Boosting Smart and Innovatve-Driven Growth for Romanian SMEs

ended

Given the complex global economy, fast technology advancements and ever-changing business context, the capacities to understand markets' demands and build strategic partnerships are critical elements for business development. Moreover, in the Central and Eastern European economic context of growth and entrepreneurial discovery, the access of SMEs to trustable sources of information and dependable support are decisive. The Ro-Boost SMEs Consortium was built in 2015 to act as EEN on-stop-shop for SMEs, a hub providing valuable information and guidance on the European business environment, including regulations, international markets, business opportunities, innovation sourcing and uptake, transfer of novel technology and cross-cutting agile solutions, like the use of ICT, energy efficiency or eco-design. Focused on SMEs' needs, the Ro-Boost SMEs Consortium will further pursue to offer demand-driven and tailored value-added EEN services, to encourage SMEs to become active players in the Single Market and internationally. The consortium will target SMEs overall, but shall focus on bringing added-value to SMEs with high growth, innovation or internationalization potential, SMEs in regional strategic sectors with smart specialization potential, knowledge-intensive spin-offs and start-ups. The Ro-Boost SMEs Consortium - Macro Region 4 Romania, made up by the two Regional Development Agencies (West and South-West Oltenia), Arad Development Center, Tehimpuls Association and Craiova University, is built on a balanced, strong partnership, aiming to engage partners' extensive expertise in supporting SMEs to become more competitive in the European Union and internationally. The aim is to capitalize upon the work done in 2015-2016 and to enrich the impact in 2017-2018 period, through the greater accent put on results (PAs and ASOs) and overall increased impact for SMEs.