Support for family firms to become more digital and in their succession, cross-regional cooperation and involvement of LRAs in crafting and implementing policies to support SMEs were the main points discussed by EPP-CoR members during a webinar on ‘Entrepreneurial societies make resilient regions’ organised by OECD and the European Committee of the Regions' ECON commission. Its aim was to look at local and regional factors and enablers to mobilizing human, financial and knowledge resources for entrepreneurial activity in Europe.
Eddy Van Hijum, Member of the Council of the Overijssel Province said that to become more resilient, cities and regions have to realise that SMEs are not stand alone organisations. He said “SMEs are part of regional ecosystems which include universities, research centers as well as LRAs through their policies. Building and strengthening networks of SMEs with all these partners is key to success.”
van Hijum who served as the rapporteur of the CoR opinion on the EU SME Strategy said that the three pillars for recovery are (1) think small and act regional; (2) policies have to be place based taking into account differences between regions and (3) channel support is key to strengthen networks in cities and regions.
Speaking on family firms, van Hijum said that these account for most of the companies in regions and provide two thirds of jobs. “These firms are the backbone of the economy. They have to adapt to the new situation but need support for digitalisation and to become more innovative, more sustainable and less vulnerable.” he concluded.
Michael Murphy, Chair of the ECON commission said that the changes triggered by the pandemic are hitting in the first place small businesses. Murphy said “It’s our SMEs who have to adapt to the reality of lockdowns, border closures and social distancing measures, often at a price of severe disruptions in business activity and threats to their financial stability. In order to respond to the challenges and to grasp the opportunities brought notably by digitalisation, our regions and cities will need to invest in and support a smart, green and innovative entrepreneurship”
Murphy, who serves as Councillor of Tipperary County Council said that the pandemic exposed distinct structural and territorial patterns, whereby some European regions were hit harder than others, due to their physical location and exposure into some specific sectors, such as tourism for instance. He added that the crisis emphasises the need to have an entrepreneurial society as a critical factor enabling all European territories to build on their strengths and specialisations.
Making a series of recommendations, Murphy said that there is no one-size fits-all approach to policy making for entrepreneurship and SME, that LRAs should have a role in tailoring policies related to finance, labour market and knowledge and that cross-border and cross-regional collaboration is key to have more interconnected entrepreneurial hotspots in Europe creating spill-over effects to neighbouring territories.