• H2020
• Industrial Leadership
• SMEs

110 SME Instrument-funded companies came together on 30 September in Brussels for the Phase II welcome days. The aim was to bring together SMEs that have been selected for financing under Horizon 2020 to develop innovative products that will disrupt the market, increase the EU’s competitiveness, and create growth and jobs.

At the event, participants were able to meet, answer interrogations and solve common challenges, as well as collecting thoughts from SMEs on their needs and expectations for the third phase of the programme.

The most significant ideas to emerge were the need for a quality label, the utility of sharing experience and a pledge for support to meet investors.

SMEs were split into five parallel workshops divided between topics of interest. A first group looked at finding new investors at workshops. It concluded that a quality label is badly needed as it would help the programme build a solid reputation which would open doors to investors. SMEs would also benefit from investors’ expertise and networks. They expressed the need for preparatory workshops organised by sector with experienced SMEs before meeting investors and followed by small matching events with investors from the sector.

Meanwhile, a workshop on working with corporates and public procurers concluded that a quality label was also needed to attract the trust and attention of corporates. SMEs proposed to work together in this regard. It can be difficult to find the right interlocutor within corporates as they see a number of offers from SMEs every day. Addressing corporates as a group of SME Instrument champions could help win their attention.

A workshop on visibility and communication also reaffirmed the need for a quality label that would act like an approved business innovation quality stamp.

Participating in overseas fairs was identified as a good way of finding new clients and partners. SMEs expressed a wish for tailormade support to maximise results in trade fairs.

Finally, a workshop on learning discovered that there is a very high interest in sharing experiences with peer SMEs. 80% of the knowledge is already in the group, and the focus should be result-oriented and lead to fast growth. Entering new markets, financing strategies, risk mitigation for investors, intellectual property, regulatory issues, and tendering were identified as potential areas of interest for training.