S3: Growth and competitiveness of SMEs
Summary of the European Alliance Against Coronavirus Daily Webinar on 9 September 2020
In this webinar, the EAAC looked at the role of clusters for the resilience of SMEs and the implementation of the smart specialisation strategies with examples from Slovakia and Romania.
Giving the introduction, Mikel Landabaso from the Joint Research Centre emphasised the important of sustainability in the smart specialisation strategies. Now we have to use the opportunity to strengthen the resilience of our regions and bounce forward in the green and digital transition. Therefore, we have to understand the real potential of the regions and use public-private partnerships to adapt the idea of smart specialisation to the regions and recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
Daniel Ács from the Union of Slovak Clusters explained how smart specialisation strategies are put into action in Slovakia. Even though there has been improvement in the collaboration with the government, it needs a continuous effort to position clusters as helpful actors and to put RI4 into action. There are positive developments: New clusters are emerging, which are reacting quickly to the current needs, e.g. in the fields of cybersecurity, hydrogen, or batteries.
Isoline Roger-Dalbert from DG GROW presented the EU SME strategy to address the goals set in the recovery plans. Key actions to improve the competitiveness of SMEs include digitisation and sustainability, access to finance, and cutting red tape. Its success depends on the collaboration of the different actors, including the involvement of the EU SME Envoy.
Gabriela Macoveiu from ADR Nord Est explained how RIS3 is implemented on national and regional level in Romania – with the support of clusters. It is used to develop a new project portfolio and to define priorities for ROP North-East 2021-2027, which include – among others – the consolidation of R&I capacities in the regions, technology transfer, the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, or digitisation.
A recording of the session is available here.
These are the presentations shown during the meeting:
Clustere si rolul lor 2021-2027 septembrie 2020_Gabriela Macoveiu.pdf 200909 SME strategy - SME growth and competitiveness -V3.pdf ECA-UKS contribution RIS3 and Clusters.pdfFind information and recordings of previous meetings on the Role of Clusters in Accelerating the European Recovery (since September 2020) here. For European Alliance Against Coronavirus webinar summaries of March - July 2020, please follow this link.
Finally, please find information on the upcoming agenda here.
