Tag: SMEs

The financial and economic crisis is not yet over, with lingering uncertainties about growth, competition and profits. Therefore, stricter credit terms are an important topic for small and medium enterprises, argues Markus Stock.

SPECIAL REPORT / A new European Commission-backed SME funding instrument, launched last week, seeks to entice increasingly wary banks to back the strapped sector by matching risk associated with innovative companies. But SMEs feel gloomier than ever, new data show.

SPECIAL REPORT / Pan-European venture capital and US-style 'angel investors' are set to be boosted to fight a continuing malaise in Europe’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector, along with measures to reduce red tape.

Germany is steaming ahead of traditional leaders France in research and development, says a new study by the French economy and finance ministry. EurActiv.fr reports.

The European Union has bet big on innovation as a source for growth, but on the ground, the finances of many regional research agencies and competitiveness clusters are endangered by conflicting public finance rules. EurActiv France reports.

European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani said yesterday (17 October), during the launch conference of EurActiv Italia, that he is about to tell member states to pursue early transposition into national law of the late payments directive, scheduled initially for 2013. EurActiv Italy reports.

European SMEs could scoop up additional profits of €1.2 billion if they set aside their persistant security fears over cloud computing and adopt the new technology, claimed participants at a round table yesterday (October 4).

Northern European countries are reaping more than twice the benefits than their crisis-riven southern counterparts from the internet as a contributor to their net GDP, according to a new survey. 

The Commission will next week extend a €200 million 'social' micro-financing project helping Roma communities in Bulgaria and a company manufacturing fashion handbags in the Netherlands.

The EU executive and member states should be forced to consider the impact that their laws will have on SMEs before they introduce them, according to Daniel Calleja Crespo, the EU's SME envoy. He also confirmed that extra financing with the EU's new budget will be targeted at any type of SME which has a growth potential and will not only be reserved for innovative or research-led companies focusing on EU priorities.

SMEs jostling for gains in the research budget and changes to the structural funds in the Commission's Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) remain unclear which sectors will scoop the rewards in the complicated EU funding 'jungle'.

While the EU is marred by a severe debt crisis and a lackluster economic recovery, schools and companies are trying to make the changes necessary to adapt the workforce to new challenges and increase entrepreneurship and competitiveness. 

The London Stock Exchange is collaborating with the European Commission to devise new funding mechanisms for SMEs, and new SME envoys from all member states will meet for the first time in Budapest next week, the European Business Summit heard yesterday (19 May).

An increasing amount of help and advice is given to European companies that wish to sell their goods and services in emerging markets such as China and India, where renewable energy and green technologies are seen as major areas for growth.

The language barrier and culture clashes are preventing European companies from tapping into the Chinese market, agreed organisers of an EU-China management exchange scheme. Meanwhile, the EU has opened a centre in Beijing to help SMEs.

The city of Liège in the south-east of Belgium is making place for small businesses to grow their activities as part of a long-term strategy to revive the economic life of urban areas, using money from the EU.

Europe's biggest competitive challenges for the future are "the two Ds" – debt levels in many countries and demographics or ageing populations, according to Jan Muehlfeit, Microsoft's chairman for Europe, who believes part of the solution lies in cloud computing.

The European Commission's latest attempt to take up the mantle of improving EU legislation was released in a paper last Friday (8 October), but critics say a failure to address flaws in impact assessment pinpointed by the European Court of Auditors shows that reforms are losing momentum.

The much-vaunted green economy promises a new stream of jobs at a time of rising unemployment, but are European companies ready to capitalise on this potential? EurActiv's media network looks at which countries are best-placed to benefit from the green revolution and examines the barriers facing smaller firms.

Fast-growing small firms will gain access to fresh sources of money by 2012 via a network of specialist stock exchanges under new European Commission proposals due next month.

European governments are stepping up their efforts to boost innovation ahead of the publication of the EU's research and innovation strategy, which is due next month. EurActiv's network looks at how small businesses across Europe can be part of the innovation ecosystem. 

Although Germany's capital is short on big businesses, small enterprises are abundant, with creative industries in particular blossoming faster than in other cities. In Berlin, this creative boom is aided by a project which helps SMEs to deal with the bureaucratic procedure of obtaining EU regional funds. EurActiv Germany reports.

The EU's approach to innovation policy is too focused on science and research, with too little attention paid to business, according to entrepreneurs.

The European Commission last week (24 June) gave the green light to new measures designed to simplify access to EU regional and cohesion funds, a measure the EU executive hopes will provide much-needed liquidity in tackling the economic crisis.