Boost for venture capital
On June 1 the European Parliament adopted the first “Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme” (CIP), which will grant EUR 3.6 bln to around 350,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) between 2007 and 2013.
The funding will be to support in particular innovation, energy efficiency, environmental technologies and a better use of information and communication technology (ICT).
Jorgo Chatzimarkis, Rapporteur for the CIP of the EP committee on Industry, Research and Energy, said: “Bringing CIP to take-off in a first reading agreement is the sunrise for innovation in Europe. CIP includes new ideas, less administrative burden, a broader scope of innovation and meanwhile manages to include the existing and well running programme parts.”
Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, responsible for enterprise and industry policy, said: “The CIP brings together a range of European actions into a single comprehensive programme .The programme has a clear objective: increasing European competitiveness and innovation. This is a direct response to the call of the Lisbon mid-term review for simpler, more visible and more targeted EU action to boost growth and jobs.”
CIP objectives
* To foster the competitiveness of enterprises, in particular SMEs.
* To promote all forms of innovation including eco-innovation.
* To accelerate the development of a sustainable, competitive, innovative and inclusive Information Society.
* To promote energy efficiency and new and renewable energy sources in all sectors including transport.
Venture capital funds
The “Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme” with a budget of EUR 2.17 bln including EUR 430 mln to promote eco-innovation, will facilitate SMEs’ access to finance, better integrate the existing networks of business support services (EuroInfoCentres and Innovation Relay Centres) and support innovation activities (INNOVA, Pro-Inno etc).
More than EUR 1 bln will be devoted to boosting the highly successful financial instruments managed by the European Investment Fund (EIF), which co-invest in venture capital funds (covering early stage and expansion stage), and provide co-guarantees on loans.
ICT support
The “ICT Policy Support Programme”, with a budget of EUR 730 mln, will contribute to competitiveness, growth and jobs through stimulating a wider adoption and more efficient take up and better use of ICT. In particular, it will include support for pilot actions using innovative ICT-based services of public interest; for the development of digital content and for enhancing the security of, and trust and confidence in, ICT and its applications.
Energy use
The “Intelligent Energy-Europe Programme” with a budget of EUR 730 mln, will support energy efficiency, new and renewable energy sources, and technological solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emission cause by the transport sector.
Studies have shown the high added value in EU support for loan guarantees, with each euro from the EU budget resulting in a loan volume of EUR 72.
On average every Venture Capital backed company maintains or creates more than 50 jobs.
Success stories such as Skype Technologies SA have drawn attention to the impact of EU support for venture capital.
More information: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/enterprise_policy/cip/index_en.htm
