SMEs

Calls

Affordable Housing Initiative: Call for proposals now open

The Affordable Housing Initiative is part of the EU’s Renovation Wave Strategy, which aims to build a fair, green society. A new call for proposals under the initiative seeks to provide support, capacity building, and networking for local industrial partnerships, with the ambition to pilot 100...
ECCP News

What funding and support is available for SMEs?

To help SMEs navigate the current economic crisis, the European Commission has created several funding schemes. In particular, the REACT-EU funding scheme is a comprehensive and ambitious recovery plan. It will play a key role in ensuring a balanced recovery, fostering convergence, and ensuring no...
ECCP News

Making the EU's financial system more sustainable

The European Commission’s new Sustainable Finance Strategy sets out several initiatives to tackle climate change while increasing investment in the EU's transition towards a sustainable economy The strategy will be more inclusive for SMEs. In recent years, the Commission took action to build the...
ECCP News

Read the European Commission's SME performance review

The SME performance review is one of the main tools the European Commission uses to monitor and assess countries' progress in implementing the SME strategy and the Small Business Act (SBA). The review provides comprehensive information on the performance of SMEs in EU countries and other partner...
ECCP News

Innovate to Transform call for SMEs now open

Further to the adoption of the main Horizon Europe Work Programme on 15 June, calls for proposals are now opening. Under Cluster 4, the ‘Innovate to transform’ support for SMEs’ sustainability transition call is now open. With a budget of €10 million in 2021, this action will support the provision...
ECCP News

European Innovation Council supports innovative start-ups and SMEs

Since 2020, the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund has approved 111 investments for highly innovative start-ups and SMEs, totalling around €500 million. Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth said: “The EIC Fund has developed incredibly quickly and...
ECCP News

How virtual marketplaces make SMEs more resilient

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, the health crisis has had a huge impact on SMEs globally. Since then, they face a challenging economic climate while having to deliver competitive and high-quality services. Many SMEs found it difficult to stay connected to their customers during the...
ECCP News

SMEs on the road to recovery

The European Union is currently working to reach its goal of vaccinating 70% of its citizens. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced that an additional 1.8 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered by BioNTech/Pfizer. As these are delivered, more and more EU...
ECCP News

Participate now in a survey on EU cluster support platforms

On behalf of the European Commission’s DG GROW, Prognos AG is conducting an EU-wide survey to collect insights on the effectiveness of the ECCP and EREK platform among users. The survey aims to answer the following questions: What has been the impact of EU cluster support for your cluster...
ECCP News

Strategies and actions to increase resilience in SMEs

On 15 April, the European Alliance Against Coronavirus discussed how to increase resilience in SMEs with Veronica Elena Bocci from DITECFER. The session took place in the frame of the Spanish Cluster Congress 2021. Veronica highlighted that disruptions happen at a higher frequency than we might...
ECCP News

DigiCirc launches second open call for Blue Economy solutions

DigiCirc accelerates innovation by identifying cutting-edge circular economy solutions and promoting business development. From 2020–2022, DigiCirc is organising three Accelerator Programmes, with €2.4 million in funding for SMEs in: Circular cities; Blue economy; Bioeconomy. The second open call...
ECCP News

Study on the effectiveness of public innovation support for SMEs in Europe

The European Commission’s Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) has published a study on the effectiveness of public innovation support for SMEs in Europe. The aim of this study is to gather evidence to determine whether the delivery of public innovation support in Europe...