Networking businesses for innovative ideas and better SME policies in regions – interim E-teams approach experiences Marcin Baron, Project Co-ordinator.

E-teamsINTERREGIONALENTREPRENEURIALTEAMS

Networking businesses for innovative ideas and better SME policies in regions –

interim E-teams approach experiences

Marcin Baron, Project [email protected]

www.eteams.ae.katowice.pl

E-TEAMS OBJECTIVE

To create European

platform with

sustainable regional

and interregional

organizational

structures for SME

support with specific

focus on inter-

nationalization.

E-TEAMS APPROACH

Entrepreneurs [E-teams] provide feedbackon existing and planned SMEs support policies.

Regional policy makers [MAP groups] analyseexisting SMEs support policies and elaboratenew approaches.

Policy makers from 8 EU regions participated in benchlearning exchange programme to reflect upon SME policies in the twinning regions.

8 regional benchmarking reports on SME support policies were elaborated.

On the background of real

business cases, SMEs

provide constant

interregional feedback to existing

policies and practices as well as

propose solutions for the future.

European Benchlearning

Report on SME support

policies and practices

as well as

Interregional Report on

SMEs’ experiences and

expectations towards

SME support

system were

elaborated.

www.eteams.ae.katowice.pl

Debates leading to creation of regional implementation strategies for better SME support instruments have been started.

LESSONS LEARNED

• Too many projects and platforms involving policy makers diminish the critical mass necessary to add value to economy.

• Many of the projects approaching SMEs become arenas for complaints instead of boosting their performance.

• SMEs expectations towards SME policies tend to be much closer to the idea of welfare state (or even centrally planned economy) than to market economy.

• Participation dilemma: weak SMEs join all possible workshops to sit and talk, while good SMEs do their business. Policy inputs are based on mirages of dreamers instead of being driven by market-related expectations of innovative doers?

LESSONS LEARNED

• Regional and local policy makers tend to blame EU or

national regulations as well as lack of SMEs’

involvement in economic debates, whereas these

prerequisites are the same for successful and

unsuccessful actors and will not be changed in short nor

medium term.

• Sharing best practices without failure stories may lead

to inefficient ‘copy & paste’ structures and

organizations.

• SMEs and policy makers are ‘tired’ with animators,

facilitators, etc.

LESSONS LEARNED

• Animating individual actions cannot be successful

without supporting systems for leveraging growth and

revenue creation (e.g. in business-academia links or

B2B actions).

• Utilizing fragmented SME support practices consumes

too much time and money for average firm and brings

limited add value to regional economy.

• Challenge for Objective III programs: differences in

business culture, lack of language skills and problems

with understanding country specific regulations are

still a barrier to internationalization

within the EU.

CONCLUSIONSME policies at every level of Europeangovernance should encompass:

• deep market orientation of policy instruments;

• reflection upon the needs of dynamic and innovative SMEs;

• promoting systematic approach on regional level;

• opening opportunities for innovative interregional actions.

LEAD PARTNER

The Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in KatowiceSlaskie, Poland

PROJECT PARTNERS

Bautzen Innovation CenterSachsen, Germany

Coventry University Enterprises Ltd.West Midlands, UK

Incubator of New Enterprises of ChaniaKriti, Greece

Institute Pedro NunesCentro, Portugal

Klaipeda Regional Development AgencyLietuva, Lithuania

Södertörns högskola University CollegeStockholm, Sweden

Terrassa City CouncilCatalunya, Spain

University of Girona Technological TrampolineCatalunya, Spain

University of OuluPohjois-Suomi, Finland

E-teamsINTERREGIONALENTREPRENEURIALTEAMS

www.eteams.ae.katowice.pl

[email protected]

Marcin Baron

Project Co-ordinator

[email protected]

mobile: +48 600980523

office: +48 322577120

fax: +48 322577113

skype: marcin.baron