Representatives of the CLIPPER project have taken part in a workshop in Brussels aimed at addressing SME internationalisation - organised by the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform (PLP).
On 30 June, staff from the CLIPPER project’s lead partner, the Pays de la Loire region, joined 14 other Interreg Europe projects dedicated to SME competitiveness to learn more about each other’s work and share opinions about the barriers and challenges for increasing internationalisation of SMEs.
The meeting, was part of a series of four workshops held at the end of June at the offices of the European Committee of the Regions by the Policy Learning Platform which brought together 40 Interreg Europe projects, and EU level stakeholders and experts.
At the SME internationalisation workshop, the discussions focused on governance issues, particularly the necessity and difficulty of aligning the objectives and coordinating the initiatives of multiple actors supporting internationalisation of SMEs.
As well as the SME internationalisation workshop, the CLIPPER project representatives also took part in evvents on how investing in health and wellbeing to create growth and providing better services; and the vision of regions on the circular economy.
Expert discussions held during the Thursday and Friday workshops were streamed live and can be viewed on Facebook.
Following the positive workshops, participants expressed the need for the Learning Platform to continue to support discussions between the Interreg Europe projects, and also to stimulate the exchange of interesting approaches and practices with other initiatives, programmes and non-Interreg Europe projects.
The next step will be the launch of the Policy Learning Platform online platform, a networking event in Milan on Research and Innovation and SME Competitiveness (19-20 October 2017) and the networking event on energy and resource efficiency in November in Sevilla.
The Policy Learning Platform will also be present and active at the European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels, on 10-12 October.
