ETI actions continue to boost SME participation in EU research

Brussels, 03 Jun 2005

Given the scale and complexity of EU-level research programmes, ensuring the participation of a sufficient proportion of Europe's small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) has always been a challenge.

Economic and Technological Intelligence (ETI) actions were first launched under the Fifth Framework Programme (FP5) to provide strategic research support to European SMEs and to encourage their participation in EU research activities. The scheme was extended under FP6, and on 3 June the coordinators of the ETI actions within FP6 met in Brussels to take stock of their achievements and exchange best practices.

In terms of the overall goal of securing a 15 per cent participation by SMEs in the thematic priority areas of the framework programme, Barend Verachtert from the Commission's Research DG revealed that the current level of participation is at around 13 per cent. 'However, since that figure was calculated, numerous initiatives have been launched to increase it,' he said.

Such initiatives include adding topics to thematic priority work programmes designed to appeal to SMEs, as well as the publication of dedicated SME calls with earmarked budgets. Mr Verachtert also revealed that following the first ETI call, there are now ongoing ETI initiatives covering every thematic area of FP6. Furthermore, following the second ETI call the Commission is currently in negotiations with a further 22 potential actions, which will be more geared towards preparing SMEs for participation in the next framework programme, FP7.

A second DG Research speaker at the event, Henriette van Eijl, highlighted the valuable contribution that ETI actions have played in providing the Commission with input about the needs and interests of SMEs when preparing its call texts, particularly for dedicated SME calls. 'ETI actions also provide a useful dissemination channel for calls and other Commission initiatives in a language that SMEs understand,' added Ms van Eijl. 'They have presented FP6 to a wide variety of potential clients, acting as intermediaries of the Commission at a number of events that we simply do not have the resources to attend ourselves.'

A presentation by Carlos Peña from the ETI project SYNERGY provided an example of the kind of practical support to SMEs that such initiatives can provide. His consortium has developed the concept of 'knowledge-pills' - 'pieces' of information relevant to SMEs working within the distributed energy services market which they can use when taking strategic decisions.

'SMEs don't want to be presented with too much information, especially when it is irrelevant or biased, so we had to think how we could add value with the k-pill concept,' said Mr Peña. Thus, the SYNERGY consortium selects only the best available research results in the field of distributed energy services, and provides a summary of the research, together with an analysis of its maturity and potential competitive impact, as well as a commercial and technological risk assessment and links to any relevant documents or other sources of information. The knowledge pills are then sent to those SMEs for whom they will be most relevant, based on the consortium's knowledge of their client base.

Given the success of ETI actions under the current framework programme, the Commission hopes that the initiatives currently under negotiation will have an equally positive effect on SME participation in FP7, thus helping to ensure the future competitiveness of Europe's smallest and most dynamic companies.

For further information, please consult the following web address:
http:///sme.cordis.lu/economic/eti_projec ts.cfm

CORDIS RTD-NEWS / © European Communities
Item source: http:///dbs.cor dis.lu/cgi-bin/srchidadb?C ALLER=NHP_EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN= EN_RCN_ID:23920 Previous Item Back to Titles Print Item