CATALONIA SUPPLIERS is an ACCIÓ program to identify suppliers in Catalonia when an international company searches for products or services in our region. CATALONIA SUPPLIERS has 3 different free services: virtual business missions, the Meet the Buyer program, and the personalized supplier search service. With virtual business missions, ACCIÓ holds online B2B meetings with international buyers —from around 20 markets— and Catalan exporting SMEs. ACCIÓ activates Meet the Buyer when a large international buyer has a multi-product need in Catalonia: it identifies local exporting suppliers and prepares a virtual agenda of meetings between the parties. The supplier search service is a personalized search at the request of the international company, and it consists of preparing a list of local suppliers. The Catalan SMEs that ACCIÓ represents have a high level of expertise and awareness in facing new international market challenges: commitment to sustainability, quality service, skilled representatives, and solutions to adapt to market uncertainties. ACCIÓ is proud to have a vast knowledge of the Catalan business fabric, which allows it to be the best showcase of Catalan suppliers for the international buyer. ACCIÓ works closely with sectorial associations, clusters, and different business platforms in Catalonia and collaborates with Catalan companies to ensure their commitment to EGS (environmental, social, and governance) criteria meets the demands of international companies.

RIS is a strategic document providing a framework for guiding R&D&I activities in the region. Main objective: Masovia is a macro-region that has the opportunity to become one of the innovation leaders in Central and Eastern Europe by 2030.
Strategy goal 4: Increased internationalization of the Masovian innovation ecosystem.
The primary objective is to promote the growth of knowledge-based employment opportunities and entrepreneurship, enhance the region's research and development capabilities, formulate and execute policies that support innovation. RIS aligns with the concept of smart specialization, which seeks to cultivate competitive advantages by harnessing research and innovation potential and integrating it with the private sector. It concentrates on 4 areas: enhancing region's research and development capabilities, cultivating a robust and inventive SMEs sector, fostering regional innovation, entrepreneurship and implementing supporting innovation policies. It aims to bolster the economic potential and competitiveness of the region, creating an appealing environment for knowledge workers. It plays a crucial role in establishing connections between the realms of R&D&I and economic activity. It recognizes the importance of fostering a ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Indicated tool is the RIS Implementation Program, which contains a catalog of activities planned for implementation along with an indicative budget and measurable goals expressed in indicators.

The Action Plan for the Employment of the City of Belgrade is the regional policy document. It represents a set of objectives, priorities, and measures that need to be achieved to contribute to the full implementation of the strategic goal of the employment policy at the national level and ongoing reform processes of importance and impact on the field of employment policy at the level of both the City of Belgrade and the Republic of Serbia.Main identified priorities are:

1. Improvement of labour market institutions and access to the new markets
2. Improving conditions for the access to the labour market
3. Employment mediation, professional orientation and counselling on career planning
4. Increasing the competences of workforce through additional education and training
5. Encouragement of the employment and businesses through subsidies and public works
6. Support for the development of SMMEs
7. Incentives for investments in agriculture and rural development

Within priority for Support the development of the SMEs there are a set of measure such as program support, training, round table, info days and mentoring, with the special emphasis for women and youth.

The "Industrial Development and Business Internationalization Plan of the Basque Country" is a comprehensive policy elaborated by the Basque Government to guide the public agencies involved in developing tools, programmes and projects related to these areas. Basque Trade & Investment has the mandate of the Basque Government to establish the business internationalization pillar of this plan. Within it, a range of axes are designed to facilitate the overseas expansion of Basque companies and enhance their competitiveness. Business internationalization support tools, digitalization, international positioning, talent generation and incorporation, business internationalization services upgrade and business internationalization public policies consistency are the six defined axes. Under this last axe, promoting sustainability, diversity and empowerment and promoting women in business internationalization have been defined as the measures to be boosted. Concrete actions were not specified, but may include studies to offer insights for strategic decision-making, benchmarking best practices and success policies, promoting business meetings, fostering sustainable and innovative practices, specialized training programs, awareness-raising events, and financial and advisory support through public programmes. All of these actions have the ultimate objective of supporting SMEs to successfully thrive globally.

The policy instrument "Lithuania’s SME Policy" integrates several targeted measures to support SMEs:
• develops entrepreneurial skills by providing training and mentorship programs that enhance business competencies
• facilitates access to financial resources and advisory support, helping small and medium-sized enterprises overcome barriers to growth
• encourages innovation and digitalization, ensuring that businesses adopt advanced technologies and innovation-driven strategies to improve their competitiveness
• supports market expansion efforts, helping SMEs strengthen their position in both local and international markets. The instrument includes business development and training for internationalization. Through specialized programs, entrepreneurs and SMEs gain expertise in trade regulations, and international marketing strategies.
The Innovation Agency Lithuania implements the policy instrument under the authorization of the Ministry of the Economics and Innovation. It offers a variety of targeted services and funding for regional development: from individual business consultations, mentoring programs, acceleration programs and business events to workplaces. More than 50% services and programs users are women. They are SME owners, often do not export, lack some kind of competencies and self-confidence. Keeping in mind available data and business growth problems, encouragement of women to export could raise competitiveness of SME’s and would reduce gender disparity.

The objective of this policy instrument: to provoke a structural change in SMEs through high-quality, innovative and target group-oriented offers and to support companies in growing and adopting new technologies through:
1) acquisition of new technologies for production and services
2) raising awareness of the importance to implement new green and digital aspects
3) investments for new businesses or structure-improving business relocations. There shall be some significant improvements in the quality of operational services, embedded in innovative approaches.
One focus of the Specific Goal 1.3 are measures to support equal opportunities and non-discrimination. Gender-differences are mentioned as one of the inequalities that shall be addressed in SMEs. Addressing gender-inequalities can also lead to structural change in SMEs, which is why its mentioned under this objective.

aws wants to influence the policy instrument with the learnings of the exchange within WOMEX project, especially within the Specific Goal 1.3. Compared to some of the other partner countries, Austria is lagging behind in having initiatives addressing the reduction of gender-differences and even the awareness of these gender-differences in SMEs, which causes reduction in economic growth as a whole.

The policy instrument addressed is the Integrated Territorial Programme of Baranya County under the Territorial and Settlement Development Operational Programme Plus. It is designed to address regional socio-economic disparities by implementing strategic interventions in key areas. While the strategy aligns with national and EU development frameworks, its current structure places greater emphasis on the operational aspects of TOP Plusz rather than the specific mechanisms required for policy implementation. Its strategic objectives include:
Strengthening regional economic resilience through industrial development and innovation.
Enhancing cross-border cooperation.
Developing sustainable urban and rural infrastructure to support economic growth.
Improving workforce capabilities by aligning education and training programs with market demands.
Promoting environmental sustainability and climate adaptation initiatives.
Expanding transport and mobility solutions to increase economic accessibility.
To ensure it is effectively addresses regional needs, it must integrate targeted actions that support business internationalization, export facilitation, and FDI attraction in addition the topics of human resource development, facilitation of an inclusive and diverse business ecosystem. The planned revision will provide clearer distinctions between OP objectives and the specific strategies necessary to make Baranya County a more inclusive, competitive and internationally connected.