Mainstreaming INnovative Instruments for SME development in Europe
Small and medium sized enterprises (SME) make an important contribution to regional economic performance by creating jobs, supporting innovation and delivering economic growth. MINI EUROPE aims to exchange and develop regional policies in SME development, focussing on the main theme of providing a transparant infrastructure for innovation to SMEs. MINI EUROPE partners will improve existing instruments and import new instruments that will strengthen regional infrastructures to support SMEs in innovation. A specific issue MINI EUROPE will deal with in this context is enhancing cooperation and knowledge exchange between SMEs and knowledge institutes. MINI EUROPE partners believe that providing a good innovation infrastructure to new entrepreneurs will boost economic activities. To accelerate economic growth MINI EUROPE will share and develop regional policy instruments to get more people involved in entrepreneurship.
In this context MINI EUROPE will address in particular the issue of increasing involvement of underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship
The MINI EUROPE partnership combines the experience of 8 regions from all parts of Europe: Flevoland (NL, lead), Tameside (UK), Észak-Alföld (HU), Maramures (RO), ALMI Mid Sweden, Valencia/IMPIVA (ES), Patras Science Park and Veneto region (IT). Veneto region is represented by two partners. MINI EUROPE is initiated by regional politicians sharing the vision that strengthening regional SME development  requires an integrated approach built on the interrelated factors described above. By bringing together and capitalising their methods and experiences, all partners can strongly improve their performance in this field. MINI EUROPE will document existing good practice in SME development in the partner regions and from relevant Interreg projects in a Catalogue of experience. The partners will then engage in bilateral experience transfers,
matching a partner ‘exporting’ a specific good practise with a partner ‘importing’ it. After thorough preparation a delegation of the exporting region will visit the importing region to train and assist local staff directly in implementing the good practise. As each partner has successful tools to offer, as well as development needs related to the project themes, all of them will both export and import two tools. The main themes are further deepened in a series of thematic conferences for regional experts. Two main conferences will address the core issues of promoting entrepreneurship and innovation for SMEs. In preparation for these, thematic video workshops on related sub themes will be organised. At the end of the project each region will develop an action plan to implement the lessons of this project, including policy recommendations and actions to be implemented in regional competitiveness and convergence programmes and other EU schemes.