Journal of Small Business and Enterprise - March, 2013 - CII

InternationalThe network serves as one-stopshop for enterprises looking to go globalwith their innovative ideas. Joining thenetwork means they don't have to worryabout resource constraints. While theEEN can be the answer to such questionsas: who can offer venture capital orloans, what's the best way to sell abusiness plan to investors, how to get aidfrom regional, national or EU authorities,or how to access public funds andgrants for research and development,the handholding SMEs get from expertsprepare them to face acid tests from themost demanding investors.With one of the world's largestbusiness cooperation database of morethan 23,000 profiles and businesssupport organisations from more than 50countries, the EEN is where an SME canstart search for international businesspartners, source new technologies andadvisory services on issues as diverse asintellectual property, going international,or EU law and standards.The idea is to ensure that SMEs benefitfrom the EU Single Market as much as thebig players do. In Europe, 99 percent ofall GDP is with SMEs, but the importancealways goes to MNCs as they do the bigdeals. The brunt of the economy is withthe SMEs. In CII too, 60 percent of itsmembers are SMEs, says Poul V. Jensen,director of European Business andTechnology Centre (EBTC).The EEN helps sort out IntellectualProperty Rights (IPR) issues duringcollaborations between Indian andEuropean firms, does the handholding toguide them through red tape and helps innetworking, says Jensen.It will open the doors of EuropeanUnion to India and vice versa, he adds.The EU technology platform canadvise and assist SMEs from the initialcontacts to making the deal. When SMEsjoin the Network their cooperation offeror request is entered into the databaseand alerts are sent regularly to updatethem if their cooperation needs matchwith that of others. Matchmaking eventslike business-to-business meetings areorganized across Europe. Such meetingsare often organized at internationalfairs, keeping in mind the travel andaccommodation costs.Moreover, the network ensures thatSMEs looking to expand their businessto another country find competent andtrustworthy partners. The network helpsSMEs find out that how EU laws andregulations affect businesses. Its expertshelp find the way through the legal mazeand make it easier to sell product orservices in another EEN country.For instance, an SME selling Ayurvedicproducts stands to gain by linking tothe EEN platform. Since such productshave to contend with a lot of regulationand stringent testing in EU that areprohibitively high, the network canhelp find a good European partner withwhom sharing of the cost of testing andmarketing can be worked out.Similarly, the revised defenceprocurement procedure (DPP) focuseson the technology transfer to boostindigenisation. SMEs engaged in thesegment can realign their businessprocesses for strategic alliances andjoint ventures using this technologyplatform to gradually assume therole of system integrator andmanufacturer of complete defenceequipment and systems.Besides EU countries, Russia, Turkeyand Israel have also joined the platform.In Asia, the partners are China, Japan,South Korea and the latest is India.Alerts on new EU legislations,tender opportunities and specialistmarket information for companies thatare exporting or preparing to importkeep SMEs updated. The network alsoorganizes from time to time trainingprogrammes to help members withEuropean policies and programmesrelevant to their business and how theycan be made to work for them.India has declared 2010-2020 as theDecade of Innovation for SMEs. The unionbudget 2012-13 too had several pluses forthe sector as was reflected in doubling there-finance funding of the Small IndustriesDevelopment Bank of India (SIDBI) andthey can also avail the non-tax benefitsfor three years even after growing out ofthe category.Efforts are on to protect theirinnovations, inventions and designsthrough patents and copyrights andraise funds through external commercialborrowing (ECB). The government recentlyrelaxed ECB norms to allow easier accessto cheap dollar funds to housing financecompanies such as HDFC and SIDBI, andpermitted non-resident entities to providerating enhancement facility to Indians.Thus keeping in view thesedevelopments, forging collaborativepartnerships between SMEs of India andEU through EEN is another importantstep towards ensuring their growth, andthereof their contribution in creatingjobs and innovative products & servicesto increase India's share in the globalmarket place.MSME Business March 201321