REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL COSME 2014-2020 Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs 2018 Monitoring Report
Date: 2021-11-08
Institutions: Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, EU financing, EU programme, aid to undertakings, climate change policy, competitiveness, entrepreneurship, financial control, market access, small and medium-sized enterprises

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 8.11.2021  COM(2021) 685 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL COSME      2014-2020 Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs           2018 Monitoring Report  
 
 
Table of Contents 

1. 

Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 2 

2.  Activities and results 2018 .......................................................................................................... 2 

2.1 Objective A: Access to finance .................................................................................................. 3 

2.2 

2.3 

2.4 

Objective B: Access to markets ........................................................................................... 5 

Objective C: Improving framework conditions and competitiveness ................................. 7 

Objective D: Promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture ............................ 9 

3. 

Support measures and administrative expenditure .................................................................. 10 

4.  Contribution to the climate mainstreaming objective .............................................................. 10 

5.  Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 11 

6.  Annex ......................................................................................................................................... 13 

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1.  Introduction  

COSME  is  an  EU  programme  to  improve  the  competitiveness  of  enterprises,  especially  small  and 
medium-sized  enterprises  (SMEs).  It  builds  on  the  2007-2013  entrepreneurship  and  innovation 
programme  (EIP)  established  under  the  competitiveness  and  innovation  framework  programme.  It 
seeks  to  optimise  links  with  other  EU  spending  programmes,  in  particular  the  European  Structural 
and Investment Fund and Horizon 2020, which includes the innovation activities that were previously 
part of the EIP.  

COSME adds value by addressing transnational issues and market failures in four key areas: 

1. 

Improving access to finance for SMEs in the form of equity and debt (at least 60% of the total 
budget); 
Improving access to markets inside and outside the EU (21.5%); 
Improving framework conditions and competitiveness for businesses, including SMEs (11%); 

2. 
3. 
4.  Promoting entrepreneurship (2.5%). 

In  addition  to  the  281  EU  Member  States,  the  following  countries  participated  in  COSME  in  2018: 
Iceland,  Albania,  Bosnia  &  Herzegovina,  Kosovo*,  Montenegro,  North  Macedonia,  Serbia,  Turkey, 
Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine. 

The  Commission  is  responsible  for  the  overall  implementation  of  COSME.  The  first  objective  is 
implemented  through  the  financial  instruments  entrusted  to  the  European  Investment  Fund  (EIF). 
Actions  under  Objectives  2,  3  and  4  are  mainly  delegated  to  the  European  Innovation  Council  and 
international 
SME  Executive  Agency  (EISMEA)  (formerly  ‘EASME’).  Indirect  management  by 
organisations is also envisaged for certain analytical and benchmarking activities.  

This  report  gives  an  overview  of  the  COSME  budget  implementation  in  2018,  as  required  by  the 
regulation.  Given  the  multiannual  nature  of  many  projects,  the  decision  was  taken  to  delay  the 
publication  in  order  to  allow  the  inclusion  of  comprehensive  results  and  data  in  the  report.  The 
report includes support measures, administrative expenses and the activities of projects launched in 
both 2017 and 2018 as indicated in the relevant project fiches2.  

2.  Activities and results 2018 

The  overall  planned  budget  for  COSME  in  2014-2020  (7  years)  is  EUR  2.3  billion  including 
administrative  costs.  The  financial  commitments  are  planned  to  increase  progressively  up  to  2020 
(the  programme’s  final year).  An annual work programme  with accompanying  support measures  is 
agreed  each year.  

1 EU-27 + UK, with UK being part of the European Union at the time of the project execution. 
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the 
ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. 

2 Programming, monitoring and evaluation | Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (europa.eu) 

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The  COSME  budget  is  implemented  through  four  budget  lines with appropriations specified  by  the 
corresponding revised financing decision for 20183 and the financing decision for support measures4. 
After  adding  contributions  from  third  countries,  unused  appropriations  from  the  previous 
programming period and miscellaneous transfers, the budget available for 2018 was: 

(a) budget line 02 01 04 01 for administrative expenditure: EUR 4 441 204 
(b) budget line 02 01 06 01 for the functioning of the EASME agency: EUR 9 914 421 
(c) budget line 02 02 01 for all other operational expenditure: EUR 143 007 469 
(d) budget line 02 02 02 for access to finance operational expenditure: EUR 277 117 505 

The financing decision for support measures5 provides for a contribution of EUR 8 538 223, included 
in the budget line 02 02 01 of the EU’s general budget for 2017. 

On average, 81% of COSME’s activities under the operational budget (exception: access to finance) 
were delegated to EASME6. 

In  total,  97%  of  the  EUR  434  million  euros  available  were  committed.  For  payments,  the 
implementation rate was on average 82%.   

2.1 Objective A: Access to finance7 

The COSME Regulation specifies that  at least 60% of the total budget (EUR 1.4 billion)  should  be 
allocated to the financial instruments for 2014-2020. 

In 2018, access to finance represented 64% of COSME’s financial envelope.  

EUR 277 million was available for the financial instruments and accompanying actions, including EFTA 
and third countries’ participation.  

EUR  220  million  was  committed  for  the  Loan  Guarantee  Facility  (LGF)  and  EUR  28  million  for  the 
Equity Facility for Growth (EFG).  

In  2017,  EUR  0.9  million  was  committed  for  accompanying  actions,  including  a  survey  on  SMEs’ 
access  to  finance  (EUR  570 272,46),  information  to  SMEs  about  access  to  EU  financing  (EUR 
149 607.50) and workshops on the Banking Union and Capital Markets Union (EUR 15 000).  

Equity Facility for Growth (EFG)  

Number  of  operations:  7  signed  by  EIF  (3  in  2017,  4  in  2018),  mostly  to  establish  growth  and 
expansion funds, but also including multi-stage funds, reaching a total of 15 operations at the end of 
2018 (10 for growth and expansion stage funds, 4 for multi-stage funds operating with the InnovFin 
Equity Facility for Early Stage set up under Horizon 2020).  

3 C(2018)6983 DocsRoom - European Commission (europa.eu)  
4 C(2018)578  DocsRoom - European Commission (europa.eu) 
5 C(2016) 60 final. 
6 SEC(2013) 493 final.  
7 The same projects are repeated from the 2017 monitoring report due to combined reporting for 2017 and 2018. 
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Total expected amount of investments for eligible final recipients: over EUR 771 million (by the end 
of 2018, 38 eligible final recipients in 12 countries had received EUR 289 704 756). During this period, 
the  EFG  also  contributed  to  the  pan-European  Venture  Capital  (VC)  fund-of-funds  programme 
(VentureEU)  that  was  launched  to  tackle  bottlenecks  in  the  field  of  VC  financing  in  EU.  The  main 
recipient was Axon Partners Group. 

Textbox 1. Highlight of the EFG project – BCB Medical: data-life-wisdom (Turku, Finland) 

BCB Medical: a company supported with a COSME EFG financing 

BCB  Medical  is  active  at  the  interface  between  big  data  and  healthcare.  It  has  developed 
software  to  monitor  and  analyse  treatments  on  more  than  80  disease  groups  to  enable 
healthcare providers to offer better medical solutions.  

It collects medical data from patients prior, during and after treatment, using between 500 and 
3000 data fields per patient. The larger the database, the more accurate common patterns will 
be,  so  the  expansion  and  internationalisation  of  the  company  was  essential.  To  facilitate  this 
process, BCB Medical received a major investment in 2017 from Standout Capital, an EIF-backed 
private equity firm specialised in the growth phase of technological companies.  

More information about the company can be found here.  

Loan Guarantee Facility (this information covers 2017 and 2018)  

By the end of 2018, 117 guarantee agreements had been signed with 93 financial intermediaries (23 
new agreements signed in 2017, 24 in 2018) in 28 countries (24 EU and 4 third countries) for a total 
of EUR 1.2 billion, and the LGF had already provided around EUR 22.8 billion to 414 739 SMEs in 27 
countries. For the 117 operations signed by the end of 2018, more than EUR 36 billion is expected to 
be made available to SMEs. 

Textbox 2. Highlight of the LGF project - Opus Online (Tallinn, Estonia) 

Opus Online company supported with a COSME LGF loan 

Opus Online was founded in 2009 to respond to obstacles experienced by many organisations in 
establishing and maintaining their online presence in today’s increasingly digitalised world. The 
company  set  out  to  design  and  develop  cutting-edge  websites  and  mobile  apps  to  help 
businesses transform their ideas into powerful solutions. 

To  expand  the  business  further  Opus  turned  to  KredEx,  an  EIF  financial  intermediary,  and 
obtained an EU-supported loan backed by EIF under the Investment Plan for Europe, which aims 
to generate new investments by facilitating access to finance for SMEs. 

More information about the company can be found here.  

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Accompanying actions (this information covers 2017 and 2018) 

The SAFE survey gathers information on the financial situation, financing needs, access to financing 
and  expectations  of  SMEs.  The  results  are  published  online  and  can  be  used  by  Member  States, 
analysts, academia and others. A total of 17 532 firms across 34 countries were surveyed in 2017 and 
17 848 firms across 36 countries in 2018. 

The  Commission  also  continued  to  update  and  promote  the  Acces2Finance  website  that  provides 
information to SMEs on how to access financing from 10 different EU programmes in 42 countries. It 
also  helped  SMEs  look  for  EU  financial  support  for  clean  tech  and  climate,  in  line  with  COSME’s 
climate change objectives. The number of webpage views stood at 640 000 in 2017 and 631 000 in 
2018. 

Finally, the workshop on the Banking Union and Capital Markets Union held in 2018 was deemed a 
success. It was attended by more than 20 experts who helped formulate a list of recommendations. 

2.2 Objective B: Access to markets 

The COSME Regulation specifies that 21.5% of the total budget should be devoted to easing access 
to markets. 

In 2018, EUR 75 million was dedicated to the internationalisation of SMEs. 

Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) (this information covers 2017 and 2018) 

Objective:  provide  integrated  business  support  services  to  companies  who  seek  to  innovate,  grow 
and explore opportunities in the single market and third countries  

Results:  

  Network partnering services helped SME clients from all network countries form over 5 700 

international partnership agreements with foreign companies  

  Network  advisory  support  services  helped  around  4 000  clients 

improve 

their 

competitiveness and innovation at European level  

  Services provided to over 200 000 SMEs per year 

  Digital services reached 16.8 million SMEs  

 

Improved quality, efficiency and relevance of services for European SMEs 

Next steps: Cement progress made so far; prepare for next phase under the post-2021 framework. 

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Textbox 3. EEN success story – SiMAX 

SiMAX 

There are around 1 million deaf people and 50 million who are hard of hearing living in Europe. 
The proliferation of sign language has enabled more of them than ever to enjoy visual content.  

With Enterprise Europe Network's support, an Austrian SME has taken this one step further by 
developing  an  on-screen  avatar  that  can  turn  information  into  sign  language  using  smart 
algorithms. 

The  concept  –  ‘SiMAX’  -  is  a  software  tool  that  translates  source  text  using  a  database  of 
vocabulary,  and  then  generates  an  avatar  to  perform  the  final  translation on screen.  ‘For  deaf 
people sign language is their mother tongue,’ said SignTime CEO Dr. Georg Tschare. ‘Written text 
is often hard to catch for them, so what SiMAX does is translate spoken words into the language 
they know.’ 

Watch the project video here. 

Other activities (this information covers 2017 and 2018) 

Over  400  SMEs  have  already  benefited  from  services  related  to  IP  pre-diagnostics  and  improving 
access to patent protection for innovative EU SMEs through the IPA4SME project. One such service is 
free  IP  pre-diagnostics  with  a  verified  IP  expert  who  provides  a  customised  report  on  IP  business 
strategy and recommendations on how to efficiently and securely exploit the assets. This is available 
to SMEs registered in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, 
Spain  and  Sweden.  Around  90%  of  the  SMEs  that  benefited  from  this  service  said  that  the  IP  pre-
diagnostic  report  is  a  useful  resource  for  defining  and  implementing  their  IP  protection  and 
valorisation strategy, and more than 90% said they would recommend the service to other innovative 
SMEs. 

innovation-friendly  business  environment  and  the  overall 
To  support  the  creation  of  an 
competitiveness  of  the  European  economy,  the  InnoBroker  project  developed  an  Innovation 
Procurement Broker (IPB) business model that facilitates the procurement of innovative goods and 
services by bringing together contracting authorities, suppliers of innovation (with a special focus on 
SMEs and start-ups), investors, and researchers. The IPB business model and the main findings from 
the pilots were presented online on 30 July 2020. The recording is available at:  

  www.innobrokers.eu  and   
  https://innovation-procurement.org/innobrokers/.  

Intellectual property helpdesks (this information covers 2017 and 2018) 

Intellectual Property (IP) is vital for the international competitiveness of EU businesses. Intellectual 
Property Rights (IPR)-intensive industries account for most of the EU trade with the rest of the world 
and generate a trade surplus for the EU economy. The international IP SME helpdesks achieved the 

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action’s  goals by  running  a very successful IP  helpline  (answering 3 202  questions), developing and 
updating a wide range of business-friendly IP publications, running a successful training programme 
with the help of Chambers of Commerce and other business intermediators, and providing IP support 
to EU SMEs for company field trips and trade fairs. 

EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation 

This Centre was set up to encourage industrial, trade and investment cooperation between the EU 
and Japan and to help guide and implement EU economic diplomacy with Japan. The action aims to 
improve market access, competitiveness and entrepreneurship for European SMEs. In 2018-2019, it 
organised  17  seminars  in  Japan  and  the  EU,  34 technology  support  webinars, 21  support missions, 
and  2  EU-Japan  business  roundtables.  It  produced  recommendations  and  reports  on  business 
opportunities  for  EU  SMEs  in  the  Japanese  economy.  It  also  ran  a  12-month  traineeship  in  Japan 
attended by 60 European students. The Centre has over 35 000 companies registered in its database. 

The  Commission  funds  the  Centre’s  activities  through  a  new  grant  agreement,  which  runs  from  1 
April 2020 to 31 March 2022. 

Public procurement of innovation 

As the public sector can play a major role in helping companies - particularly SMEs - find customers 
for their innovative products and services, the co-financed projects should significantly increase the 
proportion of European SMEs that have access to the  EU’s Public Procurement  of Innovation (PPI). 
They should also help raise awareness about the advantages of procuring innovation for a constantly 
increasing  greater  number  of  public  buyers.  The  two  ongoing  grant  agreements  started  on  16 
January 2020 and will last 40 and 42 months respectively. 

2.3 Objective C: Improving framework conditions and competitiveness 

The  COSME  Regulation  specifies  that  11%  of  the  total  budget  should  be  devoted  to  improving 
framework conditions and competitiveness.  

In 2018, EUR 33 million was allocated to this objective. 

SME performance review 

This  is  one  of  the  Commission’s  main  tools  to  monitor  and  assess  countries'  annual  progress  in 
implementing the Small Business Act (SBA). In line with the measures set out in the SBA action plan, 
the review gathers comprehensive information about the performance of SMEs in EU countries and 
other  partner  countries.  It  consists  of  a  general  report  and  country  fact  sheets  with  up-to-date 
information on SMEs’ resource efficiency and green products. The outcomes of this action are made 
available online on DG GROW portal here.  

Clusters 

improve  the  competitiveness, 
Developing  more  world-class  clusters 
sustainability  and  resource  efficiency  of  enterprises,  notably  SMEs.  The  European  cluster 
collaboration  programme  aims  to  intensify  cluster  collaboration  across  regions  and  sectors  and 

in  Europe  would  help 

7 

 
 
 
 
facilitate SMEs’ access to clusters and internationalisation activities by creating a hub that includes a 
discussion forum, a collaboration platform, matchmaking events, capacity building webinars, policy 
events, information on good practices and policies, etc. 

The  programme  also  aims  to  improve  collaboration,  networking  and  learning  between  cluster 
organisations and their members to make the specialised and customised business support services 
provided  or  channelled  to  SMEs  more  professional.  This  will  help  strengthen  ties  between  regions 
and  sectors  to  enable  sustainable,  inter-regional  partnerships  and  strategic  collaboration  in 
specialised areas linked to industrial modernisation and improving the business environment.  

Light Industry Innovation and Technology Project (ELIIT) 

The ELIIT  project  helps  create successful partnerships  between SMEs  from textile,  clothing, leather 
and  footwear  (TCLF)  industries  and  providers  and  owners  of  novel  technologies.  The  goal  is  to 
promote  the  use  of  technology-ready  solutions  to  improve  productivity,  value  chain  integration, 
resources  efficiency  and  to  create  new  high  added-value  niche-market  products  and  services.  It 
comprises a platform and website with an active community (204 SMEs from 28 countries  and 180 
tech  providers  from  24  countries  are  registered).  It  has  helped  support  15  partnership  projects  by 
providing financial support and tailored advice, and the success of these partnerships has exceeded 
expectations. 

Artificial intelligence: critical industrial applications 

This  project  aims  to  identify  an  optimal  mix  of  industrial  policy  measures  (business,  financial, 
investment, etc.) to enable the development and uptake of – and ultimately the financial benefits by 
European SMEs, of AI applications. It reached more relevant stakeholders than expected, for example 
by increasing the number of participants at the final conference (held in Brussels on 18-19 February 
2020)  from  100  to  190  (with  more  than  300  registrations)  with  no  impact  on  the  budget.  Three 
project reports are available here: 

 Market analysis, critical AI applications and rollout  

 Foresight scenarios  

 Policy measures and recommendations  

Tourism 

The call for proposals to support thematic tourism and exploit the links between tourism and cultural 
and creative industries  has resulted in seven projects  being  co-financed.  These projects  have  faced 
challenges  related  to  the  COVID-19  crisis,  which  has  invariably  led  to  changes  and  deviations.  The 
executive  agency  is  in  constant  touch  with  the  project  partners  and  has  facilitated  adjustments 
(where  realistic  and  viable).  The  coordinators  will  submit  the  final  reports  at  the  end  of  the  co-
financing period. 

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Textbox 6. Highlights of the projects on tourism products 

The  participating  SMEs  expanded  their  business  activities  and  some  used  their  digital  skills  to 
produce products linked to the objectives of particular projects (such as gamification in TRAMES 
and MEDRYDIVE and tactile technology in EU UNESCO4ALL TOUR); 

- The TRACES project attracted interest from firms in other candidate cities (e.g. Oulo, Finland); 

- The Fishfest project created specific tourism products in niche areas;  

– The MAPPAE project created multisensory pathways related to medicinal and aromatic plants, 
scents and perfumes;  

-  The  CHARM  project  compiled  a  guidebook  on  Europe`s  lesser known  but  equally  picturesque 
and attractive villages to ensure sustainable tourism. 

2.4 Objective D: Promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture 

The  COSME  Regulation  specifies  that  2.5%  of  the  total  budget  should  be  devoted  to  promoting 
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture. 

In 2018, EUR 12 million was allocated to this objective. 

Social innovation networks for social entrepreneurship 

This  project  looked at  the role of social networks  in promoting  social entrepreneurship and  helped 
social  entrepreneurs  access  funding.  It  was  slightly  modified  in  line  with  the  priorities  of  the  new 
Commission  and  due  to  the  COVID-19  crisis,  to  better  address  the  social  economy  aspects  of  the 
recovery.  The  project  resulted  in:  12  draft  papers  from  recognised  international  social  economy 
scholars; input into the social economy action plan be adopted by the Commission in the second half 
of  2021;  a  large  virtual  network  of  academic  scholars,  social  entrepreneurs,  venture  capitalists, 
policymakers, and practitioners across Europe; and the social economy scientific conference (24-25 
November 2020) linked to the European Social Economy Summit.  

The  Commission  also  supports  social  considerations  in  public  procurement  through  the  action  on 
Collecting Good Practices and Raising Awareness on Socially Responsible Public Procurement and the 
project  on  Promoting  Social  Considerations  into Public  Procurement  Procedures  for  Social  Economy 
Enterprises.  A  pdf  with  22 good  practice  examples  from 12  EU  countries  can  be  downloaded  here: 
Buying for social impact - Good practice from around the EU.  

Erasmus for young entrepreneurs 

This scheme allows a potential or newly established entrepreneur to collaborate with an experienced 
entrepreneur in another COSME participating country. In 2017-2018, 32 projects took place (through 
10  specific  grant  agreements  and  two  calls  for  proposals),  through  which  between  1000  and  1500 
novice  entrepreneurs  were  matched  with  more  experienced  ones.  The  exchanges  were  deemed  a 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
success  by  more  than  90%  of  participants.  See  success  stories  and  testimonials  at  www.erasmus-
entrepreneurs.eu. 

3.  Support measures and administrative expenditure 

COSME  support  measures  are  financed  under  budget  line  02.0201.  In  2018,  EUR  7  million  was 
allocated to support measures. 

Conferences  and  meetings  were  organised  with  stakeholders  to  discuss  the  challenges  facing 
different  industrial  sectors.  For  Phase  II  of  the  project  on  Substitution  of  chemical  substances  of 
potential concern, recommendations fed into the ‘SME strategy for a sustainable and digital Europe’ 
(10  March  2020)  and  the  analysis  for  ‘Safe  and  sustainable-by-design  in  chemicals  strategy  for 
sustainability’ (14 October 2020).  

The  Integration  and  Competitiveness  Report  2018  was  another  key  support  measure.  It  analysed 
drivers  and  obstacles  to  competitiveness  and  integration  in  the  single  market,  focusing  on  the 
business  environment  for  SMEs,  and  reviewed  Member  States’  microeconomic  performance.  It 
provided  input  for  several  European  Semester  background  documents,  available  here.  The  related 
background studies are published here.  

The WEGate Platform for Women Entrepreneurship is another notable action. It aims to revamp the 
WeGate  e-platform  to  help  facilitate  networking  and  the  sharing  good  practices  among  women 
entrepreneurs. The community comprises 1814 members from 43 countries. Most of them work in 
the  services  and  ICT  sectors,  but  there  are  also  some  from  the  production  sector  (e.g.  textile  and 
food  processing).  Five  inspirational  stories  about  the  work  of  female  entrepreneurs  during  the 
COVID-19 crisis are currently available on the platform.  

Administrative  expenditure  represented  3%  of  the  budget  in  2018.  It  covered  studies,  expert 
meetings,  and  information  and  communication  actions,  as  well  as  the  Commission’s  (DG  GROW’s) 
expenses (amounting to EUR 4 million) linked to IT networks and other technical and administrative 
assistance. The budget for the functioning of EASME amounted to EUR 9.9 million. 

4.  Contribution to the climate mainstreaming objective 

The  COSME  programme’s  contribution  to  the  climate  mainstreaming  objective,  set  for  all 
Commission programmes, has been estimated at EUR 23.8 million representing 5 % of the financial 
allocation in 2018.   

For several COSME actions, such as the Loan Guarantee Facility, it is difficult to track the contribution 
to  climate  mainstreaming  without  imposing  an  additional  administrative  burden  on  financial 
intermediaries  and  the  participating  SMEs  who  are  the  final  recipients.  However,  the  Enterprise 
Europe  Network  (EEN)  –  while  not  having  any  formal  climate-related  deliverables,  actively  helps 

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SMEs  become  more  sustainable.  Expert  groups  focusing  on  sustainable  construction,  intelligent 
energy, environment and the circular economy include more than 200 EEN staff members and many 
EEN  achievements  (e.g.  partnership  agreements  and  advisory  service  outcomes)  relate  to  these 
subjects. The budget for these activities is estimated at around EUR 14.5 million. 

In  the  2018-2019  SME  Performance  Review,  Member  State  factsheets  include  regularly  updated 
indicators on the link between SMEs, resource efficiency and green products. Also, for the Regional 
Cooperation  Networks  for  Industrial  Renaissance  and  Modernisation  (RECONFIRM)  project,  it  is 
estimated  that  up  to  40%  of  the  action  helped  achieve  climate  change  objectives,  because  the 
collaboration  also  focused  on  green  technologies  and  on  regional  strategies  linked  with  the 
Commission’s Green Deal strategy. 

The  action  on  Substitution  of  chemical  substances  of  potential  Concern  (Phase  II)  was  also  100% 
dedicated to climate mainstreaming. 

5.  Conclusion 

A full 97% of the programme’s operational budget, supporting access to finance, access to markets, a 
favourable  environment  for  businesses,  competitiveness,  and  entrepreneurship  was  executed. 
Monitoring  ensured  that  the  budget  was  reallocated  to  the  most  successful  and  oversubscribed 
activities, such as reserve list projects, and in particular to the financial instruments.  

Access  to  finance  was  a  key  action  area  in  2018.  Under  the  Loan  Guarantee  Facility  (LGF), 24  new 
agreements  were  signed  in  2018  (and  23  in  2017),  for  a  total  of  EUR  1.2  billion.  The  financial 
intermediaries were located in 28 countries. 414 739 SMEs in 27 countries received around EUR 22.8 
billion in financing. More than EUR 36 billion is expected to be made available to SMEs. The market 
demand for COSME LGF guarantees and counter guarantees continues to rise and its 2019 budget is 
expected to increase, partly by reallocating the COSME EFG budget and partly by increasing the EFSI 
top-up. Agreements for the EFG take longer to sign, as equity entails more complex due diligence and 
fundraising processes. At the end of 2018 the EIF had invested in 14 funds through the Facility for a 
total of EUR 163.5 million8. 

Enterprise  Europe  Network  (EEN)  played  an  essential  role  in  2017-2018,  supporting  over  220 000 
SMEs per year with intensive, high added-value services and reaching 16.8 million SMEs through its 
digital service  offer.  In 2018, the network  facilitated around 75 000 business cooperation meetings 
between  small  businesses,  resulting  in  2 611  international  partnership  agreements.  Its  support 
services  helped  1 796  SMEs  improve  their  competitiveness  and  innovation.  EEN  scale-up  advisers 
were  put  in  place,  in  line  with  the  Commission’s  initiative9,  helping  scale-ups  in  56  EU  regions 
overcome  barriers  to  growth.  The  EEN  built  on  the  good  results  made  under  the  first  2  years  of 

8 http://www.eif.europa.eu/what_we_do/equity/single_eu_equity_instrument/innovfin-equity/index.htm 
9 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and 
Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Europe’s next leaders: the start-up and scale-up initiative, 
COM(2016) 733 final, 22.11.2016 - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2016%3A733%3AFIN 

11 

 
 
 
 
                                                           
COSME  support,  and  further  improved  the  quality,  efficiency  and  relevance  of  its  services  for 
European SMEs10.  

The  framework  conditions  for  EU  SMEs  were  enhanced  by  several  cluster  actions.  Thanks  to  the 
‘Cluster Go’ initiative, 25 EU cluster partnerships were established in 2018, supporting SMEs across 
Europe. This initiative encourages participating clusters and small companies to access global value 
chains and find strategic partners beyond Europe.  

The European cluster collaboration platform11 has brought together more than 930 organisations and 
reached out to about 100 000 small businesses. It took part in over 1 100 international matchmaking 
meetings  between  48  clusters  in  2018,  becoming  a  key  EU  instrument  in  supporting  the 
internationalisation of SMEs. 

Textile,  clothing,  leather  and  footwear  (TCLF)  SMEs  were  also  supported through  the  ELIIT  project, 
and another project was launched to create favourable conditions for the development and uptake 
of AI applications by European SMEs.  

In 2018, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs reached 7 000 exchanges between new and experienced 
entrepreneurs across Europe since the start of the programme. A two-year pilot project also began in 
April 2018 to trial the scheme in new destinations outside Europe.  

The  COSME  programme  is  on  track  to  reach  its  objectives  by  the  end  of  2020,  and  its  actions 
continue to be relevant for fostering economic growth and creating employment opportunities, while 
being aligned to the evolving needs of SMEs. 

10 89% of surveyed SMEs think that the support will help improve their market situation, nearly half that it will 
help their competitiveness, and nearly 60% that it will help them preserve or create jobs. 
11 European Cluster Partnerships | European Cluster Collaboration Platform 

12 

 
 
 
 
                                                           
6.  Annex 

Budget 
Line 

02 02 
02 

02 02 
01 

02 01 
04 01 

02 01 
06 01 

Commitments 

Payments 

all fund sources 

   all fund sources 

Initial budget 

Budget 
implemented 

Execut
ion 
% 

Credits 
available for 
payments 

Payment 
executed 

Execu
tion 
% 

Access to finance 

277 107 505 

275 981 370 

99.6% 

198 306 271 

160 618 512 

81% 

delegated to other 
DGs (IT support) 

total 
Access to markets, 
business 
environment & 
entrepreneurship  

implemented by 
GROW 
delegated to EASME 
delegated to other 
DGs 
of which carry over to 
2019 

total 
Administrative 
budget 
EASME - 
administrative 
(operating) budget 

10 000 

10 000 

100% 

9 127 

9 127 

100% 

277 117 505 

275 991 370 

99.6% 

198 315 398 

160 627 639 

81% 

23 437 457 

16 000 219 

68% 

20 592 358 

11 592 266 

56% 

116 192 675 

116 078 182 

100% 

64 731 306 

64 474 334 

100% 

3 377 337 

2 846 549 

84% 

2 668 790 

1 302 596 

49% 

60 586 298 

59 252 550 

143 007 469 

133 591 202 

4 441 204 

2 991 875 

98% 

93% 

67% 

87 992 453 

77 369 196 

88% 

4 441 204 

403 273 

9% 

9 914 421 

9 500 072 

96% 

9 914 421 

9 500 072 

96% 

Total budget 

434 480 599 

422 074 520 

97% 

300 663 475 

247 900 181 

82% 

13