lab, a research centre in cooperation between the Academy of Art and Design and the School of Business, Economics and Law. The centre is led by Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Professor Elena Raviola and has an active group of researchers and projects in between the two schools. The Academy of Art and Design, at the University of Gothenburg (HDK-Valand), conducts education and research in Design, Film, Photography, Fine Art, Crafts and Literary Composition – as well as teacher education in Visual Arts and Sloyd – and it is part of the Faculty of Arts, which is the largest and broadest Art Faculty in the Nordic countries.
Università Degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”
The Tor Vergata researchers belong to the School of Economics, department of Management & Law. University of Tor Vergata also hosts other important research institutions such as the National Research Council and the Italian Space Agency. This School represents an international environment committed to excellence in research and teaching across an array of contemporary topics of societal significance.
Uni Tor Vergata closely cooperates both nationally and internationally with the private sector, public institutions, and non-profit organisations. A key institutional aim is favouring the adoption of policies and behaviours focusing on sustainability both in terms of well-being for people and ecosystem conditions. Tor Vergata focus on: promoting the internationalisation of teaching and research; investing in lifelong learning; pursuing the development of existing resources.
BOFA under the Regional Municipality of Bornholm
Bornholm is a Danish Island located off the Swedish coast in the Baltic Sea. Bornholm has around 40.000 inhabitants and consist of rural and urban zones, where smaller cities are clustered on the coastline on the island. BOFA is the waste management entity and service provider on Bornholm and is directed by the Regional Municipality of Bornholm. BOFA consists of recycling centers, a landfill, and a waste incineration plant and treats approx. 75.000 tonnes of waste annually.
What distinguishes Bornholm and BOFA is its highly ambitious vision to achieve zero waste by 2032, whereas the goal is to eliminate the incineration plant, and treat all waste on Bornholm as resources that can be used in an infinitely loop. By achieving this vision, Bornholm will be the first modern society in the world without waste incineration.
In 2017 Bornholm was honored with the title of World Craft Region as the first region in Europe and the first island community in the world.
Fablab Venezia
Fablab Venezia was born in 2014 as a digital fabrication laboratory, with the aim to bring the values and the scopes of the fablab network to the venetian territory. The lab decided to develop all the different branches of the original project: service, to help designers, enterprises, artisans develop their project using digital tools; education and training, to help those willing to govern and use the instruments and capabilities of the digital fabrication world; the open lab, to offer everyone a place where to develop creative ideas and innovative projects.
Fablab Venezia is now an leading infrastructure, not only at a local level, for the digitization of cultural and productive processes, for the development of new sustainable and positive production and design praxes, and for social innovation.
The lab interacts with SMEs, artisans, PAs, cultural Institutions, schools: it is an innovation bureau where craftsmanship can meet digital instruments and new machineries, enabling new, eco-efficient, low cost solutions. It is an hub for digital culture, offering activities and workshops for the youngsters and for everyone, letting them be able to use technology in an informed, creative and positive way.
UNIVERSITA CA’ FOSCARI VENEZIA
Founded on August 6, 1868 as the “Scuola Superiore di Commercio” (Advanced School for Commerce), Ca’ Foscari was the first Italian institution to deal with advanced education in Business and Economics.Today Ca’ Foscari has over 20,000 members, ranks third in Italy for research quality and stands out for the international character of its degree courses, and the policies for recruiting the best talents among researchers and students from Italy and abroad.
The Department of Management (DMAN) is renowned for its innovative teaching approaches, the excellence of its research, and the constant relationship with the economic and social fabric of Venice and the surrounding territory.
The Department conducts theoretical and applied research in the most important fields related to management studies, such as innovation and entrepreneurship, strategic development and internationalisation, new technologies and digitisation, organisation and accounting.
For these reasons, the university, and the Department of Management in particular, have specific skills in the economic and industrial field, working alongside companies also in the context of the Third Mission. Furthermore, the university boasts significant experience in the development of European and international projects which focus on the importance of the cultural and creative industries and their collaboration with SMEs.
COMUNE DI BASSANO DEL GRAPPA
Bassano del Grappa is a city in northeastern Italy of 42,000 inhabitants. It lies at the foot of the Monte Grappa massif, is crossed by the Brenta River, and is known for its wooden bridge designed by the historic architect Andrea Palladio.
Bassano del Grappa is renowned for its ancient production of ceramics and porcelain, dating back to the 18th century and still preserving its wares unchanged in style, form and decoration.
The Bassano district specializes in the production of furniture, restoration and reproduction of period furniture, which incorporates ancient furnishing models of both French and Italian origin and their marketing in Italian and foreign markets. Over time, the production of the Bassano Art Furniture District has evolved and diversified, in fact moving from more challenging and daring styles (eighteenth-century, Empire, Art Nouveau strands) to more squared-off workmanship.
Another well-known activity is that of art prints by various firms, including Remondini, which closed in 1861 and left its legacy of experience to other woodcut, intaglio, and chromolithography printers such as Stabilimento Tipografico Antonio Vicenzi and Carteria Tassotti, the latter known worldwide for their value and history.
WIT BERRY
SIA WIT Berry (WIT) is a small digital marketing and communication company based in Latvia. The aim of WIT Berry is to help organizations to reach their goals namely increase sales, gain popularity, new clients, develop brand and others by implementing efficient communication strategy. WIT Berry was founded in 2012. Its founder has extensive experience in online communications and digital marketing.
WIT Berry has worked with leading insurance and telecommunication companies in Latvia where its experts were responsible for web content analysis, development of website concept as well as content strategy and copywriting for different markets. For the last few years WIT Berry has been actively involved in different activities, projects and events in the space sector. For example, the company has participated in the Horizon 2020 project HATCH, had ensured all the communication and marketing activities for space event in Belgium called Switch to Space has consulted space companies in Netherlands, Luxembourg and Estonia.
FRODSKAPARSETUR FOROYA
Associazione Artigiani Venezia
With more than 1,200 member companies throughout the islands of Venice, for more than 70 years Confartigianato Imprese Venezia has been the most representative of the organizations for artisans and small businesses in the area. It works alongside all those who love what they do, believe in themselves and their capabilities, and want to put themselves to the test. It promotes the manufacturing history of the city and the pride, ability and skills of artisans and small business owners who work and create work.
Confartigianato Imprese Venezia has traditionally served as a union for members of different trades, protecting and coordinating them. For a number of years now, it has also tirelessly provided a wide range of additional services, from more standard ones catering to everyday business needs in various fields (administration, tax, staff management, the environment, health and safety) to innovative services that give companies a competitive edge. A great deal of training and promotional work is done to plan and run refresher courses for small business owners and their staff, develop programmes to revive traditional and artistic trades, and support business innovation in the digital world.
The association promotes studies, research and projects that aim to defend and champion the many different organizations on the local small business scene.
Finally, Confartigianato Imprese Venezia’s head office in Venice’s old town centre and its Lido, Murano, Burano, Pellestrina and Ca’ Savio branches also take part in social initiatives. Confartigianato Imprese works in tandem with Confartigianato Persone in order to provide concrete support and tangible services to local people and all family-run businesses, which are an irreplaceable driving force behind our community.
As part of the regional and national Confartigianato Imprese organizations, the association contributes to efforts on various levels to protect the excellence of attractive and exceptional workmanship.
Confartigianato Vicenza
Confartigianato Imprese Vicenza is a private not-for-profit association and Business Support Organisation (BSO) of Micro and SMEs, based in the city of Vicenza and born in 1945 with the aim of safeguarding entrepreneurs’ interests and supporting their actions to improve the local economic and social context. Today it is the largest employers’ organization in Italy with around 14,000 members from different business sectors. It is part of a regional and national confederation of BSOs, namely Confartigianato Imprese, which is also a founding member of the umbrella organisation SME United in Brussels.
The Association’s purposes are:
- to protect and promote craftsmanship values, SMEs, and economic associations in order to foster local development and promote societal and economic evolution processes
- to represent its members and safeguard their interests;
- to provide them with information, assistance and consulting;
- to encourage entrepreneurial modernization and innovation;
- to develop pro work, pro welfare and pro quality of life policies;
- to spread entrepreneurial culture respecting craftsmanship and SMEs’ values.
The main areas of activity can be grouped as follows:
- Advocacy and lobbying activities;
- Provision of services: to provide companies with a wide and qualified range of services, supporting them in “everyday activities”;
- Promotion of economic initiatives, aimed at favouring the aggregation processes among companies;
- Internationalization: offering tailor-made services for micro and SMEs in this field.
- Digitalization: Confartigianato Vicenza supports companies in the digital transition process through the Digital Innovation hub established in 2017.
Additionally, throughout the years, Confartigianato Vicenza has also been managing several regionally, nationally and internationally funded projects (e.g. Interreg, Erasmus+, Europeaid) involving an increasing number of companies from different sectors and fostering the important exchange of expertise and good practices at a European level.
