The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and Kinneret Academic College have launched a call for proposals to create new innovative products or services that improve energy and/or water efficiency for businesses in the tourism industry. The call is part of the transboundary GREENinMED project and funded by the European Union through the ENI CBCMED programme.

The hotel industry in the Mediterranean at large, and Israel specifically, is one of the most important worldwide and continues to register significant growth. The growing demands of this sector come with several environmental drawbacks such as the substantial consumption of water and energy. With the aim of helping hotels to stay competitive and improve at the same time their capacity of eco-innovation, GREENinMED proposes an integrated approach for the development of new products and services addressed to the efficient use of water and energy, and reduction in consumption by 10% within the hotel industry. To reach this goal, eight Israeli small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or start-ups will be selected to receive a grant for the development or adaptation of new eco-innovative products or services for the benefit of the tourism industry in the fields of water and energy consumption and/or management.

Each beneficiary will receive a maximum eligible budget of 25,000 euros, with 90% co-financing from the European Union, meaning the maximum grant per application is 22,500 euros.

Eligible types of activities are:

· The generation of new supplies or products/services that make a significant improvement in the management and consumption of water or energy for companies in the tourism sector.

· The generation of new applications or product and process engineering for efficient water and/or energy management and consumption for companies in the tourism sector.

· New applications, programmes or remote management systems for water and/or energy in the hotel and tourism industry.

· Active adaptation of emerging technologies or improvement of proprietary technologies to new target markets.

· Carrying out technological development activities to generate new products or services in cooperation with research or innovation centres.

· Carrying out technological development activities to generate new products or services in cooperation with companies in the tourism sector.

Applications must be submitted to greeinmed.il@gmail.com by 20/12/2022.

The call, application form, and all necessary documents are available on https://www.enicbcmed.eu/projects/greeninmed