The S-ACCESS project is promoted by 7 Cluster organisations covering 1.000 SMEs from 12 COSME countries operating in the field of railway technologies, also extended to 6 more emerging industries. The Partners have an impressive record of joint activities already organised and are very experienced in internationalization activities for SMEs. The Partners strongly believe that the sectors where they operate (representing 2+3 out of the 14 EU Industrial Ecosystems for Recovery) are perfect for the development of new strategic approaches well re-applicable to other industrial sectors in Europe. In terms of export capacity the European rail industries are the main foreign suppliers on markets outside the EU; still, when coming to SMEs’ participation in public procurements, the numbers achieved on the international stage are very low: according to surveys we made within the “PERES ESCP-4i”, only 4,76% of the internationalised ones use tenders against 41% of direct sales and 22% through local agents. This is well explained by the 2019 European Commission “Study on the competitiveness of the Rail Supply Industry - Final Report” that, when addressing SMEs’ Access to markets, states: “one of the main barriers to internationalisation are the requirements often set by local/national tendering authorities which require the engagement of local SMEs for the provision of rail supplies. Although partnerships with large players can support the SMEs to explore new markets, the above-mentioned local requirements within tenders can be restrictive and hinder the possibilities of collaboration with SMEs”. Also for this our SMEs need to be supported in autonomous tendering and through this project the Partners will become ready to empower and assist them. The project addresses USA, Canada and Norway markets and has the confirmed cooperation - through Letters of Support - of EEN, ERCI and the Export Credit Agency of Germany, and – under an MoU - of Ohio Small Business Development Center.