European Commission policy and instruments for SME internationalisation Luis CUERVO SPOTTORNO DG enterprise and Industry "Access to Markets" unit UNIDO, Vienna - 6 May 2014 Why are SMEs important? 0.2 Number of Enterprises (%) Value Added at Factor Costs (%) 42.4 99.8 SMEs SMEs Large Large 57.6 Employment (%) Net new jobs 200215 2010 (%) 33.5 SMEs SMEs Large Large 66.5 85 SBA principles and priority areas Access to markets (intra-EU and extra-EU) Entrepreneurship 10. Internationalisation 9. Environment 8. Skills and innovation 7. Single market 6. Access to finance Access to finance 1. Entrepreneurship 2. Second chance 3. Think Small First 4. Responsive administration 5. State aid and publ. proc. Reduction of administrative burden Internationalisation beyond the single market Of all EU internationally active SMEs just half operate outside the single market Import 14% 86% Export 13% 87% Subcontracting 2% 0% 98% 20% 40% 60% Active beyond single market 80% 100% Not active SME internationalisation policy in the EU • Principles: - Hold regulatory dialogues with third countries to ease conditions for doing business (SME dialogues) - Earmark opportunities for European SMEs in third countries (Missions for Growth) - SMEs to profit from opportunities from SME Letters of Intent and EU Free Trade Agreements - SMEs to use EU support networks, instruments and finance • Instruments: Enterprise Europe Network - EU Business Centres - IPR Helpdesks – cluster internationalisation – mapping exercises - SME international business portal - Market Access Database • EU financing: COSME / Horizon 2020 / "SME Instrument" DG ENTR / UNIDO SME Policy dialogue Way forward Objective: Foster SME internationalisation / cooperation (EU and developing countries) 3 pillars for cooperation - Promote entrepreneurial education & training - Upgrade business environment -Target markets & sectors - Encourage use of EU instruments (e.g. EEN,clusters) Efficient use of EU financial assistance (e.g. COSME, Horizon 2020) + EIB funding Thank you for your attention! Contact: Luis.cuervo-spottorno@ec.europa.eu More information: http://een.ec.europa.eu/ https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/smeip/