FIWARE programme promotion at local level has been crucial for involving startups and SMEs not only to FIWARE, but also to Europe research and innovation environment.

Extensive experience of ceFIMS-CONNECT partners extracted from (co-)organizing and running different events and actions related to FIWARE programme promotion in 2014  have been compiled into a recommendations report available at http://www.cefims.eu/2014/11/fiware-accelerator-recommendations/.

Since no new FIWARE calls are expected, the content and orientation of these promotion events may evolve. The new focus points we recommend are:

• Promote national funding programmes where using FI-WARE is a plus for the proposals, either creating specific FI-WARE oriented funding instrument or identifying already existing programmes where FI-WARE technology is welcome.
• Promote startups and SMEs having succeed in FI-WARE. These companies and their representatives can share their experience in FI-WARE and is highly recommendable to give them a slot. The benefit is double: for the audience to know more about real experiences, and for the speakers to promote their work.
• Inform about new FI-WARE related initiatives such as the OASC (The Open & Agile Smart Cities) or the AIOTI  (The Alliance for Internet of Things Innovation). These people can provide to newcomers some keys to approach successfully FI-WARE solutions.