CREATE will significantly contribute to overcoming barriers to growth & competitiveness experienced by SMEs in the predominantly rural areas of North West Europe. These barriers are geographic isolation. lack of infrastructure. lack of scale. poor clustering opportunities & critically. lack of ICT expertise. Next Generation Access broadband (NGA) & advanced ICT have the potential to transform the productivity of rural SMEs. The CREATE partners will work together to develop strategies to engage with SMEs to raise awareness of the potential of ICT & NGA. They will provide advice & mentoring specific to different sectors. supporting them to fully exploit the potential of their businesses & identify opportunities for transnational collaboration with other SMEs through clustering. The project will build on the Smart Specialisms of the partner regions to demonstrate the true capabilities of ICT to overcome the structural deficits of the rural economy & reduce the rural/urban divide. CREATE joins together a group of like-minded organisations spanning public sector authorities. private sector representative groups and business development agencies from France. the UK. Ireland and Belgium who share the aspiration of encouraging the economic development of their regions. The partners bring with them a wide range of skills. experience and expertise in a number of areas which will combine to make CREATE a success. The aim of the CREATE project is to have a long lasting impact on the competitiveness of SMEs in the peripheral areas of NWE by developing models of demand stimulation for Advanced ICT adoption and NGA broadband take up that can be rolled out across similar areas of Europe. This will result in the greater exploitation of ICT by SMEs in underperforming rural areas and will ultimately increase the economic performance of NWE. Achievements: The aim of the CREATE project is to have a long lasting impact on the competitiveness of SMEs in the peripheral areas of NWE by developing models of demand stimulation for Advanced ICT adoption and NGA broadband take up that can be rolled out across similar areas of Europe. This will result in the greater exploitation of ICT by SMEs in underperforming rural areas and will ultimately increase the economic performance of NWE.To date, in excess of 100 SMEs have benefitted across the 6 partner regions from one-to-one advice and guidance interventions from CREATE appointed Advisors. This advice covers how the application of technology through the adoption of new products and process applications can accelerate growth, reduce costs, increase productivity and improve competitiveness.A number of online applications have also been developed by CREATE for SMEs. These include assistance to improve online social marketing skills and the provision of an online presence for the participating SMEs across the 6 partner regions.