Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank, the OECD, European Union, the United Nations, and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The European Structural and Investment Funds are financial tools governed by a common rulebook, set up to implement the regional policy of the European Union, as well as the structural policy pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy. They aim to reduce regional disparities in income, wealth and opportunities. Europe's poorer regions receive most of the support, but all European regions are eligible for funding under the policy's various funds and programmes. The current framework is set for a period of seven years, from 2021 to 2027.
The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) is an Executive Agency of the European Commission. EASME was founded in 2003 as the Intelligent Energy Executive Agency (IEEA) and was renamed the European Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) in 2007, finally becoming EASME in 2014. It is responsible for managing specific programmes in the fields of energy, the environment, and business support. Its goal is to promote sustainable development while improving the competitiveness of European industries. While the Agency has its own legal identity, it reports to several Directorates-General of the European Commission, which remain responsible for programming and evaluation of the programmes.
The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the European Research Area (ERA). Starting in 2014, the funding programmes were named Horizon.
The Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs is a Directorate-General of the European Commission. The Enterprise Directorate-General works on creating an environment in which European firms can thrive. The improvement of the business environment is to lead to a growth in productivity and subsequently create the jobs and wealth necessary to achieve the objectives set by the European Council in Lisbon in March 2000.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) is a set of major research fellowships created by the European Union/European Commission to support research in the European Research Area (ERA). The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are among Europe's most competitive and prestigious research and innovation fellowships.
The Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship was a vice-president of the European Commission.
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is the European Union's main legislative instrument aiming to promote the improvement of the energy performance of buildings within the European Union. It was inspired by the Kyoto Protocol which commits the EU and all its parties by setting binding emission reduction targets.
The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) of the European Commission is meant to improve the competitiveness of European companies facing the challenges of globalization. The programme is mainly aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which will receive support for innovation activities, better access to finance and business support services. It will run from 2007 to 2013.
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs is a European mobility scheme initiated by the European Union in 2009, which gives new or aspiring entrepreneurs an opportunity to get a first-hand, practical coaching from experienced entrepreneurs running small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in one of the 27 EU Members States.
The China IPR SME Helpdesk is a project funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry. It provides European small and medium-sized enterprises with free, practical support on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in China. According to its website, The China IPR SME Helpdesk's mission is to "support European Union (EU) small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to both protect and enforce their Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in or relating to China, through the provision of free information and services".
Creative Europe is a funding programme established by the European Union to support the cultural, creative, and audiovisual sectors across Europe. The main objectives of the programme are:
AEIDL is the European Association for Innovation in Local Development. It adopted this new name in June 2022, prior to which it was called the European Association for Information on Local Development/Association Européenne pour l'Information sur le Développement Local.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) was introduced by the European Commission to support the commercialization of high-risk, high-impact technologies in the European Union. The fully-fledged EIC was launched March 2021 under Horizon Europe and is incorporated within the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Its goal is to aid researchers, start-ups and SMEs bring their innovations to market by providing funding, networking and partnership opportunities, and business acceleration services. In its latest form, the concept has been put forth by the EU Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas in mid-2015. The EIC has a budget of €10.1 billion to support innovations throughout the lifecycle from early stage research, to proof of concept, technology transfer, and the financing and scale up of start-ups and SMEs.
Cascade Funding, also known as Financial Support for Third Parties (FSTP), is a European Commission mechanism to distribute public funding in order to assist beneficiaries, such as start-ups, scale-ups, SME and/or mid-caps, in the uptake or development of digital innovation.
The European Research Executive Agency is a funding body mandated by the European Commission to support the EU Research and Innovation policy. It has been established by the European Commission, based on Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003.
The European Defence Fund (EDF) is a component of the European Union's (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) which aims to coordinate and increase national investment in defence research and improve interoperability between national armed forces. It was proposed in 2016 by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and established in 2017. The fund has two stands; Research and Development & Acquisition. In July 2018, the European Commission announced that the EDF budget for 2021-2027 would be €13 billion. This sum was later revised by the European Commission as part of the new EU budget proposed on May 27, 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to which the EDF will be allocated €8 billion over this budget period.
The Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space is a department of the European Commission.
The Capital Markets Union (CMU) is an economic policy initiative launched by the former president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker in the initial exposition of his policy agenda on 15 July 2014. The main target was to create a single market for capital in the whole territory of the EU by the end of 2019. The reasoning behind the idea was to address the issue that corporate finance relies on debt (i.e. bank loans) and the fact that capital markets in Europe were not sufficiently integrated so as to protect the EU and especially the Eurozone from future crisis. The Five Presidents Report of June 2015 proposed the CMU in order to complement the Banking union of the European Union and eventually finish the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) project. The CMU is supposed to attract 2000 billion dollars more on the European capital markets, on the long-term.
The European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency (CINEA) is the European Commission agency which manages decarbonisation and sustainable growth. It is the successor organisation of the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA). Established on 15 February 2021, with a budget of €50 billion for the 2021-2027 period, it started work on 1 April 2021 in order to implement parts of certain EU programmes. The Agency will have a key role in supporting the European Green Deal, with a focus on creating synergies to support a sustainable, connected, and decarbonised Europe.
