The Enterprise Europe Network is a cross-border

business network A business network is a complex, enduring, and interdependent web of business relationships among market and non-market actors that allow firms to co-create value in their business environment. Firms influence their markets by managing and signa ...

that provides support for

small and medium 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 many national agencies and international organizat ...

(SMEs) to innovate and grow internationally. It is co-funded by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

'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 Europe ...

programmes. The network is active in more than 60 countries worldwide and brings together over 3,000 experts from more than 600 member organisations, including

chambers of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to adv ...

and industry, technopoles, innovation support organisations, universities and research institutes, and regional development organisations.

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 vic ...

, combining the former 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 was 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).

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 The presence of the logo on Product (business), commercial products indicates that the Manufacturing, manufacturer or importer affirms the goods' conformity with European Environment, health and safety, health, safety, and environmental prote ...

) * 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 inf ...

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 have often ...

) * 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

The network's 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 Network experts can provide one-to-one services to support innovation capacity building. Such services include innovation audits, advice on intellectual property, marketing, and access to finance. The network also provides key account management services to businesses benefitting from the Horizon 2020 SME instrument programme, part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot.

External links

* 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: . International organizations based in France Organizations related to small and medium-sized enterprises Pan-European trade and professional organizations

References

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