Providing support to SMEs in Thuringia

ongoing

"Against the background of multiple challenges such as major geopolitical changes, climate change, the long-term effects of COVID-19, ageing populations and the Russia-Ukraine war, individual Member States and the EU as a whole need to innovate, digitise and adopt sustainable business models to maintain and regain their economic power and competitiveness. In line with the objectives of the EEN-2024 Call, the ""EEN Thuringia"" project will support local SMEs with a comprehensive range of services to address these challenges and develop sustainable and resilient business models. Based on their organisational profile, the two project partners IHK Erfurt and STIFT will complement each other's range of support measures and integrate seamlessly into the regional business support ecosystem. At the same time, competencies, knowledge and brokerage facilities will be exchanged with all network partners for mutual benefit to ensure the best use of resources across the Network and across the local, national and/or the EU support ecosystem. The EEN-Thuringia's activities will focus on: • Facilitating SME’s access to the Single Market and to third country markets • Analysing SME’s innovation capacity and support their innovation management improvement • Supporting local SMEs in finding the most appropriate financing and/or funding sources for their projects and engage in international technology and R&D cooperation • Supporting regional SMEs recognising and exploiting their potential for sustainable business development • Helping SMEs to identify their needs for digitalisation and getting the right support • Helping SMEs to identify high economic risks at an early stage and build up resilience • Identifying the specific needs of internationally oriented start-up companies and supporting them in their scale-up phase with tailored business advice and brokerage service "