Internationalisation of SMEs
The internationalisation of SMEs activities is acknowledged as a factor of competitiveness for businesses and an engine for growth and welfare for the economy and the territories. Still, SMEs do not fully exploit the benefits brought by internationalisation, resulting in European economies missing growth opportunities. Consequently, supporting the internationalisation of SMEs remains a priority in SME competitiveness policies.
Within the European Union, a large part of exports and imports is driven by large firms and multinational corporations only. SMEs are underrepresented in international trade: while they represent about 99% of businesses in Europe and provide two out of three jobs in the private sector, they account for far less than half of all exports and imports
The internationalisation of SMEs is also one of the most represented topics among Interreg Europe projects in the thematic objective of SME competitiveness. This policy brief aims at highlighting the diversity of policies supporting the internationalisation of SMEs across European regions and provides an overview of the lessons learnt by the partners of Interreg Europe projects on how to best support the internationalisation of SMEs.
The policy brief ends with some thoughts on the impact of digitalisation and the Covid-19 pandemic on the internationalisation of SMEs.
Featured good practices

GO4EXPORT - Interactive development

Call for non-exporting and non-regularly exporting businesses

Incentive to the Internationalisation of SMEs – Individual projects

Export Consortia

Co-financing promotional activities of SMEs Internationalisation Consortia

Export Development Program

Profitnet - building SME owner capacity through peer learning.

International Connecting Talent Internships

Fostering value added business cooperation between SMEs

SME INSTRUMENT DONOSTIA INN

The Wakefield First Bondholder Scheme

PASSPORT ABROAD

Emilia-Romagna Go Global (ERGO) 2016 – 2020

Kent International Business
