Furniture Go International

Furniture Go International – FGOI – will help SMEs to reach new markets through collaboration and innovation. The project will establish a European Strategic Cluster Partnership to intensify cooperation in furniture and related industries, within EU and towards four third countries, namely USA, Canada, Egypt, and South Africa.

The 36 months project has a total budget of 549.248 € (GRANT) and 61.026 € (PRIVATE FUNDING).

Furniture Go International (FGOI) is a project with solid basis and ambitious goals, starting mid september 2021 and lasting 3 years. It is driven by eight clusters from six European countries which, for the first time, will pool all their market knowledge and experience to design internationalization activities exclusively for SMEs in the sector and 100% result-oriented. The aim is to offer useful and tailor-made tools to approach markets outside the European Union, in particular the United States, Canada, Egypt, and South Africa.

The participating clusters are: TFC-Transylvanian Furniture Cluster (Romania), HABIC-Association Cluster of Habitat, Wood, Office and Contract Sector (Spain), WIC-Wood Industry Cluster (Slovenia), KCN-Cluster of Czech Furniture Manufacturers (Czech Republic), ICS-Interior Cluster Sweden (Sweden), PWC-PRO WOOD Regional Cluster (Romania), BFC-Bulgarian Furniture Cluster (Bulgaria) and HCB-Habitat Cluster Barcelona (Spain). Combined, they add more than 500 companies, most of them SMEs.

OBJECTIVES

• Support european SMEs become a dinamic and relevant players in global competition.
• Help SMEs capable of internationalisation and conquering a top market position in USA, Canada, South Africa or Egypt.
• Promote a pan-European Strategic Cluster Partnership and lead international cluster cooperation in countries beyond Europe.
• Intensify the network across borders and across sectorial boundaries by boosting collaboration.

The project foresees, for example, the creation of long-term international alliances, the presence of permanent contacts in each of the markets of interest to guarantee the generation of business opportunities, and the design of tailor-made actions for the companies involved.

The European Commission has funded the project after having noted the harsh economic effects of COVID-19 on sectors that usually require products and services from the furniture and wood industry, such as tourism and retail. 70% of the 130,000 companies in the furniture manufacturing sector in the European Union are small or medium-sized, employing more than one million people.