The START2ACT Energy Efficiency Consultancy offers solutions for young businesses for adopting behavioural change measures towards energy efficiency at the workplace. Funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, the services are offered free-of-charge for interested companies.

The consultancy comprises on-site visits for SMEs and startups. While SMEs are visited by START2ACT experts three times over the course of a year, the startups receive a one-time compact introduction to low-to-no-cost energy efficiency measures. The goal of the service is to help these businesses incorporate energy efficiency into their regular business operation.

A prominent feature of the consultancy for SMEs is that it is customizable to the needs of the businesses. Therefore, the first visit consists of a collaborative assessment of energy consumption and demand of the customer's workplace. The second and third visit allows the participants to develop, together with the trainer, a sustainable energy management plan for the company, as well as to learn about efficient metering and monitoring techniques and successful employer engagement.

The startup mentoring provides, on the other hand, a concise one-hour overview on the central topics of energy consumption and carbon footprint, energy consumption monitoring and energy saving actions. As they are carried out at incubators, accelerators or co-working spaces, the energy efficiency mentoring constitutes a useful addition to the general business development courses offered to startups.

Both the mentoring and the training are available in the 9 partner countries of the START2ACT project: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.

For Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

On-site training activities are a series of 3 free-of charge training units at young SMEs. START2ACT energy expert trainers will visit companies and will develop a tailor-made training with and for them. The pre-set but flexible modular structure guarantees high training efficiency:

• SEE - Getting to know available tools and possible benefits of energy efficiency.
• CHECK - Analysis of the as-is state and potential savings.
• ACT - Take up and carry out solutions, ranging from quick-and-easy to in-depth support.

For Startups

Mentoring sessions integrated in regular acceleration and incubation programmes. START2ACT energy experts and coaches will meet you at startup mentoring programmes and help building energy efficiency into business plans, enterprise structure and management. Three modules will guide the trainings and help tailor them to your individual needs:

• SEE - What's in for me? Getting to know available tools and possible benefits.
• CHECK - Where are my potentials? Analysis of the as-is state and potential energy savings.
• ACT - How to go that way? Take up and carry out solutions.

To get the maximum impact delivered to your startup, START2ACT experts accompany the mentoring sessions with a comprehensive monitoring-feedback system and support participating startups with the interactive online platform.

DOWNLOAD START2ACT Handbook for on - site capacity building activities: https://ictfootprint.eu/en/file/1382/download?token=RxsczFQF