Continuation of the EEN activities in the region of Flanders in 2020-2021

ended

The main objective of the project is to secure the EEN activities in the region of Flanders with regard to the challenges SMEs face nowadays. The VEBIN consortium is formed by 2 partners: Agentschap Innoveren & Ondernemen and Flanders Investment & Trade,both regional public agencies in Flanders. VEBIN wants to remove the roadblocks via a hub & spoke for signposting to quick guidance and a dedicated taskforce of experts focussed on EU matters. Via SME feedback actions the consortium will also advocate on behalf of SMEs for the reductions of uncessary barriers. Via targeted services VEBIN intends to enhance the SME readiness for accessing EU and non-EU markets and set up partnerships at 3 levels: business-to-business, business-to-finance and business-to-government. Ultimate goals is to open new markets, decrease the time-to-market, making business grow and consequently create jobs. The Network will create a broader window of opportunities both among the EU28 as in third countries assisting SMEs in moving beyond the domestic market, allow their natural expansion and augment their potential for job creation. Flemish SMEs often face inadequate prospects to fund their expansion by means of private capital. The VEBIN consortium intends to further open transnational SME fora. To nurture the innovative power of the Flemish economy some potential ways forward are outlined in the overall economic strategies of Flanders. Given their mission and by nature of the public tasks of the two partners, VEBIN will concentrate its activities along the vision and strategy of the Flemish government, perfectly in line also with the EU policy. The main contribution of the Flemish EEN activities will be, next to focus on making the most out of the Internal Market, to facilitate the integration of EU innovative SMEs, mainly scale-ups, via dedicated EEN journeys into the global market. Key in the activities will also to embed KAM and EIMC services on behalf of H2020 into the client journeys.