The Enterprise Europe Network provides support for

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

(SMEs) with international ambitions. Co-funded by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

's COSME and

Horizon 2020 The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europea ...

programmes, the Network's aim is to help businesses innovate and grow internationally. The Network is active in more than 60 countries worldwide. It brings together 3,000 experts from more than 600 member organisations, including: * chambers of commerce and industry * technology poles * innovation support organisations * universities and research institutes * regional development organisations

Advice for international growth

Enterprise Europe Network advisory services support businesses seeking to expand into international markets. The services cover a wide range of regulatory areas and market intelligence: * Compliance with EU regulations and standards (e.g.

CE marking On commercial products, the letters CE (as the logo ) mean that the manufacturer or importer affirms the good's conformity with European health, safety, and environmental protection standards. It is not a quality indicator or a certificatio ...

) * Access to international markets –

market intelligence Market intelligence (MI) is gathering and analyzing information relevant to a company's market - trends, competitor and customer (existing, lost and targeted) monitoring. It is a subtype of competitive intelligence (CI), which is data and infor ...

and

capacity building Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms ''capacity building'' and ''capacity development'' ha ...

* International public contracts –access to cross-border procurement and EU tender opportunities * National and regional finance and funding – identification of sources of finance and investor-readiness training * EU funding schemes and application support * Intellectual property rights (IPR) – patents and IPR applications and exploitation strategies * Energy and resource efficiency – identification of technologies and finance opportunities * Management improvement – capacity building

Support for business innovation

Enterprise Europe Network innovation support services are available based on an assessment of the needs and development phase of the business. At an entry level, Network services include: * information on innovation-related policies, legislation and support programmes * links with local innovation stakeholders * information about access to local sources of funding/support Network experts can provide one-to-one services to support innovation capacity building. Services include innovation audits, advice on intellectual property, marketing and access to finance. Finally, the Network provides key account management services to businesses benefitting from the Horizon 2020 SME instrument programme, part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot.

History

The Enterprise Europe Network was launched on 7 February 2008 by former EU Commissioner

Günter Verheugen Günter Verheugen (born 28 April 1944) is a German politician who served as European Commissioner for Enlargement from 1999 to 2004, and then as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry from 2004 to 2010. He was also one of five vice pr ...

. The Enterprise Europe Network combines the previous Euro Info Centres and the Innovation Relay Centres. From 2008 to 2014, the Network was co-financed by the EU's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), in cooperation with institutions at national and regional levels. From 2015 to 2020, the Network is co-financed under the European Union's programme for the competitiveness of SMEs (COSME) and Horizon 2020. Under the responsibility of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, the Enterprise Europe Network is managed by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME).

Media coverage

La rete Ue Een aiuti a 2,6 milioni pmi (ansa.it economia, Italy) Pmi, supporto a 2,6 milioni aziende da rete Ue Een (ilsole24ore.com, Italy) Apre alle start up la rete europea che aiuta le impresse a crescere (larepubblica.it, Italy) Scots firms export their green-energy expertise to Chile (energyvoice.com, UK) Start-ups: Learning to walk before you run (irishtimes.com, Ireland) Irish companies to get free access to Europe's largest opportunities database (businesspost.ie, Ireland) La UCLM informa a las pymes de opportunidades europeas en innovación (eldiario.es, Spain) Les TPE pourront-elles bientôt exporter vers les Etats-Unis? (lesechos.fr, France)

References

External links

Official Enterprise Europe Network Website
* Final evaluation of the impact of the Enterprise Europe Network 2008-2014 (executive summary): * Final evaluation of the impact of the Enterprise Europe Network 2008-2014 (full report): *Interim Evaluation of the COSME Programme Final Report: {{Cite web, url=http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/28084, title=DocsRoom - European Commission, website=ec.europa.eu, language=en, access-date=2018-07-23. International organizations based in France Organizations related to small and medium-sized enterprises Pan-European trade and professional organizations