Translation of "Du capital de risque pour vos PME " (French → English) :

Bridging The Investment Gap

InnovFin SME Venture Capital

Among the schemes approved under the Communication [32] were: the UK Small and medium enterprise venture capital and loan Fund [33], focusing on the provision of equity and quasi-equity as well as micro-finance loans to SMEs ; the Greek TANEO - New economy development Fund [34], a fund-of-funds intended to provide finance to venture capital funds investing in SMEs active in "new economy" sectors such as telecommunication and biotechnology; the Italian scheme Risk capital for start-up of innovative enterprises [35], aimed at supporting innovative enterprises in the start-up phase; and the Austrian Fund for the participation in the equi ...[+++]ty of SMEs in Burgenland [36] and the Venture capital scheme for the Land of Styria [37].

First, on the demand side, improving access to finance, including to risk capital, notably for SMEs (for example innovative and high growth start-ups), is an important priority.

31. Welcomes the new programme for the competitiveness of SMEs (COSME); notes the successful actions of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP); believes that these actions – such as the High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders for Administrative Burden Reduction and the Enterprise Europe Network –should be continued and further expanded under the new programme; underlines the need to improve access to finance for SMEs and strengthen the role that the private sector could play; calls for the simplification and rationalisation of the various Union instruments devoted to access to credit, guarantees or venture capital, in particular for ...[+++]SMEs with internationalisation plans; calls for a review of the costs and availability of basic banking services for SMEs involved in cross-border – especially cross-currency – trade, including outside the EU; encourages the Member States to explore the possibility of using parts of their national corporate tax revenues to facilitate access to loan guarantees for SMEs; stresses that all instruments, in particular the non-financial instruments, should be adopted based on a critical evaluation of the CIP and in close cooperation with SME organisations;

Venture capital and SME sector: The Commission should propose legislation to provide a harmonised EU-wide framework for venture capital and private equity, and particularly so as to ensure cross-border access to such capital for the SME sector in line with the Lisbon Agenda.