SME internationalisation instruments – A large number of support actions but not fully coherent or coordinated

Summary:

We assessed whether the EU policy for SME internationalisation is supported by a coherent and coordinated strategy and whether the Enterprise Europe Network and the Startup Europe initiative successfully contributed to the internationalisation of SMEs.

While the Commission has put in place many actions to support SME internationalisation, they lack sufficient coherence and coordination. The Enterprise Europe Network has met its targets, but needs more visibility and better coverage in third countries. Startup Europe only addresses the needs of the start-ups in the short term and lacks sufficient monitoring and coordination.

We recommend that the Commission increases awareness, coherence and sustainability of the actions, increases the visibility of the Enterprise Europe Network, its cooperation with similar programmes, its geographical coverage, and improves the monitoring and long-term effectiveness of Startup Europe.

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