Questionnaire - SME friendly regions and citiesNitra Self ...



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SME-friendly Regions and Cities

Survey of EU local and regional authorities

Mr Witold Krochmal, Rapporteur for the forthcoming CoR opinion on Competitiveness of Enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (2014-2020), invites you to provide your initial feedback on the policies for supporting SMEs and increasing the "business friendliness" of EU regions and cities.

Your contribution will feed into both Mr. Krochmal's draft opinion (final adoption on 9-10 October 2012) and the 3rd CoR Monitoring Report on Europe 2020, due to be published in October 2012[1].

Please fill in this questionnaire in any eu language using the spaces provided and send your completed questionnaire in ANY word format to:

europe2020@cor.europa.eu

by 23 April 2012

For more information, including details of how to join the Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform, go to:

cor.europa.eu/europe2020

The questionnaire will be available on this website in all languages as of the last week of March.

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|CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION[2]: |

|Name of sender: |Martin Čaja |

|Contact details: |Štefánikova ul.č. 69, 949 01 Nitra, ++421/376930360, |

|(address, telephone, email) |email: martin.caja@unsk.sk |

|On behalf of: |Nitra Self-Governing Region |

|(name of local or regional authority) | |

|Country: | |

| |Slovak Republic |

|Member of the EUROPE 2020 Monitoring Platform (formerly Lisbon | Yes No |

|Monitoring Platform)[3]: | |

|1) Please summarise the current impact of the financial and economic crisis on enterprises in your area, especially SMEs. |

|In our region, the impact of the crisis has reduced demand for products, as a result of which large companies have limited their |

|production and exports and cut staff numbers. This has naturally also affected smaller companies, who are their subcontractors. |

|2) Has your local/regional authority taken any specific measures to help SMEs address the crisis since 2008? |

|YES NO ( |

|If YES, please describe in brief. |

|The regional authority has suggested improving training and assistance for SMEs active in the area of science, research and innovation. |

|It has held consultations with the main players in this field and adopted concrete measures. |

|3) To what extent do you believe that the crisis has forced your region/city to rethink the regional policy making (process) on |

|entrepreneurship and to apply the Small Business Act's "Think Small First" principle? Please explain in brief. |

|The fact that the crisis has caused large companies to limit their production and exports and cut staff numbers – a process which has |

|naturally also affected smaller companies who are their subcontractors – has convinced us of the need to provide greater support for |

|Slovak SMEs engaged in production using raw materials from our region. |

|4) Please state which of the following objectives for SMEs are supported by your local/regional authority. For each item selected, please|

|state briefly what form this support takes: |

|improving access to new markets and fostering international growth (within and beyond the European Union) |

|ensuring easier access to financing for SMEs |

|helping address the regional skills mismatch |

|promoting entrepreneurship as a career path |

|improving internet access |

|e-government services for SMEs |

|facilitating innovative activity and marketing of its results |

|others (please specify) |

|Our regional authority supports SMEs in most of the above areas. As part of the new Regional Innovation Strategy, we are supporting |

|innovation in nutrition relating to food safety, materials research, technology SMEs and innovation in the area of energy efficiency. |

|5) How SME friendly is your legislation (including your system of taxation)? What legal changes could be introduced at European, national|

|and/or subnational level to improve the situation for businesses? |

|We want to see more powers and financial resources at NUTS 3 level for decision-making and SME support from the state and the EU itself. |

|6) In order to increase regional competitiveness, should you target specific economic activities for support? If so, what are these |

|economic activities? |

|Economic activity in the area of innovation in nutrition relating to food safety, materials research technological SMEs and innovation in|

|the area of energy efficiency. |

|7) The European Council recently identified a series of urgent measures for supporting growth, in particular SMEs. Among others, the |

|following objectives were identified: |

|Strengthening the Single Market |

|Completing the Digital Single Market by 2015 (in particular: boosting confidence in online trade; providing better and cheaper broadband |

|coverage) |

|Reducing administrative and regulatory burdens |

|Removing external trade barriers and ensuring better market access and investment conditions outside the EU |

|Improving access to finance |

|Delivering top-quality business support services |

|Promoting entrepreneurship |

|Promoting the development of an effective EU-wide venture capital regime |

|Making more effective use of pre-commercial public procurement to support innovative and high-tech businesses. |

|To what extent could these actions improve the situation for SMEs in your region/city? Can you suggest any other action? |

|More powers and financial resources at NUTS 3 level for decision-making and SME support from the state and the EU itself. |

|8) The COSME Programme for Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs will replace[4] the current CIP (2007-2013) and will have a budget of |

|EUR 2.5 billion from 2014 to 2020[5]. |

|Please comment on: |

|a) the potential benefit of the COSME programme for your region |

|b) the challenges relating to its implementation |

|c) the action that the national, regional and local authorities in your country could take to make COSME a success story |

|d) the role that the local partners of the Enterprise Europe Network or other business support providers could play with respect to COSME|

| |

|9) Do you wish to share your experiences (please indicate: title of the project/policy action, brief description, source of funding, if |

|the action is carried out in partnership with other levels of government, obtained results, website and any other element you deem |

|useful) on the above issues and/or add any further comments or suggestions? If so, please include your comments here. Please send us any |

|additional relevant reports/policy papers which you may have available. |

| |

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!

|Background information |

| |

|Although Europe 2020 remains the EU's long-term strategy of structural reforms for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, the European |

|Council set out a number of short term priorities in the first quarter of 2012 to help boost growth and jobs. One of these priorities is to|

|ensure the business continuity of SMEs and to strengthen them in view of the key role they need to play if the European economy is to |

|return to a path of growth and job creation. . |

| |

|To this end, the main action undertaken by the EU institutions include: |

|Small Business Act[6] - a set of 10 principles which should guide the design and implementation of policies both at EU and national level. |

|This is essential to create a level playing field for SMEs throughout the EU and improve the administrative and legal environment so as to |

|allow these enterprises to unleash their full potential to create jobs and growth; |

|Improving access to finance, delivering top-quality business support services and promoting entrepreneurship through the COSME Programme |

|for Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs, which will have a budget of EUR 2.5 billion from 2014 to 2020 and replace the current CIP |

|(2007-2013). Compared to the CIP, COSME places a greater emphasis on overcoming the direct obstacles which SMEs face when setting up a |

|business, accessing foreign markets or looking for business information and advice. The programme's five key actions are: (1) Access to |

|finance for SMEs through dedicated financial instruments; (2) Enterprise Europe Network: a network of business service centres; (3) |

|Entrepreneurship (supporting transnational networks and knowledge sharing); (4) Improving framework conditions for the competitiveness of |

|enterprises and policy development; (5) Internationalisation of SMEs[7]. |

|Promoting the development of an effective EU-wide venture capital regime, through an "EU passport" (to allow venture capital fund managers |

|to grow and to market their funds across the EU using a single set of rules) and a "fund of funds" (to provide cross-border risk capital |

|and a financing scheme to support innovative SMEs). |

|Making more effective use of pre-commercial public procurement to support innovative and high tech businesses. |

|Reducing administrative and regulatory burdens at EU and national level. |

|The European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award label, identifying and rewarding EU regions with outstanding entrepreneurial visions). |

| |

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[1] This annual report gives an account of how Europe 2020 is implemented on the ground, and the extent to which it is implemented in partnership by all tiers of government, ahead of the next European Commission's Annual Growth Survey. The 2nd CoR Monitoring Report was adopted in December 2011:

[2] Privacy Statement The follow-up to your contribution requires that your personal data (name, contact details, etc.) be processed in a file. All the answers to the questions are voluntary. Your replies will be kept for a period of 5 years after the receipt of your questionnaire. Should you require any further information or wish to exercise your rights under Regulation (EC) No. 45/2001 (e.g. to access, rectify, or delete your data), please contact the data controller (Head of the Networks and Subsidiarity Unit) at europe2020@cor.europa.eu. If necessary, you may also contact the CoR Data Protection Officer (data.protection@cor.europa.eu). You have the right of recourse to the European Data Protection Supervisor at any time (edps.europa.eu). Please note that the questionnaire with your contribution and your contact details will be published online. Your questionnaire may be transmitted to CoR Rapporteurs and other EU institutions for information. Should you not agree to this, please inform us accordingly.

[3] If you are interested in joining the Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform, please visit:

[4] Compared to the CIP, COSME places a greater emphasis on overcoming the direct obstacles which SMEs face when setting up a business, accessing foreign markets or looking for business information and advice. The programme's five key actions are: (1) Access to finance for SMEs through dedicated financial instruments; (2) Enterprise Europe Network: a network of business service centres; (3) Entrepreneurship (supporting transnational networks and knowledge sharing); (4) Improving framework conditions for the competitiveness of enterprises and policy development; (5) Internationalisation of SMEs.

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[8] More information at:

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