NRP Portugal

|AREA 2 – A FAVOURABLE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT, ESPECIALLY FORSMEContextIn the scope of the national agenda for modernisation that has been underway,Portugal has made considerable progress in terms of improving the businessenvironment.TheProgrammeofadministrativeeliminationandsimplification(Simplex)iscentralto the simplification and dematerialisation of countless formalities in the variousstages of the life cycle of companies and has contributed to the administrativesimplificationofawiderangeofbusinessactivities.Moreover, a vast range of initiatives aimed at boosting business investment havebeen implemented together with initiatives to foster entrepreneurship andmanagementskills,tofacilitatetheaccessofSMEstofundingandalsotofacilitatetheinternationalisationprocesses.However, the objective set for increased competitiveness and the change in thecompetitivebaseofthePortugueseeconomymakesitnecessarytocreateamorebusiness‐friendlyenvironmentandthisimpliesdoublingtheeffortsalreadytakeninareasthatareinlinewiththoseidentifiedatEUlevel.Inthiscontext,theinvestmentsupportsystemsforcompanies,especiallytheSMEs,launchedinthecontextofthereformmadetotheincentivesystemforcompaniesand closely articulated with the NSRF as its funding mechanism (through theCompetitivenessFactorsOPandtheRegionalOP),constitutesthekeyframeworkofmeasuresunderwayinthecontextofthePNR2008‐2010.The incentive systems resulting from this reform are strongly oriented towardsinnovation issues ‐ in particular, two of the transversal systems meanwhileregulated: the Incentive System for Innovation (IS Innovation) and the IncentiveSystem for Technological Research and Development (IS TR&D). Specific referencewillbemadetotheseintheR&DandInnovationpriorityarea(nextareadescribed).The incentive system for the Qualification and Internationalisation of the SME (ISQualification of SME) should also be highlighted as it is vital to the promotion ofcompanies’competitiveness;thisismoredirectlyframedinthisspecificareaduetothewiderangeofinvestmenttypologiesitprovidesforandthefactthattheyarenotrestrictedtoinnovationdimensions,evenifthisisunderstoodinthebroadsense.The future developments of the Simplex Programme as well as the measures toimprove the legislative process, including the impact evaluation of each newlegislation,notablyfortheSMEs,asdescribedinpoint1.2.and1.3,isexpressedin23