The Enterprise Europe Network Peter Wragg European Commission European Commission Enterprise and Industry
EU SME Policy Context Europe 2020 - strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth: Includes an industrial policy for globalisation and measures to improve the business environment, notably for SMEs. Small Business Act : a package of 10 key principles with legislative and non-legislative measures. Includes measures for SMEs to access globalised markets. Competitiveness and Innovation Programme: to contribute to the competitiveness and innovative capacity of the EU, paying particular attention to the needs of SMEs European Commission Enterprise and Industry
SME facts and figures • EU has 23 million SMEs (<250 persons) • 99% of all EU enterprises • 59% of the Union's total economic added value • 90 million jobs (67% of private employment) • SMEs are – adaptable with flexible structures – key generators of employment – important source of innovation European Commission Enterprise and Industry
SME access to markets • Single European Market 25% of EU SMEs export to the internal market and beyond 500 million consumers in the EU • International markets Only 13% of EU SMEs are internationally active outside the EU European Commission Enterprise and Industry
A network of excellence • The largest network offering integrated business and innovation support services targeted at SMEs • Organisations from the business support community join forces to offer a one-stop service for enterprises at European level • Implementation of the ‘ No wrong door’ principle • The broadest range of services for SMEs in the EU and beyond European Commission Enterprise and Industry
Key facts and figures on the Network • Started in 2008; and will be renewed for the period 2014-2020. • 600 organisations involved in the Network: mix of regional chambers of commerce, business organisations, technology and innovation agencies, sector associations, regional development agencies, research organisations and universities. • Centres in all EU27 Member States and 26 countries worldwide • More than 3000 experienced staff • 4000 local events organised annually on SME-related topics • € 380 million EU contribution for supported projects until 2014 European Commission Enterprise and Industry
Key Network services • Facilitating SMEs’ awareness raising and access to information on Community legislation and programmes and promotion of SME participation in them • Helping SMEs to expand to new markets, to find cooperation partners, to fully exploit the opportunities of the internal market • Facilitating technology and knowledge transfer, partnership building between the various actors, innovation services, improving innovative capacity of SMEs • Increase R&D activities of SMEs by assisting participation in FP7 • Organising a sounding board for future EU policies through feedback functions and business panels European Commission Enterprise and Industry
The Network’s value chain European Commission Enterprise and Industry
The Network’s results since 2008 • Helped businesses to sign over 9,255 partnership agreements • Organised international brokerage events for over 30,000 companies • Local events for half a million companies • Over 250,000 technology and company reviews, IPR, financing & funding • 9000 SMEs consulted via feedback and panels • Information and services used by over 2.5 million SMEs European Commission Enterprise and Industry
Unique worldwide coverage • Full coverage throughout all EU regions • Europe:Norway, Iceland and Switzerland • US and Canada • Candidate countries: Croatia, FYROM, Turkey • Neighbourhood: Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, • Latin America: Brazil, Chile and Mexico • Asia: China, Hong Kong, Japan, India European Commission Enterprise and Industry
Sector Groups • Structured support to SMEs in specific sectors • Sectoral approach, demand-driven, bottom-up • Principle of “No wrong door”: SMEs can contact any Network partner to get access to all the services of the Network • In addition, specialised services provided for companies in specific sectors of activity European Commission Enterprise and Industry
The Network’s 17 Sector Groups • Maritime Industry and • Agrofood • Services Automotive, Transport and Logistics • Materials • Biotech, Pharma and • Nano- and Cosmetics Microtechnologies • Chemicals • Services and Retail • Creative industries • Space and Aerospace • Environment • Sustainable Construction • Healthcare • Textiles • ICT Industry and Services • Tourism and Cultural • Intelligent Energy Heritage European Commission Enterprise and Industry
Tools for internationalisation and innovation support • Cooperation databases with over 12,000 active profiles – Bulletin Board Services (BBS) to disseminate technology offers and requests . – Business Cooperation Database (BCD) to help firms find partners for commercial cooperation • Automatic matching tools and robots to alert over 30 000 clients of matching profiles European Commission Enterprise and Industry
Automatic Matching and dissemination Companies interested for partnership Technology and Business cooperation profiles Client contact resulting in EACI quality check Matching encoding of request or If one keyword offer for cooperation in common Send Email with Matched offers/request Matching History European Commission Enterprise and Industry
European Commission Enterprise and Industry
European Commission Enterprise and Industry
Success Stories A German maker of environmentally friendly chemical products swiftly found a new distributor in Denmark. Jens Becker, Bio-Circle export manager, says: “We never found such a reliable business partner in such a short time. The Network is outstanding at generating successful business contacts – we couldn’t have done it without them.” With new machines from Austria, a Siberian agricultural firm prepares to branch out into butter and juice production after landing new SME suppliers through the Network. European Commission Enterprise and Industry
Success Stories British nanotechnology specialist Owlstone will supply its chemical detection system to a Luxembourg company. Acute myeloid leukaemia is a rare blood cancer that progresses rapidly in the body and can cause death within months or weeks if untreated. Two SMEs in Sweden and the UK are researching a promising new treatment, supported by € 500,000 in EU funding. European Commission Enterprise and Industry
Success Stories The Swiss company Hydroplant found a way to literally grow plants on walls after the Network matched it with Dutch horticultural innovator Quick Plug that cultivated a new substrate for vertically grown plants with their own automatic watering system. British company Orthos Limited has signed an exclusive patent license agreement with the Biomedical Engineering Research Centre (CREB) at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. European Commission Enterprise and Industry
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