Research shows SMEs taking full advantage of FP5
Recent research has shown the number of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) receiving funding for research projects the European Union's Fifth Framework programme (FP5) grew in 1999 in relation to the same figures for the previous programme (FP4). Some 3,200 SMEs were awarded funding last year, a similar percentage to FP4. But the key difference between the two programmes is that FP5 has a more restrictive definition of SME (defining it as any company with less than 250 employees rather than the 450 permitted in FP4). The research also shows encouraging news on the size of SMEs applying and the variety of projects they are applying for. In 1999, the 2,500 SMEs who applied for 850 exploratory awards and 150 CRAFT projects constituted a 20 per cent increase on the equivalent figures for FP4 (720 and 130 respectively). The breadth of projects has increased since the equivalent period during FP4, when the Growth programme constituted 66 per cent of the applications. The biggest rises are in Quality of Life for exploratory awards (up from 18 per cent in FP4 to 33 per cent in FP5) and IST in the CRAFT projects (up from 0.1 per cent in FP4 to 8.9 percent in FP5). The range of SME has increased, with smaller companies taking a more active role. The participation of companies with less than 10 employees has grown from 32 per cent in the exploratory awards in FP4 to 39 per cent in FP5 and from 12 per cent in CRAFT in FP4 to 31 per cent in FP5. Further research has shown that 96 per cent of SMEs who have participated in the Framework programmes over the past four years are happy with their experience and would do it again. Commenting on SME participation, EU Commissioner for Research, Philippe Busquin said: 'SMEs need to innovate to stay in business. And that in turn means they have to gain access to new technologies, or develop them themselves,' he said. 'At the same time, many markets are internationalising, so SMEs need to operate internationally to serve them well. And this means making contacts in other countries. Participation in the European Union's Framework programme for research and development is an ideal way of achieving both these objectives.'