Irish Regions Office Website

February 22, 2009

'Erasmus for SMEs' launched

The long-running Erasmus student exchange programme is widely acknowledged as one of the deepest expressions of building understanding among EU citizens of different nationalities. Now a pilot project has been launched (19 February) to bring the concept to the business world by part-funding young entrepreneurs to move to another EU country for up to 6 months in order to experience another business culture, gain invaluable skills and earn a greater appreciation of the workings of the internal market and international business.

The European Entrepreneur Exchange Programme will function by means of a 'mix and match' system whereby people with a viable plan to start their own businesses will be paired up with more experienced counterparts who run established SMEs. Intermediary organisations including South Dublin Chamber of Commerce will assist in putting both sides of the equation together. A target of 870 such arrangements are to be established by the end of this year.

The scheme is a direct ouput of last year's Small Business Act - the first comprehensive SME policy framework for the EU and the Member States - and is an initial response to findings that Europe has a serious deficit in its entrepreneurial culture and that too few SMEs are sufficiently engaged in business beyond their own countries.

http://www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu/

Posted by iroronan at February 22, 2009 11:20 PM