The EEN consortium of Republic of Srpska (EUNORS), notwithstanding the Global pandemic, continues to fulfil most of the planned targets. However, the COVID-19 outbreak has profoundly changed the way we have conducted network activities. One of the key challenges is physical movements limited by both government measures and people’s fears. In such circumstances virtual space via screen sharing and chat with companies and network partners replaced conventional ways of communication.
The Consortium (EUNORS) organised frequent meetings to discuss emerging issues related to the work of the Enterprise Europe Network in the current crisis. In so doing, in the last 8-9 months we’ve been conducting online training for member clients. At the beginning of the pandemic outbreak we were active through online trainings in helping businesses about workplace safety and preventing the spread of the virus.
Individual members of the Consortium, particularly the Universities’ team members closely monitor fast changes in macro business environment necessary to timely update businesses that struggle to cope with increasing uncertainties. As a result of our proactive communication with business clients, several companies we have assisted converted new business opportunities into action. For example, one company (furniture manufacturer) from Banja Luka decided to expand their product portfolio to face masks production.
Certainly, the Covid-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge. While we do not yet know its full impact, it is set to change the future business activities, business governance, companies’ organization structure and architecture of new business models. Having this in mind we as a group making an additional effort to help firms to cope with changes, as well as making sure that our clients are fully aware of current situation and upcoming issues.
We have also actively begun to promote the Sofia Declaration on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. This new growth strategy, that addresses numerous deficiencies of traditional economic development/business paradigm that lacks resource-efficiency and innovation. In this context, we shall target business and entrepreneurs that are interested in building needed business capacities.
The EUNORS Consortium, during 2020 did not deliver any Key Account Management services as the needed funding was not available for this work package. Hence, the Report provides information related to the activities undertaken in other Program areas including EIMC service provision, promotion of the SME Instrument and capacity building of potential applicants through, mainly online communication channels within the COSME program, all in accordance with the current circumstances.
During the period of 2020, the EUNORS team, dedicated a lot of time in promoting the SME instruments funding scheme but none of the applications that we assisted, passed the initial phase. The EUNORS consortium continues to provide support for businesses with innovative ideas and international orientation ambition that are unable to secure investment capital. We are expecting a positive response, as the applicant has already demonstrated the innovative capacity.
