Events to look out for
Webinar: Bringing SMEs to cross-border business opportunities - 7 March, 10:00 CET. Hosted by the Watify initiative, this webinar will focus on the benefits of cross-border trade for small businesses.
Copernicus Training and Information Session - 17 April, Sofia (BU). The event aims to promote awareness of the many uses of Copernicus data and information. It will also feature hands on demonstrations and basic training regarding the data’s potential use by entrepreneurs and small companies.
Funds available
EUR 485 million for SMEs in Occitanie/Pyrénées-Méditerranée. The European Investment Fund (EIF) has signed four operational agreements with Banque Populaire Occitane, Caisse d’Epargne de Midi-Pyrénées and IRDI SORIDEC Gestion. These agreements will enable the intermediaries to provide over EUR 485m of new loans and equity investment to local small businesses in the coming four years.
Trind Ventures’ new fund for early-stage digital companies reaches first closing at EUR 21 million with support from EU. Over the next years, it will provide seed capital starting from EUR 100,000 to early stage ICT companies in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and the rest of Central and Northern Europe. The fund plans to invest in up to 10 new portfolio companies per year.
EU policies
European Commission responds to the US restrictions on steel and aluminium affecting the EU. On 1 March, President Trump announced the imposition of additional import duties on EU exports of steel and aluminium to the United States. The import duties are set at 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium. As a response, the European Commission will bring forward in the next few days a proposal for countermeasures against the US, that are compatible with World Trade Organisation regulations, and aim to rebalance the situation.
Get involved
European Resource Efficiency Knowledge Centre (EREK): improve your environmental performance! The EREK project helps European companies, especially SMEs, save energy, material and water costs. The newly launched portal provide tools, information and business opportunities that showcase new and better ways to be resource efficient and benefit from circular economy business models which turn waste into an asset.