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SME-friendly Regions and CitiesSurvey 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.
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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 20121.
PLEASE FILL IN THIS QUESTIONNAIRE IN ANY EU LANGUAGE USING THE SPACES PROVIDED AND SEND YOUR COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRE IN ANY WORD FORMAT TO:
[email protected] BY 23 APRIL 2012
For more information, including details of how to join the Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform, go to:
www.cor.europa.eu/europe2020The questionnaire will be available on this website in all languages as of the last week of March.
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: http://portal.cor.europa.eu/europe2020/news/Pages/2ndCoRMonitoringReportonEurope2020.aspx
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION2:Name of sender: Harald Bürger, Christian Ruziczka
Contact details: (address, telephone, e-mail)
1) Harald BürgerAvenue de Tervueren 58, 1040 [email protected]+32 2 743 85 00
2) Christian RuziczkaMagistratsabteilung 63 Wipplingerstraße 6-8, 1010 [email protected]+43 1 4000 97134
On behalf of: (name of local or regional authority)
Vienna
Country: AustriaMember of the EUROPE 2020 Monitoring Platform (formerly Lisbon Monitoring Platform)3:
Yes No
1) Please summarise the current impact of the financial and economic crisis on enterprises in your area, especially SMEs.The economic crisis has affected the Viennese economy less than Austria as a whole (2009 real gross added vale: -2.3% Vienna, -4.2% Austria), since Vienna has different structural conditions (high proportion of services, considerable importance of domestic consumption, low export ratio). However, there has been a negative impact on the number of business start-ups and business insolvencies. There has been steep drop in the former, and a sharp increase in the latter.
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 [email protected]. If necessary, you may also contact the CoR Data Protection Officer ([email protected]). You have the right of recourse to the European Data Protection Supervisor at any time (www.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: http://portal.cor.europa.eu/europe2020/Knowledge/Pages/BecomeaMember.aspx
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2) Has your local/regional authority taken any specific measures to help SMEs address the crisis since 2008? YES X NO If YES, please describe in brief.The contracting authorities of the city of Vienna have, especially as far as public procurement is concerned, stepped up measures to promote small and medium-sized enterprises. Examples include:
- larger framework contracts are organised in lots where possible - where there are several authorities with independent procurement powers in one area, it is
assessed regularly whether and to what extent joint or separate procurement is more useful- in so far as the requirement for a single guarantee does not stand in the way, in construction
projects the possibility of a "industry-based" call for tenders is evaluated- Except in markets with insufficient competitive conditions, the restriction on the number of
members of a consortium is regularly dispensed with- The contracting authorities always seek to ensure moderate minimum requirements for the
suitability of tenderers which are appropriate to the subject of the contract.
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 measures listed in point 2 were generally speaking introduced "before the crisis" and have since been stepped up. Reference is also made to the answers to questions 4 and 7.
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:
a) improving access to new markets and fostering international growth (within and beyond the European Union)
b) ensuring easier access to financing for SMEsc) helping address the regional skills mismatchd) promoting entrepreneurship as a career pathe) improving internet access f) e-government services for SMEsg) facilitating innovative activity and marketing of its resultsh) others (please specify)
The city of Vienna is aware of the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises for Vienna as a business location. There is therefore a comprehensive supply of specific services for SMEs in Vienna which cover all of the points mentioned.
Representative of many of these measures is the Wien Wirtschaftsagentur (see www.wirtschaftsagentur.at). It offers entrepreneurial support to businesses and start-ups in Vienna as well as those seeking to become established or invest in Vienna. The activities and work of the agency are geared towards modernising the city as a business location, strengthening the competitiveness and innovativeness of the Viennese economy as well as stimulating the labour market. Priorities include information and consultation, real estate and site development as well as monetary economic support and financing.
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Furthermore, the city of Vienna provides comprehensive electronic services for businesses (see www.wien.gv.at). These include access to general and specific information as well as the possibility of carrying out official procedures electronically. This is also possible by means of the Einheitlicher Ansprechspartner (single contact point) (see www.eap.gv.at or www.eap.wien.gv.at).
Finally, the city of Vienna supports "innovative" SMEs by means of relevant measures. Special reference should be made here to the ZIT project – the technology agency of the city of Vienna (see www.zit.co.at). The goal of ZIT is to support innovative ideas from their conception, through their development and implementation in products and services to their marketing.
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?Owing to the distribution of powers under the Austrian constitution, key aspects of legislation are decided at federal level.
6) In order to increase regional competitiveness, should you target specific economic activities for support? If so, what are these economic activities? The economic focus and structure of local SMEs is generally organised on a subtly differentiated basis. From the point of view of local competition, the focus just on individual measures and exclusively for certain industries is useful only to a limited extent.
7) The European Council recently identified a series of urgent measures for supporting growth, in particular SMEs. Among others, the following objectives were identified:
a) Strengthening the Single Marketb) Completing the Digital Single Market by 2015 (in particular: boosting confidence in
online trade; providing better and cheaper broadband coverage)c) Reducing administrative and regulatory burdensd) Removing external trade barriers and ensuring better market access and investment
conditions outside the EUe) Improving access to financef) Delivering top-quality business support servicesg) Promoting entrepreneurship h) Promoting the development of an effective EU-wide venture capital regimei) 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?The abovementioned measures appear to be comprehensive and have been pursued by the city of Vienna in order to meet the objectives set.
8) The COSME Programme for Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs will replace4 the current CIP (2007-2013) and will have a budget of EUR 2.5 billion from 2014 to 20205. Please comment on:
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a) the potential benefit of the COSME programme for your regionb) the challenges relating to its implementationc) the action that the national, regional and local authorities in your country could take to make COSME a success storyd) the role that the local partners of the Enterprise Europe Network or other business support providers could play with respect to COSME
a) the potential benefit of the COSME programme for your region
SMEs are the main pillar of the Viennese economy. The Wirtschaftsagentur Wien supports them (in its role as a tool of the city of Vienna) through monetary requests, real estate as well as services and consultation. In light of this, an EU programme geared towards SMEs and designed to maintain and manage the economic dynamic is of particular importance. The Enterprise Europe Network, a key instrument of the CIP, has against this background proven to be an especially important instrument.
b) the challenges relating to its implementation
Administration: development and implementation must be possible both for businesses and authoritiesAppropriate focus: the programme must be able to provide answers that meet the specific requirements of ViennaNational co-financing: owing to limited budgetary means, low co-financing rates could be an obstacle.
c) the action that the national, regional and local authorities in your country could take to make COSME a success story
General support for the further development of the common market with the tools available.
d) the role that the local partners of the Enterprise Europe Network or other business support providers could play with respect to COSME
In future, Enterprise Europe Network will continue to act as a central interface between SMEs and the European Union and their business-oriented tenders. As such, it is an important stakeholder in the further development of the common market and in support for the international ambitions of European businesses. In the case of the Wirtschaftsagentur Wien, this role is based on existing, close business contacts.
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.
5 More information at: http://ec.europa.eu/cip/cosme/
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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!
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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 Act6 - 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 SMEs7.
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).
6 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/small-business-act/7 More information at: http://ec.europa.eu/cip/cosme/
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