THE PAE PROJECT
EUROPEAN AUTOMOTIVE CLUSTER

The Automotive Industry in the Greater Region

SMEs in the automotive sector in the Greater Region operate very widely in national value chains and are highly dependent on manufacturers and subcontractors of lower or higher rank active in their own region. Access to immediately adjacent markets, which would expand their operational base, is made difficult because of the lack of market knowledge and the specificities of products and services, as well as of difficulties to integrate existing networks.

Through the cooperation of the actors and the use of synergies of the companies of the various regions of the Greater Region will create a leading European Automotive Cluster both in terms of its size (jobs, vehicles produced) and its technological level.

The automotive industry in the Greater Region and the adjacent territories of the Greater East Region means:

2,500 companies
450,000 employees
nearly 2 million vehicles produced in the partner zone
several dynamic automotive clusters on the zone with different structure and operating mode

The PAE project

The PAE project brings together five Belgian, French and Luxembourg partners and five German associated partners under the coordination of the CCI Grand-Est. The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund via the Interreg VA Greater Region program.

PAE’s main objective is to strengthen competitiveness and attractiveness of the Greater Region’s automotive industry through coordinated cross-border actions.

Key objectives of the project

Strengthen the presence of SMEs in the Greater Region (Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Wallonia) and adjacent regions (Alsace, Baden Württemberg, Champagne Ardenne, etc.) in foreign markets

Improve the competitiveness of companies at the cross-border and international level (support to maintain a technological lead, adaptation of human resource skills to meet the development needs of new mobility and the industry of the future)

Reinforce cooperation between automotive clusters in the Greater Region, which are important tools for the sustainability of this approach