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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 European Union, the United Nations, and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In the European Union education is at the responsibility of its Member States and their Ministries of education that they have; in such, the European Union institutions play only a supporting and overseeing role. According to Art. 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Community
shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States, through actions such as promoting the mobility of citizens, designing joint study programmes, establishing networks, exchanging information or teaching languages of the European Union. The Treaty also contains a commitment to promote life-long learning for all citizens of the Union.
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.
A micro-enterprise is generally defined as a small business employing nine people or fewer, and having a balance sheet or turnover less than a certain amount. The terms microenterprise and microbusiness have the same meaning, though traditionally when referring to a small business financed by microcredit the term microenterprise is often used. Similarly, when referring to a small, usually legal business that is not financed by microcredit, the term microbusiness is often used. Internationally, most microenterprises are family businesses employing one or two persons. Most microenterprise owners are primarily interested in earning a living to support themselves and their families. They only grow the business when something in their lives changes and they need to generate a larger income. According to information found on the Census.gov website, microenterprises make up 95% of the 28 million US companies tracked by the census.
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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.
European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME is the largest European confederation of voluntarily associated small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It is a Brussels-based business federation which currently counts 25 European associations among its members, with more than 2.1 million enterprises, employing over 20 million people. It maintains relationships with 15 partner associations in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.The Confederation's president is Maurizio Casasco, President of the Italian SME association CONFAPI, and the Co-President Mr. Markus Jerger, Executive Director of the Gerrman SME association BVMW.
Enterprise Capital Funds are financial schemes established by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in the United Kingdom to address a market weakness in the provision of equity finance to UK small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Government funding is used alongside private sector funds to establish funds that operate within the "equity gap"; targeting investments of up to £5 million that have the potential to provide a good commercial return. The first five funds supported under the scheme were launched in 2006-7 following a pathfinder competition. A further three funds were awarded ECF status in 2007. As of November 2019, 29 ECFs have been launched.
The Enterprise Europe Network provides support for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) with international ambitions. Co-funded by the European Union's COSME and Horizon 2020 programmes, the Network's aim is to help businesses innovate and grow internationally.
Euclid Network (EN) is a European network of organisations that support social entrepreneurs. Members are based in 21 countries and represent over 100.000 organisations within and outside of Europe. EN is a strategic partner of the European Commission and an observer to the United Nations Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE),
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ERENET is an open-ended research and development network aiming at carrying out research on entrepreneurship and developing entrepreneurial curricula and teaching materials among the Central- and Eastern European high-schools and academic universities. The network is based on a partnership relation among its members.
SME Europe is the official business association of the European People's Party with the aim of defending the interests of small and medium-sized enterprises at European level. The organisation was founded in May 2012 by the three Members of the European Parliament, Paul Rübig, Nadezhda Neynsky and Bendt Bendtsen.
The Small Business Act for Europe(SBA) is an act designed to assist small businesses.
The European DIGITAL SME Alliance is a community of small and medium ICT enterprises (SMEs). Its members are national sectorial digital SME associations in 30 countries and regions in the EU and neighboring countries, all together it associates more than 45,000 SMEs. DIGITAL SME was established in 2007 to represent the voice of ICT SMEs and their interests in the European institutions and other international organisations. DIGITAL SME is the first European association of the ICT sector exclusively. The current president is Oliver Grün.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are called as KOS or KOM in Azerbaijan. SMEs have a leading position in the provision of economic growth and employment in Azerbaijan.
Jörgen Tage Wilhelm Warborn is a Swedish entrepreneur and politician of the Moderate Party who has been serving as Member of the European Parliament since the 2018 elections. In parliament, he serves as vice coordinator for the European People's Party in the Committee on International Trade; Politico Europe has named him as the most free trade friendly politician in the European Parliament.
References
- ↑ "Home". erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu.
- ↑ "Business exchange - Erasmus entrepreneurs".
- ↑ "Business & Programme support - Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs".
- ↑ http://www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu/press/EYE_Programme_statistics_(January_2017)_58a61ff0b9417.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
- ↑ http://www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu/press/EYE_Programme_statistics_(January_2017)_58a61ff0b9417.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
- ↑ "Enterprise and Industry - European Commission". Ec.europa.eu. 2008-06-13. Archived from the original on 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
- ↑ "COSME. Europe's programme for small and medium-sized enterprises. - European Commission". Archived from the original on 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
- ↑ "Supporting entrepreneurs".