"The SMART project will realise services to support SMEs participation in RTD research projects under the Transport Work-Programme, including: a) services to connect Regional Clusters from different countries, facilitating networking, partnerships creations among SMEs and other organisations b) full-support for SMEs involvement in RTD own projects and participation in projects led by large organisations; c) awareness, and training actions on European funding opportunities and mechanisms; d) added value information including a database of qualified SMEs that will create “meta-clusters” where Large Enterprises could identify partners for their large-sized projects. The project will be based on the following pillars:- The SMART Consortium comprising Regional SMEs Clusters, Public Innovation Agencies, Private Technology Transfer companies, and Large Enterprises linked to Regional Clusters.- The SMART innovative approach based on the involvement of Large Organisations working with regional clusters, that will be engaged in supporting the SMEs innovation processes, starting from SMEs operating in their supply chain; the SMART approach will provide Large Organisations with: 1) the competitiveness improvement of their Ecosystem 2) the capability of benefit from SMEs innovations, and 3) Corporate Social Responsibility objectives. Nine large organizations already provided their formal interest in the SMART project- Optimisation of public-funded and private-funded initiatives in transport: SMART will exploit and create synergies with EC funded initiatives and private driven actions- Specific IT support tools and methodologies developed in precedent European-funded projects such as a database on funding programs (with data in exportable XML format), and a tailor-made IT systems to manage projects, partners, and competences"