Tuesday, July 20, 2010
- Injecting over €1bn into Small Businesses
Minister for Economics Louka Katselis announced a package of measures aiming at assisting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) resolve their liquidity problems within the frame of "National Support Plan for Middle-Sized Businesses 2010-2013." The measures were presented yesterday at the Secretariat General for Information and Communication.
The contract signed between the Minister and representatives of the SMEs professional associations stipulates three fundamental axes:
supporting innovation and competitiveness (simplification of procedures, elimination of bureaucracy), increasing extroversion (support exports, employee training), boosting liquidity (use of innovative financial tools, access to guarantees and capital).
The announced package of measures using both national funds and EU capital - specifically the activation of the Jeremie Initiative in cooperation with European Investment Bank, the establishment of an Enterprise Fund and actions funded by the Secretariat General for Industry - will reach €1.05 billion for 2010.
It is expected to triple with the participation of private funds, while the total sum for actions to support SMEs will amount to €9.3 billion euro by 2013.
- Boosting Research
The education ministry intends to allocate more than €400 million on research by December 2010, Minister Anna Diamantopoulou announced yesterday.
She said that 140 innovative projects with a combined budget of €82 million euros had been approved for funding thus far, while activities accounting for another €320 million were due to begin by the end of 2010.
Diamantopoulou stressed that the government policy in this area entailed linking research with production and creating an network of research institutes and centres in the country. Among the programmes already approved, 40 aim to develop new products and 15 were based on patents.
Furthermore, highlighting policy on research, she said that the ministry was promoting cooperation and joint ventures between university research centres and the private sector, with emphasis on information technology, biotechnology, agrobiotechnology and environmental science, as well as alternative energy sources.
The aim was to bridge knowledge and production in order to convert the Greek economy into a modern knowledge-based economy that focuses on human capital and the production of top-notch products and services.
See also: Centre for Research and Technology
