EU Competitiveness lies in the hands of Small Businesses

At the launch of European Small and Medium Enterprise Week in Dublin today, Eoin Ryan stated that the EU must become more innovative in how they deal with small businesses if Europe is to remain competitive in the global market and counteract the more 'SME friendly' policies of the U.S.

Speaking at the launch Eoin Ryan stated “Europe must change its attitude and policies on small business, through legislation, tax and grants to ensure that European businesses are at the forefront of research and development. The current EU set limits on State Aid Rules is hampering our competitiveness globally. US policy has allowed for greater opportunities in the area of research and development and the EU is falling behind. We cannot change US policy, we must change our own.”

"The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants of the U.S. Government enable 11 federal agencies with large research and development budgets to allocate a an average 2.5% of their funding, to be competitively awarded to small businesses. The small businesses that win awards through this program are encouraged to commercialise the technology and also retain the rights to any technology that they develop."

“Technologies being developed by small EU companies are extremely relevant to the realisation of EU objectives in many areas including energy and healthcare and we must follow examples such as the US SBIR scheme in order to ensure that we remain competitive, innovative and leaders in the field. We cannot allow a situation whereby companies developing these technologies are hampered in their development by the lack of State funding. Here in Dublin alone, roughly 400,000 people are employed in 100,000 SMEs. The figures speak for themselves. Small businesses are the cornerstone of the European economy and are central to an economically strong European Union."

Sean McNulty of leading consultancy and 'Expert Workshop in Business Innovation' organiser, INNOVATOR said, “The reality is that the techniques of innovation can be applied to companies of all sizes, and indeed now is a very good time for small and medium sized companies to investigate new approaches to developing business opportunities by analysing and rejuvenating their business model”.

Eoin Ryan concluded "Innovation and entrepreneurship are the driving forces of the European economy. Entrepreneurs and people with innovation are behind the 25 million small to medium sized enterprises in Europe. These SMEs account for 99% of all business in the EU and for 75 million jobs. We cannot change US policy but we can change our own and we must support these businesses that contribute so much to the economy in Dublin and Europe alike."

"We can't just hope for the best, we have to fight for it"

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