REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL COSME 2014-2020 Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs 2019 Monitoring Report
Date: 2022-10-14
Institutions: Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, EU financing, EU programme, aid to undertakings, competitiveness, entrepreneurship, financial control, market access, small and medium-sized enterprises

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 14.10.2022  COM(2022) 527 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL COSME 2014-2020 Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs 2019 Monitoring Report  
 
 
Contents 
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 2 

1. 

2.  Activities and results in 2019 .......................................................................................................... 3 

2.1 Specific objective A: access to finance ......................................................................................... 3 

The COSME Equity Facility for Growth (EFG) ............................................................................. 4 

The COSME Loan Guarantee Facility ............................................................................................ 5 

Accompanying measures (surveys, information tools, communication materials and events) ....... 5 

2.2 Specific objective B: access to markets ........................................................................................ 6 

The Enterprise Europe Network ..................................................................................................... 6 

Reinforcing single market tools to prepare for and implement the Single Digital Gateway .......... 7 

EU SME Centre in China – Phase III ............................................................................................. 7 

Training for SME-friendly policies in Central Public Buyers (CPB) ............................................. 7 

2.3 Specific objective C: improving framework conditions and competitiveness .............................. 8 

Clusters Go International ................................................................................................................ 8 

Sustainable fashion and tourism ..................................................................................................... 8 

SME Performance Review, Eurobarometer and other studies on SMEs, start-ups, scale-ups and 
entrepreneurship .............................................................................................................................. 8 

The SME envoys network and the SME assembly ......................................................................... 9 

EU Open for Business campaign .................................................................................................... 9 

2.4 Specific objective D: promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture ........................... 9 

Erasmus for young entrepreneurs ................................................................................................... 9 

Social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility ......................................................... 10 

3. 

4. 

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

Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on project implementation ......................................................... 10 

5.  Contribution to the climate mainstreaming objective ................................................................. 12 

6.  Contribution to sustainable development goals........................................................................... 13 

7.  Gender .......................................................................................................................................... 14 

8.  Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 15 

9.  Annex ............................................................................................................................................ 18 

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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 was established under the COSME Regulation1. It builds on the 
2007-2013 entrepreneurship and  innovation  programme (EIP) established under the  competitiveness 
and  innovation  framework  programme.  It  also  seeks  to  optimise  links  with  other  EU  spending 
programmes relevant to SMEs. 

COSME  adds  value  by  addressing  transnational  issues  and  market  failures  through  four  specific 
objectives: 
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%). 

The COSME programme also paid attention to related priorities in the Europe 2020 Strategy2 (such as 
helping  SMEs  to  benefit from  innovation,  access  to skills  and  training,  and the role that  SMEs  can 
play in social cohesion through support for social economy and specific business target groups such as 
potential new, young and female entrepreneurs. 

The Commission carried out an interim evaluation of COSME in 20173. The 2019 work programme 
made progress in implementing one of the main recommendations stemming from this evaluation: the 
need to focus on bigger, strategic  measures while keeping some flexibility in the programme to test 
new ideas. 

In  addition  to  the  284  EU  Member  States,  the  following  countries  participated  in  COSME  in  2019: 
Albania,  Armenia,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  Iceland,  Kosovo5,  Moldova,  Montenegro,  North 
Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine6. 

The  Commission  is  responsible  for  the  overall  implementation  of  COSME.  The  programme’s  first 
specific  objective  is  implemented  through  the  financial  instruments  and  the  Commission  has 
delegated the management of these to the European Investment Fund (EIF). 

1  Regulation  (EU)  No  1287/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11  December  2013 
establishing  a  Programme  for  the  Competitiveness  of  Enterprises  and  small  and  medium-sized  enterprises 
(COSME) (2014-2020) and repealing Decision No 1639/2006/EC, OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p.33. 
2 “Europe 2020 - A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth" was endorsed by the European Council 
of  June  2010.  It  set  five  ambitious  objectives  on  climate  and  energy,  employment,  innovation,  education  and 
social inclusion to be reached by 2020 and emphasised that SMEs should play a crucial role in reaching these 
objectives. See: https://op.europa.eu/s/wVjl . 
3 https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2873/87360. 
4 The present EU-27 and the UK, which was still an EU Member State in 2019. 
5 This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ 
Opinion on Kosovo’s declaration of independence. 
6  In  general,  the  selection  criteria  for  COSME  grants  and  procurement  actions  focused  on  non-geographical 
criteria such as conformity with the objectives of the action and the quality of proposals/tenders. The European 
dimension  was  also  important.  Most  COSME  actions  did  not  have  sufficient  budget  to  provide  a  broad 
geographical  coverage  of  eligible  countries.  This  report  provides  country  information  for  a  small  number  of 
actions,  notably  for  the  EEN  and  circular  fashion  which  did  have  a  broad  geographical  coverage  of 
beneficiaries.  

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Measures  under  the  programme’s  specific  objectives  2,  3  and  4  were  mainly  delegated  to  the 
European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency (EISMEA), an executive agency formerly 
known as the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME).7 

Certain  analytical  and  benchmarking  activities  were  also  indirectly  managed  by  international 
organisations. 

This  report  gives  an  overview  of  the  COSME  budget’s  implementation  in  2019,  as  required  by  the 
COSME  Regulation.  Given  the  multiannual  nature  of  many  projects  and  the  need  to  extend  the 
duration of many projects due to issues related to the COVID-19 crisis, the publication of this report 
has  been  delayed  so  that  more  comprehensive  results  and  data  can  be  included8.  This  report  also 
covers support measures and administrative expenses. 

2.  Activities and results in 2019 

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

The COSME budget was implemented through four budget lines with appropriations specified by the 
corresponding revised financing decision for 20199 and the financing decision for support measures10. 
After  adding  contributions  from  non-EU  countries,  unused  appropriations  from  the  previous 
programming  period  and  miscellaneous  transfers,  the  budget  available  for  2019  was  made  up  as 
follows: 

(a) budget line 02 01 04 01 for administrative expenditure: EUR 4 910 505; 
(b) budget line 02 01 06 01 for the functioning of the EASME agency: EUR 10 322 946; 
(c) budget line 02 02 01 for all other operational expenditure: EUR 141 873 965; 
(d) budget line 02 02 02 for access to finance operational expenditure: EUR 257 991 946. 

The  financing  decision  for  support  measures  provided  for  a  contribution  of  EUR 7 717 000,  which 
was included in the budget line 02 02 01 of the EU’s general budget for 2019. 

On average,  25% of COSME’s activities under the operational budget were delegated to EASME11. 
Implementation of the financial instruments was delegated to the EIF (see below). 

The annual budget for the COSME programme in 2019 was EUR 448 099 362. In total, 96% of this 
budget was committed and the implementation rate for payments was on average 90%. 

2.1 Specific objective A: access to finance 

The  COSME  Regulation  specified  that  at  least  60%  of  the  total  budget  for  the  programme 
should be allocated to the financial instruments for 2014-2020. EUR 1.6 billion were committed 
overall  to  the  financial  instruments  for  the  2014-2020  programming  period,  which  is  slightly 
above 60% of the total COSME Budget 

EUR 257 million was committed in 2019 for the financial instruments and accompanying  measures, 
including EFTA and other non-EU countries’ participation. 

7 The former name EASME is used throughout this report. 
8 https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/cosme/programming-monitoring-and-evaluation_en 
9 C(2019)6039 final: https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/36768 
10 C(2019)2588 final: https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/34801 
11 SEC(2013) 493 final:  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52013SC0493(01) 

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EUR 216 million was committed for the Loan Guarantee Facility (LGF) and EUR 39.7 million for the 
Equity Facility for Growth (EFG). 

In 2019, EUR 1.4 million was committed for accompanying measures, including a survey on SMEs’ 
access to finance (EUR 672 000), the provision of information to SMEs about access to EU financing 
(EUR 175 000), and an update and complement to a study on tax compliance costs for SMEs in the 
EU (EUR 250 000). 

The COSME Equity Facility for Growth (EFG) 

The COSME EFG is dedicated to investments in risk-capital funds that provide venture capital and 
mezzanine  finance  to  expansion  and  growth-stage  SMEs.  Two  new  fund  agreements  were  signed 
under  the  EFG  in  2019,  bringing  the  total  to  17  by  the  end  of  2019  (including  4  signatures  on  a 
conditional  basis).  The  total  EU  contribution  to  financial  intermediaries  from  2014  until  the  end  of 
2019 was EUR 242 million. Of these, 11 agreements related to growth and expansion stage funds and 
the other  6 related to multi-stage funds in combination with the InnovFin  Equity Facility for Early-
Stage set up under Horizon 2020. 

The  COSME  EFG  also  contributed  to  the  pan-European  venture  capital  fund-of-funds  programme 
(VentureEU) that was launched in 2017 to reduce bottlenecks in venture capital financing in the EU. 
One  contract  for EUR 33 million  was  signed  in  2019  with  a  fund  manager  for  VentureEU. 
By 31 December 2019, 
to 
EUR 53 million. 

total  COSME  EFG  contribution 

this  facility  amounted 

the 

to 

By  31 December 2019,  the  funds  supported  by  the  COSME  EFG  had  invested  EUR 660 million  in 
more than 100 SMEs in 13 EU countries. This included EUR 400 million invested in more than 50 
SMEs that were in their growth and expansion stage. The last two indicators (EUR 400 million and 50 
SMEs) were on track for meeting the long term targets12.  

Based on a target leverage of 1:5 and the total 2014-2020 budgetary envelope of EUR 394 million, it 
was  expected  that at least EUR 2 billion  of risk  capital  would  be  provided to  more  than  200  SMEs 
over  the  lifetime  of  the  COSME  EFG.  This  would  result  in  an  overall  investment  of  nearly 
EUR 3.8 billion. 

Textbox 1. Example of a COSME EFG project – SilverCloud Health 

SilverCloud Health was created in 2012 as a spin-off from academic and clinical research at Trinity 
College  Dublin  and  the  Mater  University  Hospital.  It  has  long  experience  in  delivering  effective 
online  behavioural  health  solutions  to  tackle  issues  such  as  depression  and  anxiety;  sleep  and 
resilience;  personal  finance  stress;  and  eating  disorders.  It  cooperates  with  more  than  200 
organisations  on  a  wide  range  of  evidence-based  programmes  and  has  helped  more  than  200  000 
patients since 2012. 73% of patients see a significant improvement after 6-8 weeks on its platform. 

SilverCloud Health received a large equity investment from ACT Venture Capital, backed by the EIF 
and the EU. ‘This allowed us to scale up our activity. We set up an office with a sales team in the US. 
This  allowed  us  to  expand  significantly  and  double  our  staff  numbers’,  said  Kevin  Higgins, 
SilverCloud’s  Chief  Financial  Officer.  Looking  ahead,  SilverCloud  is  keen  to  combine  the  use  of 
wearables with support found on the platform to provide even better mental health services. 
Updated in November 2020. 

12 The COSME Regulation envisages investments from EUR 2.6 billion to EUR 3.9 billion in 360 to 540 SMEs, 
whereas (i) the EUR 2.6 billion of investments were made into 346 SMEs up to 2021 and (ii) the COSME 
EFG is planned to last until last operations are wound down, e.g. 31 December  2034. The implementation of 
the  targets  took  account  of  the  specific  challenges  of  implementing  this  financial  instrument  (priority  of 
operations in non-EU countries participating in COSME programme and the fact that investment demand is 
lower in these countries, and the time needed to sign agreements with funds, which first requires complex due 
diligence and fund-raising processes to be completed).  

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The COSME Loan Guarantee Facility 

By the end of 2019, the COSME Loan Guarantee Facility (LGF) provided more than 553 000 SMEs 
with almost EUR 32 billion financial support in 32 countries. Available data shows that the COSME 
LGF more specifically supports smaller and younger SMEs that find it harder to obtain the financing 
they need. Around 90% of the SMEs that received finance had fewer than 10 employees and almost 
50% were start-ups. 

In practice, the COSME LGF had a much larger impact than the amount of financing that it directly 
generated for SMEs. It also incentivised these SMEs to make additional investments equivalent to 21-
29% of the amount they received through the LGF. The amount of investment realised by businesses 
as a result of these guarantees is estimated to have reached nearly EUR 39.7 billion at the end of 2019. 

The  COSME  LGF  also  received  a  top-up  from  the  European  Fund  for  Strategic  Investments, 
increasing its risk bearing capacity by EUR 1.3 billion by the end of 2019. The top-up was used for a 
number  of  purposes,  including  the  launch  of  a  digitalisation  pilot  in  2019  to  enable  financial 
intermediaries  to  provide  broader  and  more  comprehensive  debt  support  to  SMEs  for  digital 
transformation. 

Textbox 2. Example of a COSME LGF project – Gustav, food industry 

Gustav is an Estonian company that specialises in producing patisserie in-house using fresh and local 
ingredients. It sells its products – which are noted for its distinctive decoration – in its own cafés and 
also  to  external retailers. Gustav  has  gone from  strength  to  strength,  but  has  faced  some  challenges 
along the way – in particular how to manage international growth. Its management team identified a 
good  potential  market  in  Finland,  but  needed  to  set  up  new  production  facilities  there  in  order  to 
maintain its 22-hour freshness policy. 

With  an  EU-guaranteed  loan  from  Swedbank,  backed  by  the  EIF  under  the  COSME  LGF  and  the 
Investment  Plan  for  Europe,  Gustav  was  able  to  purchase  the  equipment  and  secure  the  working 
premises  it  needed  in  order  to  launch  its  business  successfully  in  Finland.  Its  objective  is  now  to 
expand its retail and production points within Estonia and across Europe. 

Accompanying measures (surveys, information tools, communication materials and events) 

The SAFE survey on access to finance for enterprises provides information on the financial situation, 
financing needs, access to finance and expectations of SMEs. It is highly useful for evidence-based 
policymaking at EU level and also used by Member States, analysts, academia and others. A total of 
18 159 firms across 36 countries were surveyed in 201913. 

The  Commission  continued  updating  and  promoting  the  http://www.access2finance.eu  website  that 
provides user-friendly information for SMEs on how to access EU financial instruments, including the 
contact  details  of  financial  intermediaries.  It  covers  12  EU  programmes  in  42  countries,  including 
programmes  relevant  for  clean  technology,  climate  protection,  and  female-led  companies.  Various 
promotional  materials  were  also  published  –  including  a  detailed  brochure  on  the  benefits  of  the 
COSME financial instruments for SMEs14 and a brochure on ‘FinTech opportunities for SMEs’15. 

The  Angel  Investment  Summit  in  November  2019  was  attended  by  300  stakeholders  and  provided 
them with an opportunity to discuss policy initiatives in areas such as climate protection, environment 

13 Data and surveys - SAFE (europa.eu) 
14 EU Financing for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Real benefit for businesses: 

https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/37584 

15 https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/41d9c05f-0b50-11ea-8c1f-01aa75ed71a1 

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and gender balance, and to participate in matchmaking activities. The participants’ feedback was very 
positive. A successful workshop on FinTech and alternative finance took place in October 2019. 

2.2 Specific objective B: access to markets 

The COSME Regulation specified that 21.5% of the total budget for 2014-2020 should be allocated to 
facilitating  access  to  markets.  A  total  of  EUR 64 million  was  allocated  to  this  specific  objective  in 
2019. 

The Enterprise Europe Network 

to  SMEs, 

thereby  supporting  SME  growth, 

innovation,  partnering  and 
The  Enterprise  Europe  Network  (EEN)  provides  high  quality 
resilience  and 
internationalisation  support 
competitiveness.  The  network  was  present  in  all  EU-28  Member  States16,  and  other  countries 
participating in the COSME programme17. The EEN’s scale-up services have become a core service, 
providing  specialised  support  for  young  European  SMEs  with  high-growth  potential.  The  network 
also started to take preliminary steps for delivering services to support SMEs with sustainability and 
digitalisation.  Throughout  the  COVID-19  crisis,  the  EEN  has  demonstrated  its  ability  to  adapt  its 
services to help SMEs deal with new challenges and opportunities. It has become increasingly active 
in helping SMEs to tackle value chain disruptions and boost their resilience. 

Results for EEN activities in 2020 (co-funded under 2019 budget):18  

 
 

 

 

the EEN provided information, advice and support services to 231 774 SMEs; 
the  EEN’s  partnering  services  helped  SME  clients  from  all  network  countries  form  more  than 
2 700 international partnership agreements with foreign companies in 2020; 
the  EEN’s  advisory  support  services  helped  around  2 137  clients  per  year  to  improve  their 
competitiveness and innovation at European level; 
the EEN’s digital services reached 14.1 million SMEs. 

A survey carried out in spring 2021 showed high levels of client satisfaction with the quality of the 
EEN services received in 2019-2020. 94% of respondents indicated that they would recommend EEN 
services to others. 90% of recipients of in-depth EEN advisory services expect a market improvement 
as a result of their engagement with the EEN. 

DG GROW and EASME cooperated with a wide range of EU programmes for the management and 
animation of the EEN, including on training, events, and exchanges of good practice with EEN sector 
and  thematic  groups.  They  also  facilitated  cooperation  between  EEN  members  and  structural  fund 
authorities. The EEN also provided innovation-related services19 – which are beyond the scope of the 
COSME grant agreements – with co-funding from Horizon 2020/ the European Innovation Council. 

Textbox 3. An EEN success story – OiOi 

OiOi is a small Finnish business that creates touchscreens from any kind of surface including snow, 
ice and stone. EEN Turku has been supporting it since its creation in 2010. OiOi displays have been 
installed in a variety of locations such as playgrounds, shopping malls, science centres, indoor activity 
parks, hospitals and schools. Some are also in prominent locations such as Helsinki airport. 

16 Including the UK. 
17 Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, 
Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine 
18 The 2019 budget allocations for the EEN were used to support services provided in 2020. 
19 A clearly defined set of services for enhancing SMEs’ innovation management capacities and key account 
management services for the SME Instrument. 

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OiOi  was  successful  in  Finland,  but  faced  challenges  in  expanding  internationally.  It  also  needed 
expert  advice  on  opportunities  and  contacts,  and  new  ways  to  develop  international  business 
relationships.  EEN  Turku  gave  OiOi  the  opportunity  to  attend  partnership  events  in  different 
countries, and provided other international partnership services and advice on funding. 

EEN’s support has had a real impact on OiOi’s business. ‘We have doubled our annual turnover and 
recruited  more  programmers’,  said  OiOi’s  CEO  and  founder  Sami  Kämppi.  ‘We  are  the  industry 
leaders in Finland and have also successfully expanded in Europe and beyond – including to China.’ 
He confirmed his intention to carry on using the EEN’s services in future. 

Reinforcing single market tools to prepare for and implement the Single Digital Gateway  

The Single Digital Gateway (SDG) is an ambitious programme of public service digitalisation. It will 
provide  full  cross-border  accessibility  to  information  on  single  market  rights  and  rules  at  EU  and 
national  level,  including  single  market  procedures  and  assistance  services,  and  the  possibility  to 
provide feedback. It is used by both the general public and businesses. 

The COSME programme supported the work to reinforce the tools needed to launch the SDG: 

  expansion of the content and functionalities of the Your Europe portal (the platform to be used to 

host the SDG) 

  development of an administrative tool (dashboard) for the Member States’ coordinators 
  work to integrate all required IT functionalities. 

The successful outcome of this work enabled the SDG to go live on schedule on 12 December 2020. 

EU SME Centre in China – Phase III 

The EU SME Centre in China – Phase III20 provides a wide range of services to help EU businesses to 
assess their readiness to enter the Chinese market. It also helps to strengthen advocacy for defending 
the  interests  of  the  EU  business  community,  and  to  improve  cooperation  and  the  sharing  of  best 
practices between business associations at the EU, national, and regional levels for the benefit of EU 
businesses intending to do business in China. 

As described below under heading 4, the COVID-19 crisis affected the implementation of this project 
and required services and targets to be adjusted. The work to put activities back on track is proceeding 
smoothly. One key deliverable provided is a self-diagnosis tool that enables European SMEs to make 
a prior assessment of their readiness to develop their presence on the Chinese market21. 

Training for SME-friendly policies in Central Public Buyers (CPB) 

This  measure  strengthens  the  capacity  of  CPB  personnel  and  helps  them  to  make  their  tender 
procedures  more  easily  accessible  to  SMEs.  It  is  open  to  CPBs  in  the  EU  and  other  COSME 
participant  countries.  Priority  is  given  to  CPBs  in  countries  with  structurally  weak  or  newly 
established procurement systems. 34 participants are benefiting from online and on-site training. The 
project continued until May 2022. 

20 Phase III is supported by the COSME programme. The previous phases were co-funded by DG DEVCO (now 
DG INTPA). 
21 https://sdt.eusmecentre.org.cn/ 

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2.3 Specific objective C: improving framework conditions and competitiveness  

The COSME Regulation specified that an indicative amount of 11% of the total budget for 2014-2020 
should  be  devoted  to  improving  framework  conditions  and  competitiveness.  EUR 32 million  was 
allocated to this objective in 2019. 

Clusters Go International 

The  Clusters  Go  International  measure  supported  the  establishment  of  EU  strategic  cluster 
partnerships  to  develop  and  implement  strategies  for  international  cluster  cooperation  with  non-EU 
countries. The call was published in September 2019, but the start of these projects was hampered by 
the  restrictions  on  travel  and  contacts  imposed  during  the  pandemic.  The  coordinators  adjusted 
activities and requested extensions, and the projects are now achieving positive results. 

For  example,  the  PIMAP+  consortium  transformed  a  planned  on-site  event  into  a  very  successful 
virtual  innovation  forum  that  attracted  around  640 000  participants.  The  FASCINATE  consortium 
agreed  on  a  joint  internationalisation  strategy,  signed  11  cooperation  agreements  with  strategic 
partners  in  Canada,  Japan  and  the  US,  and  provided  internationalisation-readiness  training  to  82 
SMEs in the fashion industry. 

Sustainable fashion and tourism 

The ongoing projects for a sustainable and circular fashion industry in the 2019 work programme 
aim  to  accelerate  and  scale  up  innovations  to  support  the  industry  with  the  transition  to  circular 
economy and sustainability at all stages of the value chain. The four ongoing projects are providing 
direct  support  for  accelerating  the  implementation  of  approximately  120  promising  sustainable 
business 
see: 
https://nextextilegeneration.eu. 

ideas  with 

information 

potential22. 

innovation 

further 

high 

For 

There are also ongoing projects to help boost the sustainability of tourism SMEs by strengthening 
their capacities and skills to explore and implement sustainability solutions. The participating SMEs 
benefit from training, study trips, and support for cross-border and cross-sector cooperation. This will 
lead to  concrete  gains  such  as  resource  savings,  obtaining  sustainability  certification,  and improved 
adaptability  to  new  trends,  challenges  and  opportunities.  There  were  6  ongoing  projects  under 
COSME’s 2019 work programme with 50 beneficiaries from 20 countries23. 

SME Performance Review, Eurobarometer and other studies on SMEs, start-ups, scale-ups and 
entrepreneurship 

The  SME  Performance  Review24  is  one  of  the  Commission’s  main  tools  to  monitor  and  assess 
countries’ annual progress in implementing the Small Business Act (SBA) and the SBA action plan. 
The annual report on SMEs and the country fact sheets provide comprehensive information on SMEs’ 
performance and the business environment in the EU and other partner countries (including resource 
efficiency and green products). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on EU SMEs was also a key 
topic of the 2020 edition of the SPR (funded by the 2019 budget). 

One  key  related  study  was  the  Eurobarometer  survey  on  SMEs,  start-ups,  scale-ups  and 
entrepreneurship (published in August 2020)25, which provided useful information on the profile of 

22  The  25  partners  in  these  projects  were  based  in  Belgium,  Estonia,  Finland,  France,  Germany,  Greece, 
Lithuania,  Moldova,  and  Spain,  and  also  included  international  organisations.  This  enabled  services  to  be 
provided in all EU regions under at least one of the projects. 

23  18  Member  States  (Austria,  Belgium,  Bulgaria,  Croatia,  Cyprus,  Denmark,  Estonia,  Finland,  France, 
Germany,  Greece,  Hungary,  Italy,  Netherlands,  Portugal,  Romania,  Slovakia  and  Spain)  and  2  COSME 
Countries (Moldova and North Macedonia). 

24 SME Performance Review (europa.eu) 
25 https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2244 

8 

 
 
                                                           
these businesses in the EU and the challenges they face. Both the SPR and the Eurobarometer survey 
provided useful data to support the European Semester process, the design of national recovery plans, 
and other evidence-based policymaking. 

The  OECD  carried  out  a  pilot  study  on  unleashing  SMEs’  potential to  scale  up. This  provides 
substantial  new  insights  including  on  key  factors  that  support  or  inhibit  scale-ups.  It  also  maps  out 
almost  1 200  relevant  policies  and  400  institutions  in  38  OECD  countries.  The  2019  European 
Startup Monitor (published in April 2020 and funded by the 2019 budget)26 is a smaller survey with 
useful data from founders of start-ups and policy recommendations. 

The SME envoys network and the SME assembly 

The  2019  budget  funded  the  organisation  of  four  meetings  of  the  SME  envoys  network 
(representatives  of  Member  States’  national  administrations)  in  2019,  and  the  meeting  of  the  SME 
Assembly  in  November  2019  in  Helsinki  with  457  delegates.  The  discussions  in  these  meetings 
contributed to the design of policy measures such as the SME Strategy. 

EU Open for Business campaign 

The  2015-2020  EU  Open  for  Business  campaign  aimed  to  make  more  SME  business  owners  and 
managers  aware  of  opportunities  and  rights  in  the  single  market;  EU  support  networks  such  as  the 
EEN;  and  online  tools.  The  2020  campaign  (under  the  COSME  2019  work  programme)  was 
implemented  in  Belgium,  Luxembourg,  Malta,  the  Netherlands  and  Slovakia,  and  its  scope  was 
extended  to  raise  awareness  about  EU  advisory  services,  tools  and  financial  support  for  SMEs  in 
relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

2.4 Specific objective D: promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture  

The COSME Regulation specified that 2.5% of the total budget for 2014-2020 should be devoted to 
promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture. 

Erasmus for young entrepreneurs 

The  Erasmus  for  young  entrepreneurs  (EYE)  scheme  allows  a  potential  or  newly  established 
entrepreneur  to  collaborate  with  an  experienced  entrepreneur  in  another  COSME-participating 
country.  Both  entrepreneurs  gain  valuable  insights  and  experiences  from  this  exchange.  COSME 
provides  grants  to  consortia  of  intermediary  organisations  (IOs)  that  recruit  and  match  the 
entrepreneurs. There were 1 336 EYE exchanges27 in 2019. This fell to 837 in 2020 for reasons related 
to the COVID-19 crisis. Appropriate action was taken to put the projects affected by COVID-19 back 
on track (see point 4). 90% of participants rated their exchange as a success. 

An Erasmus for young entrepreneurs success story28 

Nabil Chelaouaou (new entrepreneur, Green Farm, Italy) and Carlos Rubio María, La Bardal 
(Spain) 

Nabil  Chelaouaou  was a  new  entrepreneur  who  was setting  up  ‘Green  Farm’  a  business project for 
producing  fresh  and  healthy  vegetables.  He  benefited  from  an  EYE  exchange  with  Carlos  Rubio 
María, an experienced entrepreneur who runs La Bardal, a project for rural renewal and participatory 
governance.  Both  participants  benefited  from  sharing  experience  and  knowledge  about regenerative 
agriculture and how to better use natural resources and practices to have a direct, positive impact on 
society and on climate change. 

Further information: https://www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu/page.php?cid=09&id=959. 

26 http://europeanstartupmonitor2019.eu/ 
27 The number of exchanges is measured by “relationships between entrepreneurs (RLT) performance indicator”. 
28 See other success stories and testimonials at http://www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu 

9 

 
 
                                                           
Social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility 

A  manual  to  support  policymakers  with  design  and  improvement  of  regulatory  frameworks  for 
social enterprise development29 has been produced by the OECD with COSME funding. This was 
presented to 70 policymakers at an event on 28 April 2022. 

There is also a measure in progress to assess the level of uptake of corporate social responsibility 
(CSR),  to  collect  information  on  national  support  measures  and  good  practices,  and  to  propose 
recommendations for effective mechanisms for supporting CSR/responsible business conduct. 

3.  Support measures and administrative expenditure 

COSME  support  measures  were  financed  under  budget  line  02 02 01.  EUR  7.7 million  was 
allocated to support measures in 2019. 

Conferences and meetings were organised with stakeholders to discuss the challenges facing different 
industrial sectors. A variety of measures were supported, including analytical work such as studies to 
support policymaking and information tools providing practical support for SMEs. 

The study on circular economy principles for building design was finalised at the start of 2021 and 
made  useful  policy  recommendations  at  the  EU  level  based  on  a  thorough  analysis  of  national  and 
regional policy initiatives and a qualitative assessment of their likely impact. These recommendations 
were  taken  into  account  in  the  proposals  for  revising  EU  legislation  on  the  energy  performance  of 
buildings and construction products, and in other ongoing legislative revision work. 

The Data 4 Healthy Recovery Hackathon online event on 18-20 June 2021 enabled businesses and 
industrial stakeholders to define challenges for tackling the green and digital (twin) transition, and to 
work  together  to  develop  potential  solutions.  The  12  highest-ranked  teams  also  completed  an 
acceleration  programme  to  help  them  develop  their  ideas  further  and  improve  their  readiness  for 
market launch. 

A study of European structural and investment funds (ESIF) support for defence and dual-use-
related activities was prepared30, including a detailed mapping and compilation of previous projects, 
information on the ESIF framework for 2021-2027, a brochure for SMEs, and conclusions and lessons 
learnt on how to support SME participation. A workshop was held on 19 January 2021 to present this 
to the sector. 

The content of the EU Intellectual Property Helpdesk and the four international IP helpdesks was 
integrated into the European Commission’s main web site (Europa) as part of the Single Digital 
Gateway service. 

Administrative  expenditure  represented  3%  of  the  budget  in  2019.  It  covered  expert  meetings, 
information  and  communication  measures,  and  the  Commission’s  (DG  GROW’s)  expenses  of 
EUR 2.2 million linked to IT networks and other technical and administrative assistance. The budget 
for the functioning of EASME was EUR 9.9 million. 

4.  Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on project implementation 

Many  projects  under  the  COSME  2019  work  programme  were  about  to  start  or  were  already  in 
progress  when  the  COVID-19  crisis  broke  out.  This  inevitably  hindered  their  implementation.  The 
crisis  also  brought  positive  opportunities  such  as  the  chance  to  refocus  measures  towards  helping 

29 https://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/social-economy/legal-frameworks.htm 
30 https://ec.europa.eu/defence-industry-space/system/files/2021-

05/Study%20on%20Contribution%20of%20the%20defence%20sector%20to%20Regional%20Development
%20through%20ESIF_pdf.pdf 

10 

 
 
                                                           
businesses to respond to the exceptional challenges they now faced and to boost their resilience in the 
future. 

Refocusing COSME measures and projects towards helping businesses to tackle the COVID-19 
crisis 

From the start of the COVID-19 crisis, the EEN adapted quickly and flexibly to enterprises’ changing 
needs.  The  EEN  helped  SMEs  to  address  supply  chain  disruptions  and  find  commercial  and 
technology partners to refocus their business (for example, to switch production to personal protective 
equipment  or  other  healthcare  products).  The  EEN  also  helped  businesses  to  meet  the  need  for 
disruptive innovation and change management resulting from the crisis and to boost their resilience. 
Other  noteworthy  services  included  EEN  single  market  advice  for  tackling  new  barriers  and 
restrictions that emerged, and advice on access to finance. 85% of the EEN’s clients were satisfied or 
very satisfied with the support provided by the EEN during the crisis. 

The scope of the 2020 SME Performance Review (funded by the 2019 budget) was refocused on the 
impact of the pandemic on EU SMEs in 2020 and their  probable performance in 2021. This review 
provided useful data to support the implementation of the Recovery plan for Europe. 

The Data 4 Healthy Recovery Hackathon in June 2021 (see support measures in point 3 above) was 
a success despite being affected by the  COVID-19 crisis from the very beginning.  It was  converted 
into an online event, and a tailor-made mentoring service that was added as a substitute deliverable in 
response to the crisis proved to be effective and helped the Hackathon teams develop their ideas and 
get closer to the market launch. 

Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the implementation of COSME projects 

The  initial  impact  of  the  crisis  was  significant  for  many  projects  in  the  COSME  2019  work 
programme  –  particularly  when  a  high  level  of face-to-face  contacts  were  needed  for  providing  the 
deliverables or implementing the service delivery approach described in the grant agreement. On-site 
events  were changed into online-events  whenever  possible.  Many  projects had to  be  rescheduled  to 
allow more time to reach targets. Other deliverables were also adjusted to the crisis conditions. The 
following  examples  illustrate  how  projects  were  affected  and  the  steps  taken  to  put  them  back  on 
track. 

  The  EU  SME  Centre  in  China  (a  COSME 2019  measure)  was  severely  disrupted  by  travel 
restrictions,  stringent  sanitary  measures  in  China  and  other  COVID-19  related  issues.  The 
consortium  looked  for  mitigating  measures  proactively.  Services  were  adapted  to  the  crisis 
situation  in  agreement  with  EASME  and  the  Commission.  However,  some  changes  such  as  the 
shift to virtual events did not realise their full potential (in this example, the demand for webinars 
was  good,  but  businesses  did  not  feel  at  ease  with  remote  matchmaking  events).  The  project 
duration was extended to allow the beneficiaries sufficient time to meet their targets. 

  The Erasmus for young entrepreneurs IO projects that started in February 2020 under the 2019 
budget  were  seriously  affected  by  the  COVID-19  crisis.  Contract  extensions  were  granted  and 
activities were adjusted (for example, by increasing the offering of remote exchanges). Work to 
catch  up  is  progressing  well.  The  number  of  exchanges  between  new  and  experienced 
entrepreneurs for projects under the 2019 call increased from 871 in March 2022 to 967 in May 
2022. This is well on track to meet the end-of-project final target of achieving 1 969 exchanges31. 

Many  Clusters  Go  International  projects  under  the  2019  COSME  work  programme  have  also  been 
affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Their fact-finding missions, events and business contacts in non-EU 

31 The target is to be achieved by the end date (31 January 2024 for 8 projects and 31 January 2023 for 1 

project). 

11 

 
 
                                                           
countries  were  impeded  or  completely  prevented  by  travel  restrictions  and  sanitary  measures.  This 
made  it  harder  to  achieve  results.  Activities  were  adjusted  and  rescheduled  where  possible.  The 
consortia  also  found  alternatives  to  travelling  –  notably  finding  partners  in  the  targeted  non-EU 
countries  to  help  prearrange  meetings  with  key  stakeholders.  The  different  project  participants  also 
cooperated to solve common problems and organise joint events. Activity has since begun to recover. 

5.  Contribution to the climate mainstreaming objective 

The  need  for  enterprises  to  adapt  to  a  low-carbon,  climate-resilient,  energy-  and  resource-efficient 
economy  has  been  promoted  throughout  the  implementation  of  the  COSME  programme.  The 
programme’s  contribution  to  the  climate  mainstreaming  objective,  set  for  all  Commission 
programmes (overall 20% of the EU budget 2014-2020), has been estimated at EUR 21.7 million (5% 
of the financial allocation in 2019). There is no tracking of the precise contribution of most COSME 
measures  to  climate  mainstreaming32,  but  many  projects  and  measures  focus  some  attention  on 
climate objectives to some extent.  

Up  to  31 December 2019,  the  COSME  Equity Facility for  Growth  invested  EUR 6.7 million in  a 
venture  capital  fund  focusing  its  activities  on  clean  technologies33.  This  has  facilitated  more  than 
EUR 51 million of investment in SMEs operating in the ‘energy and environment’ sector34  

The  EEN  helps  SMEs  to  address  climate-related  challenges  in  various  ways.  For  example,  helping 
them  to  use  innovation  to  become  more  energy  and  resource  efficient,  by  reducing  waste  and 
minimising energy consumption allowing them to reduce  their CO2 footprint. The network also has 
sector and thematic groups focusing on sustainable construction, intelligent energy, the environment 
and the circular economy. Over 200 expert EEN business advisers specialise in climate-related issues, 
such as the circular economy, intelligent energy, sustainable construction and green technologies35. 

The  Intelligent  Cities  Challenge  (ICC)  initiative  recognises  the  importance  of  delivering  on  the 
pledges of the European Green Deal and guides and supports cities to deliver Local Green Deals, and 
to  support  the  green  and  digital  twin  transition  of  local  businesses,  enabling  the  transition  to  a 
digitalised, service-oriented, low-carbon circular economy. It also helps them to support job-creation, 
reskilling,  citizen  participation  and  well-being.  The  participating  cities  and  regions  receive  various 
forms of support including training, guidance and a methodology. For the ‘Green economy and local 
green deals’ strand, 37 cities have developed roadmaps for implementing a total of 71 solutions. The 
ICC also encourages cities to lead by example in decarbonising transport, logistics and buildings by 
moving to green and social procurement and urban planning. 

Under  the  measure  ‘Accelerate  and  scale-up  innovation  for  a  circular  fashion  industry’,  four 
projects are in progress to support the scaling up of approximately 120 promising business ideas for 
sustainable and circular  fashion (these ideas concern  innovative applications, products, processes or 
ideas). Capacity building, and technical and financial support for scaling up are also provided. One of 
these  projects  is  CircularInnoBooster,  which  has  launched  CirCoAX  (a  circular  collaborative  and 

32 Many  COSME  measures included some support for climate-related  goals. However, as this  was always set 
within  the  broader  competitiveness  objective,  there  was  generally  no  distinct  budget  for  the  climate 
component of the measures. 

33 https://www.eif.org/what_we_do/equity/single_eu_equity_instrument/cosme_efg/intermediaries.pdf 
34 https://www.eif.org/what_we_do/equity/single_eu_equity_instrument/cosme_efg/cosme-efg-implementation-

update.pdf 

35  This  report  focuses  on  EEN  services  co-funded  via  the  COSME  programme.  The  EEN  also  provided  an 
additional  specifically  defined  set  of  services  with  Horizon  2020  programme  support  (Key  account 
management  services  for  the  SME  instrument,  and  services  to  help  SMEs  enhance  their  innovation 
management capacities). 

12 

 
 
                                                           
cooperative  co-design  accelerator),  and  provided  market  analysis  and  a  report  on  the  main  legal 
challenges the textiles industry is facing in becoming more sustainable. 

As  mentioned  above,  the  recommendations  in  the  study  on  circular  economy  principles  for 
building design were taken into account in proposals to revise EU legislation which will contribute 
towards  achieving  climate  goals,  notably  the  proposed  revision  of  the  Energy  Performance  of 
Buildings Directive36. Under the Circular Plastics for SMEs measure, guidance was made available 
to reduce the environmental impact of the plastics production lifecycle37. A number of publications by 
the  European  Construction  Sector  Observatory  also  focus  on  the  circular  economy,  energy 
efficiency  and  sustainability, 
the  analytical  report  on  housing  availability  and 
sustainability38  

including 

The  European  Resource  Efficiency  Knowledge  Centre  is  a  key  reference  tool  for  resource 
efficiency and circular practices for SMEs and SME practitioners. This service was further upgraded 
in 2019 and a new methodology was developed for validating entries in this database. 

Several  preparatory  events  for  the  German  Presidency  Conference  on  Social  Economy  focused  on 
climate  objectives.  In  particular,  more  than  200  people  attended  the  online  event  ‘Road  to 
Mannheim’ on 25 February 2021 to discuss how the social economy could be used to reinforce the 
green transition. 

6.  Contribution to sustainable development goals 

Many COSME measures are relevant to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) laid down in the 
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A few examples are presented below:  

SDG 8 (decent work and sustainable economic growth) 

Relevant  measures  include  the  EYE  exchange  scheme,  the  EEN’s  services  to  support  SMEs  with 
sustainable growth, and measures for social economy such as the guidelines and best practices to help 
national policymakers develop legal frameworks to allow social enterprises to flourish. 

SDG 9 (inclusive and sustainable industry, innovation and resilient infrastructure) 

The Intelligent Cities Challenge39 has a strong impact on building resilience, fostering innovation for 
local economic activity, and supporting the delivery of Local Green Deals, which address the green 
transformation  in  industry.  This  challenge  helps  cities  to  coordinate  measure  for  delivering 
comprehensive  business  models,  governance  structures  and  networks.  It  builds  strong  partnerships 
with  local  businesses,  SMEs  and  organisations,  demonstrating  that  city-stakeholder  collaboration 
significantly boosts the transition to circular business models and a sustainable economy. 

The Enterprise Europe Network addresses many SDGs to some extent, but the main focus in 2019-
20 was still on supporting SMEs with the transition to circular business models and for making use of 

36  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52021PC0802  Proposal  for  a  Directive  of  the 
European Parliament and Council on the energy performance of buildings (recast), COM/2021/802 final. 
37 Including a methodology to compare environmental impacts between fossil fuel, biomass and plastic waste as 
inputs  to  plastics  production:  https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC125046  and  case 
studies. 

38 https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/construction/observatory/analytical-reports_fr 
39  This  includes  cities  from  18  EU  Member  States:  Belgium,  Bulgaria,  Croatia,  Czech  Republic,  Denmark, 
Finland,  France,  Germany,  Greece,  Hungary,  Ireland,  Italy,  Latvia,  Netherlands,  Slovakia,  Spain,  Portugal 
and the UK; 2 COSME associated countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia, and a number of 
third countries. 

13 

 
 
                                                           
greener,  energy-efficient  technologies.  In  2019,  the  network  started  to  make  initial  preparations  for 
extending its services to cover sustainability40.  

The COSME programme also supports projects to accelerate and scale up innovation for a circular 
and sustainable fashion industry, and to boost sustainable development and capacity of tourism 
SMEs (particularly their ability to adopt more sustainable business models). 

SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities). 

The Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC), which has been described in further detail above, contributes 
to  achieving  this  goal  by  supporting  cities  to  achieve  sustainable  growth  by  means  of  advanced 
technologies.  It  also  prepares  the  local  workforces  for  the  green  and  digital  twin  transition  and  the 
jobs of the future through a dedicated thematic priority on re-skilling and upskilling. 

SDG 12 (sustainable consumption and production patterns) 

Other COSME measures with impacts on climate (mentioned in point 5 of this report) also support 
this SDG goal, in particular the projects for sustainability and circularity in the fashion and tourism 
industries, the Circular Plastics  for SMEs measure  that delivered a methodology for comparing the 
environmental  impacts  of  different  inputs  (feedstocks)  for  plastics  production  (and  related  case 
studies), the study on Circular Economy Principles for Buildings Design, and the European Resource 
Efficiency  Knowledge  Centre,  which  among  other  things  included  a  tool  on  business  models  that 
industrial clusters could implement to support industrial symbiosis41.   

Actions addressing a wider set of sustainability goals, including the social dimension 

Some COSME actions and projects include a social dimension, in particular the measures for  social 
economy  (see  SDG  8  above),  measures  targeted  at  specific  groups  of  entrepreneurs  (Erasmus  for 
Young Entrepreneurs, and actions for women entrepreneurs. Other COSME projects and actions have 
a  social  dimension  embedded  within  a  set  of  wider  objectives  for  fostering  sustainability  and 
competitiveness  (good  examples  are  the  EEN  sustainability  advisor  services,  certain  projects  for 
tourism42  and  textiles43,  and  the  Tech4Good  Marketplace  within  the  Intelligent  Cities  Challenge 
action44.  

7.  Gender 

While  no  gender  objective  or  target  is  specifically  included  in  the  COSME  Regulation,  measures 
supported under this programme do respect gender equality principles and take the gender dimension 
into account. 

40 This led to the creation of  “sustainability advisers” services in 2022. The EEN  SME client assessment (the 
starting point for defining which EEN services each  SME needs) now covers the full set of environmental, 
social and economic aspects. Sustainability is mainstreamed across all EEN services including innovation and 
access to finance. These new EEN services cover different areas such as waste and water management, use of 
clean energy, human rights monitoring and reporting, workers’ rights, safety and health, etc. 
41 https://clustercollaboration.eu/content/erek-european-resource-efficiency-knowledge-centre 
42 The TOURBAN project (under the Tourism cooperation action) helps urban tourism SMEs  to become more 
competitive  and  more  sustainable,  not  only  from  an  environmental  but  also  from  an  economic  and  social 
point of view. See: https://www.tourban.eu/ . 

43  The  CircularInnobooster  project  aims  to  transform  companies  in  the  fashion  and  textile  industry  into 
sustainable, circular, and regenerative ones. It applies a wide definition of sustainability including the social 
dimension. See: https://circoax.eu/ 

44  This  market  place  provides  easy  access  to  innovative  technology-powered  solutions,  business  models  and 

services designed to advance economic, social and environmental causes. 

14 

 
 
                                                           
46% of EEN consortia have female coordinators. The EEN also has a dedicated group that supports 
women  entrepreneurs  and  provides  partnership  and  advisory  services  specifically  tailored  to  their 
needs.  Approximately  50%  of  new  entrepreneurs  benefiting  from  Erasmus  for  young  entrepreneurs 
exchanges were women in 2020, and 71 out of 94 coordinators (75.5%) were women. 

The gender dimension for the COSME LGF was tracked in analysis carried out by the EIF in 2018. 
This confirmed that almost 40% of SMEs that received debt financing thanks to the LGF had a female 
chief executive officer, general manager and/or company director. 

The COSME programme also created opportunities for businesses in sectors such as fashion and the 
social economy which are known to attract a high percentage of women entrepreneurs. For example, 
under the accelerate and scale up innovation for a circular fashion industry measure, 60 of the 83 
partnerships receiving third-party finance (72%) are coordinated by a female entrepreneur45. 

8.  Conclusions 

A  full  96%  of  the  programme’s  operational  budget  was  committed  –  supporting  access  to  finance, 
access to markets, a favourable environment for businesses, competitiveness and entrepreneurship. 

Monitoring  ensured  that  the  budget  was  reallocated  to  the  most  successful  and  oversubscribed 
activities (e.g. reserve list projects) and in particular to the COSME LGF. 

The 2019 work programme made progress towards implementing one of the key recommendations of 
the  mid-term  evaluation  of  the  programe:  to  focus  on  bigger,  strategic  actions  while  keeping  some 
flexibility to test new ideas. Flagship initiatives such as the Enterprise Europe Network, Erasmus for 
young  entrepreneurs,  and  the  Financial  Instruments  accounted  for  75%  of  commitments  for  the 
COSME budget in 2019.   

Both the flagships and the smaller measures demonstrated the flexibility needed to address emerging 
challenges,  in  particular  the  COVID-19  crisis.  Many  smaller  measures  also  made  valuable 
contributions by addressing new policy and business challenges46. 

Access to finance was a key objective, implementing 66% of executed budget. In 2019, the COSME 
Loan  Guarantee  Facility  (LGF)  allowed  financial  intermediaries  to  continue  providing  financial 
support  to  SMEs  which  were  perceived  to  be  riskier  and  which  found  it  difficult  to  obtain  debt 
financing.  Overall, it is  expected  that the  COSME  LGF  will  generate  more  than  EUR  65  billion  of 
financing for at least 1 000 000 SMEs over the full course  of the programme, leading to more than 
EUR 81 billion of investment. This shows that the COSME LGF has an important impact on the real 
economy in the EU and non-EU countries participating in COSME. 

In 2019, almost all of the funds in which the COSME Equity Facility for Growth (EFG) has invested 
were in their investment period (i.e. the screening of potential SMEs to be invested in). The figures 
for  investment  in  growth  and  expansion  stage  SMEs  were  on  track  to  meet  the  original  long-term 
targets.  The  implementation  of  the  targets  took  account  of  the  specific  challenges  of  implementing 
this  financial  instrument  (priority  of  operations  in  non-EU  countries47  participating  in  COSME 

45 This is based on data from three of the four projects. The fourth project has not yet completed procedures for 

the call for partnerships. 

46  For  example,  the  recommendations  in  the  study  on  circular  economy  principles  for  buildings’  design  were 
taken  into  account  in  several  proposals  for  legislative  revisions  to  support  the  move  to  circularity  in  the 
sector, and the guide for policymakers on social enterprise makes a valuable contribution to clarifying policy 
options in this area. 

47 For EU countries, an order of priority has been established whereby the EIF shall endeavour to first absorb 
investment capacity available under the EFSI Expansion and Growth Window before making use of COSME 
EFG resources. The COSME EFG with its broader geographic scope was available then also to invest in non-
EU  countries  participating  in  COSME  programme.  For  such  investments  to  take  place,  however,  an 

15 

 
 
                                                           
programme and the fact that investment demand is lower in these countries, and the time needed to 
sign agreements with funds, which first requires complex due diligence and fund-raising processes to 
be completed). 

The  EEN’s  services  in  2020  (co-funded  under  the  2019  budget),  supported  231 774  SMEs  with 
advice,  information  and  partnership  services  and  the  network’s  digital  service  offer  reached 
14.1 million  SMEs.  The  EEN’s  scale-up  services  became  a  core  service  and  network  advisers  also 
started  to  experiment  with  sustainability  services.  The  EEN  provided  valuable  support  to  SMEs 
throughout the COVID-19 crisis. 

The measure for accelerating and scaling up innovative business ideas for sustainable and circular 
fashion  supported  the  accelerated  application  of  120  promising  business  ideas  that  can  support  the 
fashion industry with the transition to green and sustainable business models. 

The  projects  to  boost  the  sustainability  of  tourism  SMEs  are  helping  businesses  in  this  sector  to 
strengthen  their  capacities  and  skills  to  explore  and  apply  sustainability  solutions  by  leveraging  on 
cross-border  and cross-sector  cooperation. There are 6  ongoing  projects  with 55  beneficiaries  in 21 
countries. 

A  number  of projects  and  measures  were affected  by  the  COVID-19 crisis,  in particular those  that 
involved  travel,  and  physical  events  or  other  face-to-face  contacts.  Notable  examples  are  the  EU 
China Centre, Erasmus for young entrepreneurs, and Clusters Go International. When appropriate, the 
coordinators  obtained  extensions  to  the  duration  of  projects  with  adjustments  to  activities  to  take 
account of crisis conditions. They are now working hard to ensure that targets are met. 

For  example,  the  Clusters  Go  International  projects  are  moving  ahead  with  their  strategic 
international cooperation, helping European businesses to connect to international value chains. 

The  Erasmus  for  young  entrepreneurs  projects  that  started  in  2019  and  2020  under  the  2019  work 
programme  were  affected  by  COVID-19  related  issues  and  the  number  of  exchanges  was  lower  in 
2020 than in 2019. This was to be expected because travel and personal contacts are an essential part 
of  this  measure.  Contracts  were  extended  and  activities  were  adjusted  to  take  account  of  the  crisis. 
The projects are now making good progress towards meeting their final targets. 

Links with  other  EU  programmes  and funds  were  optimised.  For  example,  cooperation  with  the 
European Fund for Strategic Investments led to a large top-up in the budget available for the COSME 
LGF.  Tailor-made  guidance  and  conclusions  were  prepared  to  help  SMEs  obtain  ESIF  support  for 
defence  and  dual-use-related  activities.  There  was  also  cooperation  between  COSME  and  a  wide 
range of EU programmes for EEN activities. 

Close monitoring of ongoing COSME programme actions will continue, especially for those that were 
more  severely  affected  by  the  COVID-19  crisis.  The  regular  monitoring  for  this  programme  has 
enabled other issues to be detected and addressed. Data from the current monitoring exercise indicates 
that DG GROW staff should pay closer attention to reallocating amounts that have not been used for 
measures  managed  in  house48.  This  will  be  mentioned  in  new  monitoring  guidance  currently  in 
preparation.  Monitoring  processes  for  the  study  on  the  development  of  a  European  Food  Price 
Indicator  drew  attention  to  under-performance  issues  and  the  price  paid  for  this  assignment  by  the 
contracting authority has been reduced. 

investment demand is needed as the COSME EFG is demand-driven, meaning that the allocation of finance 
will  take  place  based  on  the  demand  expressed  by  financial  intermediaries  by  also  taking  into  account  the 
need for a broad geographical distribution. At the same time, the investment demand continues to be lower in 
these non-EU countries. 

48 For actions delegated to the Agency (EISMEA) there is already a reallocation process in place. 

16 

 
 
                                                                                                                                                                                     
Overall,  the  COSME  programme  is  on  track  to  reach  its  objectives.  Many  measures  met  their 
original  targets for  the  end  of  2020 and  projects  affected  by  the  COVID-19  crisis  are  moving  back 
onto  track.  The  experiences  from  this  monitoring  exercise  also  fed  into  the  shaping  of  actions  for 
future years, notably the work to ensure better continuity of the flagship actions49. 

The  measures  supported  under  the  programme  continue  to  foster  competitiveness,  growth  and 
employment. The COVID-19 crisis has also demonstrated that COSME measures meet the evolving 
needs of SMEs and respond flexibly to new challenges. This will also be important in future reporting 
periods,  when  support  will  be  focused  as  much  as  possible  on  helping  SMEs  tackle  the  challenges 
caused by the Russian military aggression in Ukraine that have had a severe impact across the EU’s 
economy. 

49  This  process  continued  in  the  2021-2027  financial  period  under  the  SME  Pillar  of  the  Single  Market 
Programme.  In  particular,  the  EEN  Network,  EYE  and  the  Joint  Cluster  Initiatives  are  now  multi-annual 
actions benefitting from co-funding until 2024 to provide better medium-term continuity for these services. 
See also paragraph 3 of these conclusions. 

17 

 
 
                                                           
9.  Annex 

Implementation of the COSME 2019 Budget 
(all figures are in euros) 

Budget Line 

Commitments 

Payments 

all fund sources 

all fund sources 

Initial budget 

Budget 
implemented 

Execution 

% 

02 02 02 

Access to finance 

290 488 049 

256 740 242 

delegated to other DGs 
delegated to EASME 

of which received from non-EU 
countries 

02 02 01 

total 
Access to markets, business 
environment and 
entrepreneurship 

3 897 

500 000 
40 115 174 

3 897 

500 000 
6 875 480 

290 991 946 

257 244 139 

implemented by GROW 
delegated to EASME 

20 860 159 

9 515 853 

117 896 424 

117 606 038 

delegated to other DGs 
of which received from non-EU 
countries 

3 117 383 
15 260 744 

2 999 103 
4 104 138 

total 

141 873 965 

130 120 993 

Administrative budget 

4 910 505 

3 258 490 

EASME administrative 
(operating) budget 

10 322 946 

9 908 597 

Total budget 

448 099 362 

400 532 219 

02 01 04 01 

02 01 06 01 

88% 

100% 

100% 

* 

88% 

46% 

100% 

96% 

* 

92% 

66% 

96% 

96% 

Credits available 
for payments 

Payment 
executed 

Execution 

187 844 246 

171 596 957 

13 897 

0 
40 115 174 

13 897 

0 
26 416 116 

187 858 143 

171 610 854 

20 478 180 

9 306 678 

101 382 506 

100 718 334 

3 739 266 
15 260 744 

1 605 740 
1 829 357 

125 599 951 

111 630 752 

4 910 505 

562 226 

10 322 946 

9 908 597 

328 691 545 

293 712 429 

% 

91% 

100% 

0% 

* 

91% 

45% 

99% 

43% 

* 

89% 

11% 

96% 

89% 

*) The accounting systems carry these credits forward so the percentages are not shown. Annual commitment and payment consumption are based on actual data 

18