KISS ME - Knowledge & Innovation Strategies involving SME in the context of INTERREG

Closed

Improving the innovation capacity in SMEs is one of the most important - and thus most common - objectives across Europe to reach the EU2020-goal of Smart Growth. A lot of policy instruments have been established to contribute to this objective. But it seems not easy to reach the SMEs with structural funds, especially in cross-border regions. In this context it is remarkable that different border regions with the same objectives and comparable policy instruments (e.g. INTERREG-Programmes) still use different strategies and projects to realise SME involvement. The KISS ME project partners will use this differences to improve their policy instruments addressing SMEs to develop, grow and engage in innovation processes. At the Hungarian-Croatian border region, cross-border cooperation is still at a low level. The project partner HAMAG BICRO however is now involved in an SME scheme for financial support (“PP Light scheme”), which is unique in South-Eastern Europe. In the Norwegian-Swedish border region, cross-border cooperation among SMEs is developed in some sectors, but can be further improved. At the French-Spanish border, an EGTC was created to strengthen the cross-border cooperation. Their project to stimulate exchanges between SMEs was awarded in 2014. Last but not least, at the Dutch-German border, there is a lot of experience in financing SME-projects. But preparation of projects for the new CBC Programme shows that SME cooperation is not self-evident. Keeping in mind these differences, the KISS ME-project objective is to strengthen the innovation capacity of SMEs by comparing the approaches of four different border regions, exchanging tools to reach SMEs and improving the policy instruments. Based on the findings, action plans will be developed which will then be implemented in a second phase. The project results will be disseminated at European level and will be valuable for all regions trying to support SME competetiveness jointly across borders.

Medium