REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL COSME 2014-2020 Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs 2020 Monitoring Report
Date: 2023-10-19
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, 19.10.2023  COM(2023) 632 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL COSME    2014-2020 Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs      2020 Monitoring Report  
 
 
Contents 

1. 

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

2.  Activities and results in 2020 ............................................................................................. 3 

2.1 Specific objective A: access to finance ............................................................................ 4 

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 ........................................................................... 5 

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

International IP SME helpdesks (China, South-East Asia, Latin America and India) ....... 6 

EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation ...................................................................... 7 

Procurement ........................................................................................................................ 7 

2.3 Specific objective C: improving framework conditions and competitiveness ................. 7 

Clusters ............................................................................................................................... 7 

SME envoys, SME assembly and online masterclass at Web Summit Lisbon .................. 9 

EU Open for Business – a new compass for SMEs ............................................................ 9 

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

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

4.  Contribution to climate, sustainable development, digital and gender goals ................... 11 

5.  Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 12 

Annex 1 – Implementation of the COSME 2020 budget ......................................................... 14 

Annex 2 – Country information ............................................................................................... 15 

Annex 3 – Examples of projects and success stories ............................................................... 19 

Annex 4 – Contribution to climate, sustainability, digitalisation and gender goals ................ 21 

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1.  Introduction 

COSME is an EU programme to improve the competitiveness of enterprises, especially small 
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)1. It 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 for 2014-2020); 

2.  improving access to markets inside and outside the EU (21.5%); 
3.  improving  framework  conditions  and  competitiveness  for  businesses,  including 

SMEs (11%); 

4.  promoting entrepreneurship (2.5%). 

The COSME programme also paid attention to other Europe 2020 Strategy priorities2 such as 
helping  SMEs  to  benefit  from  innovation,  access  to  skills  and  training,  and  the  role  that 
SMEs  can  play  in  social  cohesion  (by  supporting  social  economy  and  young  and  female 
entrepreneurs). 

Many synergies were developed between COSME and other EU programmes relevant to 
SMEs. One example is the COSME financial instruments that were run in close cooperation 
with  the  European  Fund  for  Strategic  Investments  (EFSI)3  and  the  Horizon  2020  financial 
instruments)4.  The  Enterprise  Europe  Network  has  developed  synergies  with  various  EU 
programmes including Horizon 2020 for service delivery and for training the network. There 
is also good cooperation between the international IP helpdesks and IP helpdesks supported 
under  other  EU  programmes.  Another  example  is  the  monitoring  tool  developed  under 
‘Initiatives for a Built Environment’ that facilitates the monitoring of construction actions in 
national recovery and resilience plans. 

The  2020  work  programme  made  progress 
the  main 
recommendations  stemming  from  the  interim  evaluation5  of  the  COSME  programme:  the 
need to focus on bigger, strategic measures while keeping some flexibility in the programme 
to  test  new  ideas.  In  particular,  several  larger  actions  for  clusters  are  supported  under  the 
2020 budget. 

implementing  one  of 

in 

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 
June  2010.  See:  https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/6a915e39-0aab-491c-8881-

of 
147ec91fe88a  

3 The COSME Loan Guarantee Facility (LGF) has been topped up a number of times by the European Fund for 
Strategic  Investments  (EFSI).  This  was  because  the  resources  available  under  the  COSME  LGF  were  not 
sufficient  to  satisfy  market  demand  for  the  financing  of  SMEs  (i.e.  the  total  applications  received  from 
financial  intermediaries by the European Investment Fund). The COSME Equity Facility for Growth (EFG) 
resources are used for investments only after absorption of the available investment capacity of the Expansion 
and Growth Window under the EFSI Equity instrument. 

4  The  COSME  Loan  Guarantee  Facility  (LGF)  is  part  of  the  single  EU  debt  financial  instrument  for  EU 
enterprises’ growth and research and innovation (R&I), together with the InnovFin SME Guarantee facility set 
up under the Horizon 2020 programme.  The COSME Equity Facility for Growth (EFG) is part of the single 
EU equity financial instrument for EU enterprises’ growth and research and innovation (R&I), together with 
the Horizon 2020 early-stage equity facility (the ‘InnovFin SME Venture Capital’ facility). 

5 https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2873/87360 

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In addition to the 276 EU Member States, the following countries participated in COSME in 
2020: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo7, Moldova, Montenegro, 
North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine8. 

This report gives an overview of the implementation of COSME actions funded under the EU 
budget for 2020, as required by the COSME Regulation. It also covers support measures and 
administrative expenses  for SME policy funded by the 2020 budget.  This is  the last formal 
monitoring report for COSME, but internal monitoring of ongoing actions will continue. The 
Commission  is  responsible  for  the  overall  implementation  of  COSME.  It  delegated  the 
management  of  the  financial  instruments  (under  specific  objective  1)  to  the  European 
Investment Fund (EIF). Measures under the programme’s specific objectives 2, 3 and 4 were 
mainly  delegated  to  the  Executive  Agency  for  Small  and  Medium-sized  Enterprises 
(EASME)9. Certain analytical and benchmarking  activities  were also indirectly managed by 
international organisations. 

Many projects from this financial year were affected to some extent by the COVID-19 crisis. 
Projects  involving  events  and  face-to-face  cooperation  switched  to  online  communication 
channels wherever possible and some events and activities were cancelled or postponed10. In 
many  cases  the  switch  to  virtual  events  worked  well  and  was  continued  in  future  actions. 
However,  in  some  cases,  online  events  and  communication  channels  limited  more  in-depth 
cooperation11. 

2.  Activities and results in 2020 

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, which was 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  202012  and  the  financing 
decision for support measures13. After adding  contributions from  non-EU countries, unused 

6  The  United  Kingdom  ceased  to  be  an  EU  Member  State  as  from  31 January  2020.  UK  beneficiaries 
participating in actions funded under the EU budget of 2019 or  from earlier years continued to participate in 
the programme until the end of those actions, and they were allowed to participate in COSME until the end of 
the transition period (31 December 2020). 

7 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. 

8  This  report  provides  some  country  information  for  actions  which  had  a  broad  geographical  coverage  of 
beneficiaries.  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.  There  is  no  country  information  in  this  report  in  these 
cases. 

9  Since 1 April 2021, this agency is known as the ‘European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency 

(EISMEA)’. The former name EASME is used throughout this report. 

10 For example, the 2021 edition of the European Capital of Smart Tourism was cancelled as the selection jury 
was unable to  meet according to plan. Several events in South-East Asia, including a clusters matchmaking 
event in Singapore, were postponed due to the particularly stringent sanitary/travel restrictions. 

11  For  example,  the  European Social  Economy  Missions  achieved good results,  but  stakeholders reported  that 

virtual events had limited the quality/depth of cooperation. 

12 C(2020)7044 final: DocsRoom - European Commission (europa.eu). 
13 C(2020)6322 final: DocsRoom - European Commission (europa.eu). 

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appropriations  from  the  previous  programming  period  and  miscellaneous  transfers,  the 
budget available for 2020 was as follows: 
(a) budget line 02 01 04 01 for administrative expenditure: EUR 3 619 046; 
(b) budget line 02 01 06 01 for the functioning of the EASME agency: EUR 10 330 544; 
(c) budget line 02 02 01 for all other operational expenditure: EUR 136 538 959; 
(d) budget line 02 02 02 for access to finance operational expenditure: EUR 290 041 750. 

The financing decision for support measures provided for a contribution of EUR 8 000 000, 
which was included in budget line 02 02 01 of the EU’s general budget for 2020. 

On  average,  25%  of  COSME’s  activities  under  the  operational  budget  were  delegated  to 
EASME14. Implementation of the financial instruments was delegated to the EIF (see below). 

The annual budget for the COSME programme in 2020 was EUR 440 530 299. In total, 99% 
of this budget was committed and the implementation rate for payments was on average 98%. 

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 290 041 750 were  committed  in  2020 for the financial instruments  and accompanying 
measures, including EFTA and other non-EU countries’ participation. 

EUR 275 952 802  were  committed 
(LGF)  and 
EUR 13 100 000  for  the  Equity  Facility  for  Growth  (EFG).  This  amounts  to  66%  of  the 
COSME budget in 2020. 

the  Loan  Guarantee  Facility 

for 

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.  The  total  amount 
committed for the EFG on 2020 budget amounted to EUR 13.1 million. At the end of 2021, a 
total of 23 COSME EFG fund agreements had been signed15 and the overall EU contribution 
committed 
the  COSME  2014-2020  budget  was 
EUR 323 million. Under these agreements, the COSME EFG helped provide investments of 
EUR 2.6 billion16 17 in 346 eligible SMEs in their expansion and growth stage, leading to an 
estimated EUR 4.9 billion in overall investments. 

intermediaries  on 

financial 

to 

14 SEC(2013) 493 final: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52013SC0493(01). 
15 Of which 16 agreements related to growth and expansion stage funds and 7 related to multi-stage funds in 

combination with the Innovfin Equity Facility for early stage set up under Horizon 2020. 

16 The EIF makes investments in privately managed intermediary risk capital funds that make equity investments 
in SMEs. As the EIF is instructed to make investments alongside other investors that also invest in such funds 
on an equal footing, the EU financial contribution from the COSME  programme triggers the availability of 
additional  investment  funding  in  that risk  capital  fund.  The  2.6  billion  in  mobilised  financing  is  the  overall 
funding made available in the risk funds that the EIF invested in. Thirdly,  these investments had a multiplier 
effect, stimulating additional investments. The multiplier effect is estimated based on  an EIF-EFSI multiplier 
calculation  methodology  for  equity  (e.g.  EUR  1.9  of  mobilised  investments  for  EUR 1  of  mobilised 
financing), hence the 4.9 billion figure as mobilised investments. 

17 The COSME Regulation envisages investments from EUR 2.6 billion to EUR 3.9 billion in 360 to 540 SMEs. 
The EUR 2.6 billion of investments were made in 346 SMEs up to 2021 and the COSME EFG is planned  to 
last until the final 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.  These  were:  (i)  the  priority  of 

4 

 
 
 
By the end of 2021, from the overall investments of EUR 2.6 billion provided in 28 countries 
from the COSME 2014-2020 budget, 25% had been invested in Germany, followed by 19% 
in France and 15% in the United Kingdom 

The  COSME  EFG  also  contributed  to  the  pan-European  venture  capital  fund-of-funds 
programme (VentureEU) launched in 2017 to reduce bottlenecks in venture capital financing 
in the EU. 

The COSME Loan Guarantee Facility 

Due to continuous high market demand, the available COSME LGF budget envelope (which 
is  more  than  EUR  1.2  billion  for  2014-2020)  was  increased  with  several  top-ups  from  the 
European  Fund  for  Strategic  Investments’  (EFSI)  SME  Window.  All  top-ups  total  nearly 
EUR  1.5  billion  for  2014-2022.  This  meant  that  the  accelerated  roll-out  of  EU-guaranteed 
financing  of  higher-risk  SME  transactions  could  continue.  The  EFSI  top-up  supported 
transactions related to the continuation of the digitalisation pilot launched in 2019 to enable 
financial  intermediaries  to  provide  broader  and  more  comprehensive  debt  support  to  SMEs 
for  digital  transformation.  This  top-up  also  supported  a  response  to  the  COVID-19  virus 
outbreak and its economic impact in 2020 and beyond. 
By the end of 2021, 154 (counter-)guarantee agreements had been signed with 128 financial 
intermediaries  (promotional  institutes,  guarantee  societies,  commercial  banks  and  leasing 
companies).  These  amounted  to  an  EU  contribution  of  nearly  EUR 2.6 billion,  of  which 
EUR 2.5 billion were thanks to combined COSME/EFSI resources. 
Under  those  agreements  the  COSME  LGF  provided  guarantees  and  counter-guarantees  to 
financial intermediaries in 33 countries (26 Member States and 7 other countries participating 
in COSME). This supported the provision of EUR 50 billion in financial support to more than 
800 000 SMEs in these countries (See Annex 2). 

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

A  total  of  EUR 0.8  million  was  committed  for  accompanying  measures.  These  included 
promotion and communication activities as well as the SAFE survey. The SAFE survey on 
access  to  finance  for  enterprises  provides  information  on  SMEs’  financial  situation, 
financing  needs,  access  to  finance  and  expectations.  It  is  highly  useful  for  evidence-based 
policymaking  at  EU  level  and  is  used  by  Member  States,  analysts,  academia  and  others. 
Almost 17 000 firms across 36 countries were surveyed in 202018. 

2.2 Specific objective B: access to markets 

The  COSME  Regulation  specified  that  an  indicative  amount  of  21.5%  of  the  total 
budget  for  2014-2020  should  be  allocated  to  facilitating  access  to  markets.  A  total  of 
EUR 85 million was allocated to this specific objective in 2020 which amounts to about 
19.3% of the total COSME Budget for the year. 

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

18 https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/43872 

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The Enterprise Europe Network 

The  Enterprise  Europe  Network  (EEN)  provides  high-quality  innovation,  partnering  and 
internationalisation  support  to  SMEs,  thereby  supporting  SME  growth,  resilience  and 
competitiveness.  The  COSME  2020  budget  co-funded  EEN  services  provided  in  2021. 
The network was present in all 27 EU Member States, and other countries participating in the 
COSME  programme19.  The  network  also  continued  to  develop  and  expand  new  services  to 
support SMEs in their efforts to digitalise and become sustainable. As the COVID-19 crisis 
continued to affect business activities, the EEN demonstrated its ability to adapt its services 
to  help  SMEs  deal  with  new  challenges  and  opportunities.  The  network  has  become 
increasingly active in helping SMEs tackle value chain disruptions and boost their resilience. 

Results for EEN activities in 2021 (co-funded under 2020 budget) 
•  The EEN provided advisory support services to 37 925 SMEs. 
•  The EEN’s partnering services helped SME clients from all network countries form more 

than 2 592 international partnership agreements with foreign companies in 2021. 

•  The EEN’s advisory support services helped over 7 000 clients per year to improve their 

competitiveness and innovation at European level. 

•  The EEN’s digital services reached over 20 million SMEs. 
In  their  responses  to  the  EEN  client  satisfaction  survey  in  202120,  92%  of  respondents 
confirmed their satisfaction with EEN services.   

There  were  strong  synergies  between  EEN  and  the  Horizon  2020  programme,  which 
provided  the  network  with  funding  to  deliver  an  additional  specifically  defined  set  of 
innovation  services  for  SMEs  (beyond  the  scope  of  EEN  COSME  services)21.  The 
Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs 
(DG  GROW)  and  EASME  also  cooperated  on  a  wide  range  of  EU  programmes  for  the 
management, coordination and training of the EEN. 

International IP SME helpdesks (China, South-East Asia, Latin America and India) 

The  International  IP  SME  helpdesks  support  SMEs  in  their  efforts  to  internationalise  by 
providing  them  with  expert  advice  on  how  to  enforce  their  intellectual  property  (IP)  in  or 
relating to China, South-East Asia, Latin America and India. The helpdesks provide, among 
other  services,  first-line  advice,  training  on  IP  use  and  management  related  to  these  target 
markets,  and  IP  support  to  EU  SMEs  during  matchmaking  events  relevant  to  the  target 
markets. The helpdesks also cooperate with IP helpdesks funded by other EU programmes22. 
The China, South-East Asia and Latin America IP SME helpdesks answered a total of 3 962 
helpline  enquiries  and  organised  440  training  sessions  or  webinars  with  just  over  6 500 

19  Albania,  Armenia,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  Iceland,  Kosovo,  North  Macedonia,  Moldova,  Montenegro, 
Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine. The UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020. It continued to participate in 
actions such as EEN until the end of the programme, but no longer participated in governance structures. 

20 This survey was carried out from April 2021 until the end of June 2021 with 2361 responses. 
21  These  services  provided  EIC  beneficiaries  with  specific  support  to  implement  their  project  and  helped 

particularly innovative companies enhance their innovation management capacities. 

22  The  International  IP  Helpdesk  India  (COSME),  the  European  IP  Helpdesk  (Horizon  2020),  the  Africa  IP 
Helpdesk  (European  Union  Intellectual  Property  Office)  and  IP  Key  (DG  TRADE)  for  joint  events  on  IP. 
They share a website with the Indian, European and Africa  helpdesks and have participated as IP expertise 
providers in international EU Gateway/ Business Avenues missions (funded by the Foreign Policy Initiative) 
and circular economy missions (DG ENVIRONMENT). 

6 

 
 
 
participants. The India IP SME Help Desk offered similar services and was run on a separate 
contract. 

EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation 
The  EU-Japan  Centre  for  Industrial  Cooperation  fosters  industrial,  trade  and  investment 
cooperation between the EU and Japan and contributes to EU economic diplomacy vis-à-vis 
that  country.  One  important  service  provided  by  this  centre  is  the  ‘EPA  Helpdesk’,  which 
helps  EU  companies  take  advantage  of  the  EU-Japan  Economic  Partnership  Agreement 
(EPA)23. In the two-year period supported by the COSME 2020 budget, the centre organised 
a wide  range of webinars including  27 EPA webinars with  a total  of 1 478 participants, 76 
webinars on Japan and exporting to Japan (with 2 857 participants in total), 11 webinars on 
lean  manufacturing  (with  502  participants),  and  webinars  on  key  EU  policy  topics.  In 
addition,  it  continued  to  run  the  flagship  Vulcanus  in  Japan  exchange  programme  and  a 
technology  transfer  helpdesk,  provided  policy  analysis  and  delivered  33  market  reports 
during 
report  on  SME 
Internationalisation  commented  positively  on  the  services  of  the  EU  Japan  centre,  referring 
specifically  to  the  continuity  and  additionality  of  its  services,  the  high  level  of  client 
satisfaction and the good cooperation with EEN24. 

this  period.  The  European  Court  of  Auditor’s  special 

Procurement 

There  were  several  measures  to  boost  the  capacities  of  procurement  authorities  and  create 
new opportunities for SMEs to get involved in supplying innovative, sustainable, and circular 
goods,  services  and  works  to  the  public  sector.  The  Public  Buyers  Community  Platform25 
supported under the 2020 budget went live in April 2023. This supports the collaboration of 
10 ‘big buyer’ groups to build up joint intelligence on specific procurement needs (including 
artificial  intelligence  and  solar  panels).  The  Co-financing  of  Public  Procurement  of 
Innovation (PPI) scheme is helping large procurement authorities gain valuable experience 
in  the  procurement  of  pre-commercial  innovation  through  two  ongoing  projects.  These  are 
guiding  authorities  through  the  different  phases  for  preparing  and  implementing  PPI 
procedures,  and  for  potential  replication  activities.  One  of  these  projects  focuses  on  the 
healthcare sector. 

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 
framework  conditions  and 
competitiveness. EUR 47.9 million was allocated to this objective in 2020 which amounts 
to 10.9% of the total COSME Budget. 

improving 

to 

Clusters 

Four  major  measures  for  clusters  were  supported  under  the  2020  budget:  the  European 
Clusters Cooperation Platform that provides a range of services and tools to support clusters 
with  capacity  building  and  networking,  two  schemes  to  support  cluster  internationalisation, 

23  This  entered  into  force  on  1 February  2019.  See:  https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-
country-and-region/countries-and-regions/japan/eu-japan-agreement/eu-japan-agreement-chapter-chapter_en. 

24  European Court of Auditors Special report 07/2022: SME internationalisation instruments - A large number 

of support actions but not fully coherent or coordinated. This covered the 2014-20 financial period. 

25  Homepage | Public Buyers Community (europa.eu) 

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one  of  which  was  dedicated  to  the  defence  and  security  sector26,  and  the  European  Cluster 
Excellence programme that provided capacity-building services and a scheme for short-term 
exchanges  between  clusters.  Under  the  Clusters  Go  International  scheme,  12  grants  were 
awarded  to  consortia  covering  64  clusters  and  business  support  organisations  from  17 
EU/COSME countries. Some of these focus on climate goals (see Annex 4 below). 

As the clusters projects generally had a duration of 3-4 years, many were still ongoing at the 
outbreak  of  the  Russian  aggression  in  Ukraine.  A  number  of  these  projects  have  been 
providing  support  to  Ukrainian  entrepreneurs.  For  example,  the  European  Cluster 
Collaboration  Platform  (ECCP)  put  in  place  the  EU  Clusters  Support  Ukraine  Forum  to 
match  the  offer  of  help  collected,  verified  or  validated  via  European  clusters  with  requests 
from Ukrainian partners. The ECCP also ran a survey to pick up signals of disrupted supply 
chains on the ground. Moreover, under the BRIGHT Clusters Excellence project, a delegation 
of six representatives of the Ukrainian Cluster Alliance (all women due to the war) took place 
in a 5-day ClusterXchange. 

Tourism, fashion industries and lifestyle sector 
The  ongoing  tourism  sector  projects  supported  under  the  2020  budget  are  helping  SMEs 
boost  their  uptake  of  digitalisation,  innovation,  new  technologies  and  smart  tourism  by 
strengthening their transnational cooperation and notably their connections with transnational 
innovation ecosystems. These projects include direct financial support to SMEs for training 
and helping them adapt their business processes. There are 9 ongoing projects with 73 partner 
organisations in 25 countries27. Some of these projects also support sustainability and climate 
goals. 

The  WORTH  project  funded  under  the  COSME  2020  budget  aims  to  strengthen  the 
innovation capacities and competitiveness of SMEs in the fashion industries and the lifestyle 
sector and assist them with their transition towards climate neutrality and digital leadership28. 
It  supports  transnational  partnerships  between  designers,  SMEs,  manufacturers  and 
technology providers  to  develop  innovative,  sustainable and  design-oriented business  ideas. 
The  partnerships  benefit  from  an  incubation  programme,  third-party  financial  support 
(EUR 10 000-20 000), coaching, legal advice on intellectual property matters and support for 
networking. In response to the first call for partnerships (third-party finance) focusing on the 
European Bauhaus, 65 partnerships were selected. The 10-month incubation programme for 
these partnerships included 975 hours of tailored mentoring, 9 workshops (of which 5 online) 
and 52 online basic coaching modules and seminars. Selection procedures for the second call 
for partnerships are ongoing. 

Support for assessing country performance on the Small Business Act and SME 
Strategy principles – administrative agreement with the JRC and Eurobarometer 

An administrative arrangement was concluded with the Commission’s Joint Research Centre 
(JRC) to provide scientific support for the assessment of EU Member States’ performance in 
implementing  the  Small  Business  Act  (SBA)  and  SME  Strategy  principles.  The  JRC 
identified a set of indicators based on 10 dimensions defined together with DG GROW and 

26  These  projects  provide  support  for  cross-border  and  cross-sector  cooperation  between  European  clusters  to 

develop a joint internationalisation strategy and support SME internationalisation beyond Europe. 

27 Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, 
Iceland,  Italy,  Malta,  Netherlands,  Poland,  Portugal,  Romania,  Slovakia,  Slovenia,  Albania,  Montenegro, 
Serbia and the United Kingdom. 

28 Including fashion and textile, footwear, leather and fur, furniture/home decoration/interior design, jewellery 

and accessories. 

8 

 
 
 
 
performed  the  related  data  quality  controls.  The  project  was  launched  in  2020  and  results 
were  used  for  the  SME  performance  review  (SPR)  country  fact  sheets  and  annual  report 
published in July 202129. These fact sheets and reports are used on a permanent basis to guide 
SME policymaking. 

The 2022 edition of the Flash Eurobarometer on SMEs funded under the COSME 2020 
budget focused on resource efficiency and green markets. For further information see point 
4 below. 

SME envoys, SME assembly and online masterclass at Web Summit Lisbon 
Services were provided in 2020 to organise: (i) four meetings of the SME Envoy Network30 
(representatives of Member States’ national administrations); (ii) the 2020 SME Assembly (a 
virtual  stakeholder  event  with  984  online  delegates);  and  (iii)  an  online  masterclass  in 
December  2020  at  the  Web  Summit  in  Lisbon,  with  over  200  participants31.  These  events 
provided valuable guidance and advice to support policymaking for SMEs, including support 
to  the  SME  Envoy  Network  in  preparing  its  2020  annual  report  and  recommendations  for 
action32. 
EU Open for Business – a new compass for SMEs33 
An opening and closing event and six webinars funded under the COSME 2020 budget were 
held in May 2021 to provide practical information to businesses and stakeholders about EU 
programmes  and  support  tools  for  areas  such  as  intellectual  property,  access  to  finance, 
international trade and the single market. The number of participants in each webinar ranged 
from 206 to 370, exceeding the overall target of 650, and positive reactions were expressed 
by 80% of respondents to the post-event survey34. 

2.4 Specific objective D: promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture 

The COSME Regulation provides that an indicative amount of 2.5% of the total budget 
for  2014-2020  should  be  devoted  to  promoting  entrepreneurship  and  entrepreneurial 
culture. EUR 3.6 million was spent on this target in 202035 36 which amounts to 0.8% of 
the total COSME Budget. 

29 https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/smes/sme-strategy/sme-performance-review_en 
30 June 2020 (online with 46 participants), October 2020 (online with 83 participants), November 2020 (online 

during the SME Assembly with 67 participants), and December 2020 (online with 72 participants). 

31  The  original  plans  for  a  physical  conference  in  Berlin  were  transformed  into  a  virtual  event  due  to  the 

COVID-19 lockdown. 

32 This report includes an overview of the latest trends in SME performance in Europe and recommendations for 
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-
action 
register/core/api/front/expertGroupAddtitionalInfo/40291/download). It was presented to the Competitiveness 
Council  in  November  2020  (see:  Competitiveness  Council  Internal  market  and  industry  -  Consilium 
europa.eu). 

33 https://commission.europa.eu/events/eu-open-business-new-compass-smes-2021-05-26_en 
34 The  questions  ‘Did the webinar inspire you?’, ‘Will it trigger some action from you?’, ‘Did it answer your 
expectations?’,  ‘Would  you  recommend  it  to  others?’  were  answered  by  80%  (on  average)  with  ‘yes’  or 
‘rather yes’. 

35 This amount was less in 2020 due to the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs call taking place in 2019. 
36 Moreover, a higher priority was given to financial instruments in 2020 (66% of COSME budget was allocated 
to these whereas the target figure over the life of the programme was 60%). The financial instruments also 
supported entrepreneurship goals.  

9 

 
 
 
Enhancing Digital and Entrepreneurial competences in Girls and Women (ESTEAM)37 
This  project  supported  under  the  COSME  2020  budget  aims  to  strengthen  the  digital  and 
entrepreneurial  competences  of  girls  and  women,  and  to  boost  their  confidence.  It  will 
continue  until  the  end  of  2024.  An  event  for  girls  with  203  participants  and  15  local 
workshops took place in May 2022, focusing on problem solving, a case study and a pitching 
exercise. The first women ESTEAM Fest took place in June 2022 with a plenary session and 
workshops to boost entrepreneurial and digital skills. Mentoring services were provided until 
the end of 2022. 

European Social Economy Missions 

The  European  Social  Economy  Missions  built  on  the  experiences  of  a  successful  pilot 
initiative  held  in  2018.  This  follow-up  project  funded  under  the  COSME  2020  budget 
organised  a  series  of  workshops  involving  a  wide  range  of  social  economy  stakeholders  to 
develop  inter-regional  collaboration  by  sharing  and  replicating  best  practices  and  inter-
regional  learning.  There  were  88  beneficiary  organisations  from  27  EU/COSME  countries. 
More than 60 social economy mission workshops were organised with approximately 2 500 
participants,  and  350  good  practices  were  reported.  The  projects  also  provided  a  set  of 
recommendations for improving regional/local social economy and created opportunities and 
incentives for future partnerships. 

3.  Support measures and administrative expenditure 

COSME  support  measures  were  financed  under  budget  line  02 02 01.  EUR 6.2 million 
were allocated to support measures in 2020. 

Conferences and meetings were organised with stakeholders to discuss the challenges facing 
different industrial sectors. Other support measures included analytical work such as studies 
to support policymaking and information tools providing practical support for SMEs. 
The  study  on  the  legal  protection  of  trade  secrets  in  the  context  of  the  data  economy38 
provides valuable support for policymaking on how the legal protection of trade secrets can 
help  create  a  safe  environment  for  business-to-business  data  sharing,  especially  in  strategic 
sectors for the European data economy. It includes 13 case studies with valuable examples of 
how businesses manage their trade secrets. Many indicators for this study were surpassed but 
there  were  some  difficulties  at  the  intermediate  stages  (the  number  of  responses  to 
questionnaires  was  below  target  due  to  the  sensitivity  of  the  data,  and  some  re-scheduling 
was needed due to COVID-19 related issues). 

Study on mid-caps 
As scale-ups and mid-caps do not fall under the EC SME definition39, they are often excluded 
from  SME support schemes. The objective of this study was to  gather information  on mid-
caps  (statistics,  and  information  on  the  specificities  of  mid-caps  and  the  hurdles  they 
encounter  when  doing  business  and  scaling  up)  and  to  assess  the  potential  need  for  a 

37  For  further  information,  see  the  project  webpage  and  the  videos  from  the  first  two  ESTEAM  FESTs 

(https://eismea.ec.europa.eu/esteam-fests-and-communities-girls-and-women_en). 

. 
38 

https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/c0335fd8-33db-11ed-8b77-01aa75ed71a1/language-

en/format-PDF/source-267469968 

39  Commission  Recommendation  2003/361/EC  of  6  May  2003  concerning  the  definition  of  micro,  small  and 

medium-sized enterprises 

10 

 
 
 
dedicated policy to support these companies and further untap their job-creating ability. The 
final report was published in November 202240 and disseminated to relevant stakeholders. 

Administrative  expenditure  represented  3%  of  the  budget  in  2020.  It  covered  expert 
meetings, information and communication  measures, and the Commission’s (DG GROW’s) 
expenses  of  EUR 3.3 million  linked  to  IT  networks  and  other  technical  and  administrative 
assistance. The budget contribution from the programme for the functioning of the EASME 
executive agency was EUR 9.9 million. 

4.  Contribution to climate, sustainable development, digital and gender goals 

A  brief  illustration  of  how  the  COSME  programme  contributes  to  these  goals  is  provided 
below,  with  examples  of  actions  contributing  to  each  goal.  Further  information  on  the 
programme’s contribution to these mainstreaming objectives is provided in Annex 4. 

The COSME 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 25.6 million (6% of the financial allocation in 2020). There is no tracking of the precise 
contribution  of  most  COSME  measures  to  climate  mainstreaming41,  but  many  projects  and 
measures focus some attention on this goal. Notable examples include the Equity Facility for 
Growth,  the  Enterprise  Europe  Network,  various  support  actions  for  clusters  including 
clusters  internationalisation,  and  the  WORTH  Partnership  for  boosting  competitiveness  and 
innovation capacity of SMEs in lifestyle industries. 

There was also a Flash Eurobarometer specifically dedicated to SMEs resource efficiency and 
green markets, and the European Climate Neutral Industry Competitiveness Scoreboard 
(CIndECS)  developed  under  an  administrative  agreement  with  the  JRC  is  nearing 
completion. This work has already fed into a number of major policy initiatives, including the 
supporting  reports of the Clean Energy Technology  Observatory and the  Net  Zero  Industry 
Act. Further information is given in Annex 4 below. 

Many  COSME  measures  contribute  to  the  Sustainable  Development  Goals  (SDGs)  laid 
down in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In particular, the Enterprise Europe 
Network  (EEN)  and  the  Social  Economy  Missions  contribute  to  SDG  8  (decent  work  and 
sustainable  economic  growth).  SDG  9  (inclusive  and  sustainable  industry  innovation  and 
resilient  infrastructure)  is  addressed  by  the  EEN,  the  Clusters  Excellence  projects,  and 
support  measures  for  tourism  (see  also  digitalisation  below).  SDG  12  (Sustainable 
consumption  and  production  patterns)  is  addressed  among  other  things  by  the  WORTH 
project for the lifestyle industries. 

There  are  also  several  COSME  measures  contributing  to  digitalisation  goals.  These 
include  projects  to  boost  digitalisation,  innovation  and  uptake  of  new  technologies  in  the 
tourism  sector,  and  public  procurement  of  innovation  projects  to  help  authorities  purchase 
pre-competitive  innovation  in  areas  such  as  artificial  intelligence,  and  clusters  projects  to 
stimulate  cross-fertilisation  and  exchanges  of  experience  related  to  digital  technologies  for 
the agri-food, automotive, textiles, and precision medicine industries. 

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

40 https://www.esri.ie/system/files/publications/BKMNEXT429.pdf 
41 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. 

11 

 
 
 
gender dimension into account. The ESTEAM project mentioned in point 2.4 above aims to 
boost  digitalisation  and  the  entrepreneurship  capacities  and  confidence  of  girls  and  women 
entrepreneurs. Some data are also available on female beneficiaries of financial instruments 
and female project coordinators. 

5.  Conclusions 

The  execution  rates  of  operational  budget  for  both  commitments  and  payments  was 
99%. This continues the high execution rate of commitments and reflects an improvement in 
operational payments execution compared to the previous year. 

Access to finance was a key objective, implementing 66% of executed budget. In 2020, the 
COSME  Loan  Guarantee  Facility  (LGF)  allowed  financial  intermediaries  to  continue 
providing financial support to SMEs perceived to be riskier and finding it difficult to obtain 
debt financing. Overall, it is expected that the COSME LGF will generate more than EUR 67 
billion  in  financing  over  the  programme’s  lifetime.  For  the  COSME  Equity  Facility  for 
Growth (EFG), the figures for investment in growth and expansion stage SMEs were on track 
to  meet  the  original  long-term  targets.  Implementation  of  the  targets  took  account  of  the 
specific challenges involved in running this facility. 

The  2020  work  programme  continued  progress  towards  implementing  one  of  the  key 
recommendations of the programme’s mid-term evaluation: to focus on bigger, strategic 
actions  while  keeping  some  flexibility  to  test  new  ideas.  Flagship  initiatives  such  as  EEN, 
EYE,  and  the  financial  instruments  accounted  for  75%  of  commitments  for  the  COSME 
budget in 2020.   

In  2021,  the  EEN  (co-funded  by  2020  budget)  provided  37 925 SMEs  with  value-added 
advisory  services42  to  boost  their  international  competitiveness  and  sustainability.  The 
network’s  digital  services  reached  over  20 million  SMEs.  The  network  also  provided 
valuable support to SMEs throughout the COVID-19 crisis, adapting its services and service-
delivery models where needed. 

Many  other  actions  across  the  programme  distinguished  themselves  by  their  good 
performance and quality of service. For example, the EU-Japan Centre provided a wide range 
of services to help SMEs do business with Japan, and in relation to economic diplomacy. The 
International  IP SME helpdesks provided SMEs with valuable advice, training sessions and 
events on IP matters related to China, South-East Asia, Latin America (including 440 training 
sessions with 6 569 participants) and India. 

Smaller  actions  also  provided  useful  support  to  help  SMEs  innovate  and  improve  their 
competitiveness  and  sustainability.  For  example,  the  first  call  for  partnerships  under  the 
WORTH project for the fashion industries and lifestyle sectors supported 65 partnerships of 
designers,  SMEs,  manufacturers  and  technology  providers  via  a  10-month  incubation 
programme including 975 hours of tailored mentoring. Additional calls for partnerships have 
been published to continue this support. There were also a number of projects in cooperation 
with  procurement  authorities  to  create  new  opportunities  for  SMEs  to  supply  innovative 
products and services to the public sector. 

42 These SMEs received a range of services tailored to their specific needs at various points in time. A central 
part of the EEN service delivery model is establishing a longer-term relationship with SMEs and supporting 
them over the medium term to help them tackle the full range of issues, challenges and opportunities they are 
facing. 

12 

 
 
 
Last  but  not  least,  several  studies  funded  under  the  programme,  including  the  European 
Climate  Neutral  Industry  Competitiveness  Scoreboard  (CIndECS),  the  study  on  the  legal 
protection  of  trade  secrets  in  the  context  of  the  data  economy,  and  the  study  on  mid-caps 
delivered valuable findings and robust analysis that were used to support policy work. 

The  COSME  programme  also  demonstrated  its  effectiveness  in  helping  SMEs  tackle  new 
challenges.  Several  actions  and  projects  supported  under  2020  budget,  including  EEN, 
launched  specific  services  to  help  SMEs  deal  with  issues  related  to  the  COVID-19  crisis. 
Many  COSME  projects  have  a  duration  of  3-4  years.  A  small  number  of  ongoing  projects 
funded by 2020 budget  were affected as from 2022 by the  Russian military aggression in 
Ukraine. When appropriate, extensions to the duration of these projects were approved with 
adjustments  to  activities  to  take  account  of  the  crisis  conditions.  One  example  is  the 
P2GREEN-EST project that aimed to help EU SMEs to access procurement outside the EU 
with  Ukraine  as  the  designated  target  market43.    More  recently,  some  of  the  COSME  2020 
projects still ongoing at the outbreak of the Russian aggression in Ukraine were able to adapt 
their  services  to  help  EU  businesses  to  deal  with  related  challenges  such  as  supply  chain 
issues and to offer some support to Ukrainian businesses (see point 2.3 above). 

Links with other EU programmes and funds were optimised. For example, the COSME LGF 
received an additional EUR 714 million thanks to a 1 billion guarantee to the EIF from the 
European  Fund  for  Strategic  Investments.  This  was  used  to  support  SMEs  facing  liquidity 
issues  due  to  the  COVID-19  crisis.  The  EEN  Network  developed  synergies  with  Horizon 
2020,  the  European  Innovation  Council  (EIC)  and  a  wide  range  of  EU  programmes  and 
support schemes. There were also several examples of cooperation with ongoing or previous 
COSME  projects.  This  was  notably  the  case  for  EEN,  WORTH  and  several  of  the 
procurement actions. 

Regarding  ongoing  COSME  measures  from  2020,  monitoring  will  continue,  paying 
special  attention  to  measures  re-scheduled  due  to  COVID  and  cases  where  specific  issues 
were  identified.  The  regular  monitoring  also  ensured  that  the  budget  was  reallocated  to  the 
most successful and oversubscribed activities. For example, EUR 815 107 of leftovers from 
the 2020 work programme were allocated to reserve list projects for the tourism call to boost 
uptake of digitalisation,  innovation  and new technologies in  the sector. Another example is 
the transfer from COSME EFG to COSME LGF. 

The  experiences  from  this  monitoring  exercise  will  also  feed  into  the  shaping  of 
measures  for  future  years,  notably  the  work  to  ensure  better  continuity  of  the  flagship 
actions44 and the ongoing work to prepare the 2024 SME Pillar work programme. 

Overall,  the  COSME  2020  measures  are  on  track  to  reach  their  objectives.  Many 
measures have already met their targets and those projects that were affected by the COVID 
crisis  are  back  on  track.  The  measures  supported  under  the  programme  continue  to  foster 
competitiveness,  growth  and  employment,  while  many  projects  across  the  programme,  in 
particular  EEN  and  the  support  measures  for  clusters,  have  demonstrated  their  capacity  to 
address SMEs’ evolving needs and respond flexibly to new challenges. 

43  As  this  project  was  severely  affected  once  the  war  broke  out,  the  grant  agreement  was  frozen.  After  re-
evaluation  of  the  situation  several  months  later,  the  grant  agreement  was  amended  to  include  an  additional 
non-EU target country, allowing the project to re-start its activities. 

44  These  are  now  supported  under  the  SME  Pillar  of  the  single  market  programme.  In  particular,  the  EEN 
Network, EYE and the Joint Cluster Initiatives are now multiannual actions benefiting from co-funding until 
2024 to provide better medium-term continuity for these services. See also paragraph 3 of these conclusions. 

13 

 
 
 
 
Annex 1 – Implementation of the COSME 2020 budget 
(all figures are in euro) 

Budget 
line 

02 02 02  Access to finance 
02 02 01  Access to 
markets, 
business 
environment & 
entrepreneurship  
implemented by 
GROW 
delegated to 
EASME 

02 01 04 
01 
02 01 06 
01 

total 
Administrative 
budget 
EASME – 
administrative 
(operating) 
budget 
Total budget 

Commitments 

Payments 

all fund sources 

all fund sources 

Initial budget 

Budget 
implemented 

290 041 750 

290 041 750 

Execution 

% 
100% 

Credits available 
for payments 

Payment executed 

Execution 

% 

333 931 327 

328 837 656 

98% 

10 049 697 

10 026 133 

100% 

8 901 623 

8 878 059 

100% 

126 489 262 

123 066 819 

136 538 959 

133 092 952 

3 619 046 

3 333 968 

97% 

97% 

92% 

132 390 902 

132 390 902 

141 292 525 

141 268 961 

3 619 046 

1 033 829 

100% 

100% 

29% 

10 330 544 

9 916 195 

96% 

10 330 544 

9 916 195 

96% 

440 530 299 

436 384 865 

99% 

489 173 442 

481 056 641 

98% 

14 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Annex 2 – Country information 

1.  Financial instruments 

The graphs  below represent  a geographical  breakdown of the financial support received 
by SMEs in different countries. The country information is a cumulative result based on 
all  2014-2020  commitments.  In  the  case  of  financial  instruments,  due  to  their 
implementation  design  yearly  commitments  contribute  to  the  overall  results,  which  are 
based on budgets also committed in previous years. 

Equity Facility for Growth 

At  the  end  of  2021,  total  investments  of  EUR 2.6  billion  from  COSME’s  2014-2020 
budget  had  been  made  in  28  countries  (25%  of  this  amount  was  invested  in  Germany, 
19% in France and 15% in the United Kingdom). 

Croatia
0,3%

Türkiye 
0,8%

Belgium
1,0%

United States
4,0%

Switzerland
0,4%

Spain
0,4%

Austria
0,004%

Cyprus
0,4%

Czechia
2,9%

Denmark
1,7%

Estonia
0,004%

Finland
5,4%

United Kingdom
15,0%

Sweden
5,9%

Slovenia
0,4%

Slovakia
0,1%

Romania
0,4%

Portugal
0,8%

Norway
1,3%

Netherlands
7,5%

Luxembourg
1,0%

Italy
0,2%

Israel
1,8%

Ireland
1,7%

Hungary
0,4%

Germany
24,7%

France
18,8%

Greece
2,8%

15 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Loan Guarantee Facility 
Geographical diversification 

By  the  end  of  2021,  the  LGF  had  provided  guarantees  and  counter-guarantees  to  financial 
intermediaries in 33 countries (26 Member States and 7 countries participating in COSME). 
This supported the distribution of EUR 50 billion financing to more than 800 000 SMEs. 

Albania
0,04%

Austria
1,15%

United Kingdom
0,19%

Belgium
1,50%

Bosnia & 
Herzegovina
0,07%

Bulgaria
2,72%

Croatia
0,03%

Spain
14,64%

Finland
0,54%

Czechia
2,99%

Denmark
0,21%

Estonia
0,74%

France
12,83%

Greece
6,74%

Germany
4,03%

Hungary
1,93%

Iceland
0,02%

Ireland
0,29%

Türkiye 
2,67%

Slovenia
1,22%

Sweden
0,00%

Slovakia
0,38%

Serbia
2,01%

Romania
1,60%

Portugal
1,22%

Poland
5,37%

Netherlands
0,43%

Montenegro
0,11%

Luxembourg
0,06%

Lithuania
0,34%

Latvia
0,26%

Italy
33,53%

Kosovo*
0,17%

* 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. 

16 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country participation for specific objectives 2-4 (access to markets, improving 
framework conditions and competitiveness, and entrepreneurship) 

COSME  projects  were  selected  using  the  criteria  laid  down  in  the  calls,  in  particular  the 
proposals’ relevance, quality and impact. The European dimension is also taken into account. 
However, projects were not selected purely based on geographical criteria. 

The  EEN  Network  as  funded  under  the  2020  budget  covered  all  EU  Member  States  and 
provided services to SMEs in all EU regions. There were also EEN members in Iceland and 
associated countries  participating in  the programme. Although  the UK formally left  the EU 
on  31 January  2020  it  continued  to  participate  in  EEN  until  the  programme’s  end,  but  no 
longer participated in governance structures. 

Many of the other larger actions also had a good spread of beneficiaries across the different 
EU Member States and other participating countries, as illustrated below. 

Number of beneficiaries by country for four larger COSME actions 

Country  

Clusters 
Excellence 

Tourism: 
TOURINN* 

Albania 
Austria 
Belgium 
Bulgaria 
Cyprus 
Czechia 
Germany 
Denmark 
Estonia 
Greece 
Spain 
Finland 
France 
Croatia 
Hungary 
Iceland 
Ireland 
Italy 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta 
Montenegro 
Netherlands 
Poland 
Portugal 
Romania 
Serbia 
Sweden 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 

0 
0 
0 
2 
0 
3 
5 
3 
2 
1 
14 
2 
7 
0 
3 
0 
0 
7 
1 
6 
0 
0 
0 
2 
4 
5 
4 
1 
2 
0 
0 

1 
0 
3 
2 
1 
1 
3 
1 
0 
2 
14 
2 
2 
5 
1 
1 
0 
11 
0 
0 
0 
1 
1 
1 
1 
6 
2 
4 
0 
1 
5 

European 
Social 
Economy 
Missions 
0 
1 
7 
1 
0 
1 
2 
1 
1 
3 
13 
2 
5 
3 
3 
0 
5 
12 
1 
0 
0 
1 
0 
5 
3 
7 
1 
1 
2 
0 
3 

Clusters 
Internationalisation 
(all sectors incl. 
defence) 
0 
0 
4 
2 
2 
0 
2 
3 
1 
0 
16 
0 
14 
0 
1 
0 
0 
12 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
2 
3 
5 
2 
1 
1 
1 
3 

Total for 
these 
four 
actions 
1 
1 
14 
7 
3 
5 
12 
8 
4 
6 
57 
6 
28 
8 
8 
1 
5 
42 
2 
6 
0 
2 
1 
10 
11 
23 
9 
7 
5 
2 
11 

17 

 
 
Türkiye 
UK 
Total 

1 
1 
76 

0 
1 
73 

3 
1 
88 

0 
0 
75 

4 
3 
312 

For the first three calls in this table (Clusters Excellence, TOURINN* - Boosting the uptake 
of  digitalisation,  innovation  and  new  technologies  in  tourism  through  transnational 
cooperation  and  capacity  building,  and  the  European  Social  Economy  Missions)  there  are 
beneficiaries  from  almost  all  EU  Member  States,  and  some  participation  from  Iceland  and 
associated  countries.  The  clusters  internationalisation  projects  cover  the  majority  of  EU 
Member States: 

•  Clusters  Excellence:  76  partner  organisations  from  22  EU  Member  States  and  other 

countries participating in the programme; 

•  Boosting  the  uptake  of  digitalisation,  innovation  and  new  technologies  in  the  tourism 

sector (TOURINN): 73 partner organisations in 25 countries; 

•  European  Social  Economy  Missions:  88  beneficiary  organisations  from  27  EU  Member 

States; 

•  Clusters  internationalisation  (also  including  the  Clusters  internationalisation  action  for 

SMEs in the defence sector): 75 beneficiaries in 18 Member States. 

For  all  four  of  these  schemes  there  were  notably  higher  levels  of  participation  from  Spain, 
Italy and to  a lesser extent  France  and Germany.  However, this  may not  necessarily be the 
trend for all COSME measures and/or for all years of the programme. It would be useful to 
explore this further in the programme’s ongoing final evaluation. 

18 

 
 
 
 
Annex 3 – Examples of projects and success stories 

Textbox 1. Example of a COSME EFG project - Finnsiirto - Finland - Machinery 

Finnsiirto,  based  in  Lieto,  just  east  of  Turku  in  Southwest  Finland,  operates  in  the  field  of 
professional forklift sales and logistics. They make continuous efforts to innovate and make 
small  changes  to  differentiate  from  their  competitors,  focusing  on  changes  that  their 
customers would like to see ‘We’re always trying to think what we would want if we were 
customers,’  explains  Kalle  Dahlman,  Commercial  Director  at  Finnsiirto.  Initially,  they  sold 
second-hand  imported  forklifts.  With  time,  they  started  to  focus  on  renting  out  and 
maintaining fleets, instead of selling individual vehicles, and started to grow very fast. 

They started looking for an investor to finance this rapid growth  and met Folmer, a private 
equity firm backed by the EIF. ‘After the first meeting, it was clear to us that both sides were 
ready  and  trusted  one  another.’  The  investment  from  Folmer  allowed  Finnsiirto  to 
significantly boost volumes, strengthen staff, increase stock and build a new headquarters. ‘It 
put us in a much stronger position,’ Kalle concludes. Since then, the company has continued 
to grow, expanding business in the Baltics with a sales office in Tallinn and bought two other 
companies,  Simeri  and  Suomen  Telakone,  with  the  three  together  forming  one  of  largest 
machinery companies in Finland. 

Further information – Folmer case study:  Finnsiirto (Finland), Machinery  – COSME EGF / 
EFSI (eif.org) 

Textbox 2. Example of a COSME LGF project - GardenLiving - Finland - horticulture and 
interior green design 

GardenLiving,  is  an  innovative  Finnish  horticulture  business  that  sells  garden  products  and 
provides  services  such  as  landscape  architecture,  interior  green  design,  and  garden 
maintenance  and  revamping.  Its  show  rooms  offer  an  attractive,  innovative  space  for 
customers to buy plants and garden materials and consult experts for advice. Eva Wuite, the 
founder and manager of GardenLiving, who is half-Dutch, half-Finnish, gets her inspiration 
from Finnish nature and the trends in the Netherlands. When COVID-19 hit, everything went 
into lockdown and all orders for garden items stopped immediately. But bills had to be paid – 
as they had already bought their stocks for the entire season (April-October). 

GardenLiving  managed  to  obtain  an  EU-guaranteed  loan  through  Finnvera,  backed  by  the 
EIF:  ‘We  needed  this  extra  loan  to  cover  this  difficult  period.  It  helped  bridge  the  gap  and 
also  allowed  us  to  expand  our  services  and  plan  for  e-commerce  as  the  second  wave 
intensified. The cashflow gave us more time to react.’ Eva is confident that the business has a 
lot of potential going forward. ‘If there is one thing that I can tell you for sure, it’s that green 
makes you feel good,’ she concludes. 

Further information: HOME | GardenLiving 

19 

 
 
 
Textbox 3. An EEN success story - W•SENSE - Italy - underwater cable-less networking 

In  2017,  W•SENSE,  a  spin-off  of  Sapienza  University  of  Rome,  developed  a  solution  to 
guarantee  underwater  cable-less  networking  interoperability.  Due  to  the  originality  of  this 
cutting-edge technology and the high demand, W•SENSE started to grow fast. Suddenly they 
needed a huge increase in working capital to implement their contracts. Despite their cutting-
edge technology and the high demand they were refused a loan by five different banks. 

W•SENSE  contacted  the  local  Enterprise  Europe  Network  (EEN)  branch  at  Unioncamere 
Lazio  and benefited from  EEN scale-up  adviser services.  Among other things,  EEN helped 
W•SENSE  to  prepare  a  robust  business  plan  and  to  obtain  a  EUR 500 000  bank  loan  from 
one  of  the  intermediaries  for  an  EU-supported  loan  guarantee  scheme.  W•SENSE  also 
attended EEN events to boost their international connections. 

EEN’s  support  has  enabled  W•SENSE  to  increase  their  turnover  and  has  created  job 
opportunities in Italy and across Europe. ‘Our company doubled its size to 23 people located 
in three European countries,’ said Chiara Petrioli, CEO of W•SENSE. They now have offices 
in  Italy,  Norway  and  the  United  Kingdom  and  have  won  multiannual  contracts  with  key 
stakeholders in aquaculture, defence, energy and the environment. ‘We are growing fast, with 
an expected  compound  annual  growth  rate of about  70% in  the next  5 years,’ said  Petrioli. 
‘We are constantly supported by the Network.’ 

Other  examples  of  projects,  particularly  clusters  and 
digitalisation and sustainability goals, are briefly mentioned in Annex 4 below. 

tourism  projects  supporting 

20 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Annex 4 – Contribution to climate, sustainability, digitalisation and gender goals 

1.  Climate 
Contributions  to  climate  mainstreaming  objectives  were  reported  for  many  actions.  A  few 
examples are provided below: 

The  EEN  helps  SMEs  address  climate-related  challenges  in  various  ways.  For  example,  it 
helps them use innovation to become more energy- and resource-efficient, by reducing waste 
and minimising energy consumption, thus enabling 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 technologies45. 

The COSME Equity Facility for Growth has invested EUR 6.7 million in a venture capital 
fund focusing its activities on clean technologies. 

https://www.eif.org/what_we_do/equity/single_eu_equity_instrument/cosme_efg/intermediar
ies.pdf.  

For  the  whole  programming  period,  the  COSME  EFG  facilitated  investment  of  more  than 
EUR 62 million in SMEs operating in the energy and environment sector. Investments in this 
sector further increased after the programming period.  

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

The 2022 edition of the Flash Eurobarometer on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), 
resource  efficiency  and  green  markets  funded  by  the  2020  budget  looks  into  SMEs’ 
performance and actions to become more resource-efficient, the barriers they encounter and 
the potential for policy measures to speed up SMEs’ green transition. The Eurobarometer is 
being  used  for  policymaking  to  support  SMEs  with  the  green  transition,  in  line  with  the 
updated EU Industrial Strategy (including for the transition pathways). The final report was 
published  in  March  2022:  SMEs,  resource  efficiency  and  green  markets  –  March  2022  – 
Eurobarometer survey (europa.eu). 

Under the Clusters Go International scheme, 6 of the 12 projects deal with climate change-
related topics. For three of the projects, it is estimated that a total of EUR 1.6 million is spent 
on climate goals (40% of the total budget for these projects): 

•  ESECA:  project  for  European  SMEs  in  the  renewable  energy  and  smart  grids 
sectors to help them develop a joint internationalisation strategy with common goals 
towards sub-Saharan Africa; 
ICBuild:  project  boosting  internationalisation  for  circularity  in  the  building 
environment; 

• 

45  This  monitoring  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). 

21 

 
 
 
•  EU  Water4i  SD:  the  European  Water-smart  initiative  for  fostering  International 

Sustainable Development. 

In addition, the following projects also deal with climate change-related topics: 
•  REC-N-COMP:  European  recycled  materials-based  composites  and  end-of-life 

products processing technologies go international; 

•  H2Global:  project  focused  on  positioning  Europe  as  a  global  technological  and 

industrial leader in the green hydrogen economy; 

•  AEWEN: project to create an African-EU water and energy network. 

Further information on all these projects is available on the European Cluster Collaboration 
Platform46. 

The digital platform for the Public Buyers Network supported by 2020 budget went live in 
April 2023. This supports collaboration by 10 ‘big buyer’ groups to build up joint intelligence 
on  specific  procurement  needs  (including  solar  panels).  It  is  estimated  that  40% 
(EUR 400 000) of the project’s budget (EUR 1 000 000) is dedicated to climate action. 

The study on mid-caps also covered environmental sustainability, including action taken by 
mid-caps  to  increase  their  environmental  sustainability  (cutting  energy  consumption, 
recycling, etc.) and the main challenges they face in this area. 

2.  Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals 

Many COSME projects contribute to multiple Sustainable Development Goals. For example: 

The ‘Initiatives for a Built Environment’ tool has been developed to support the transition 
to  sustainability  in  the  construction  sector  and  an  inclusive  built  environment.  It  is  used  to 
assess  and  monitor  national  reforms  and  public  investment  programmes  related  to 
construction carried out by the EU-27 countries under their national recovery and resilience 
plans.  This  project  contributes  to  SDG  1  (affordable  housing),  SDG 3  (quality  built 
environment),  SDG 5  (skills  development),  SDG 7  (link  with  renovation  wave  and  other 
initiatives), SDGs 8 and 9 (competitiveness, innovation, productivity and sustainability of the 
EU  construction  industry),  SDGs 11  and  15  (the  built  environment),  SDG 13  (energy 
efficiency) and SDG 16 (institutional reforms). 

The  European  Climate  Neutral  Industry  Competitiveness  Scoreboard  (CIndECS) 
described in the section below on SDG 13 also contributes to SDG 7 (affordable and  clean 
energy)  by  assessing  clean  energy  solutions,  and  SDG  9  (industry,  innovation  and 
infrastructure) by focusing on improving the resilience of infrastructure, assessing emerging 
climate-neutral  solutions  for  different  industrial  ecosystems  and  focusing  on  emergent  and 
innovative solutions. 

SDG 8 (decent work and sustainable economic growth) 

Relevant measures include the Enterprise Europe Network’s services to help SMEs achieve 
sustainable  growth,  the  different  actions  to  support  clusters  and  the  European  Social 
Economy Missions (one focus area of these missions was local or regional measures tackling 
unemployment). 

46 https://profile.clustercollaboration.eu 

22 

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

The  Enterprise  Europe  Network  supported  SMEs  in  their  transition  to  circular  business 
models  and  in  making  use  of  greener,  energy-efficient  technologies.  The  network  was  well 
advanced  on  its  path  towards  putting  in  place  fully-fledged  sustainability  services  in 
preparation for the new network as from 202247. 

SDG  9  was  also  supported  through  various  measures  for  clusters.  For  example,  the 
EVOLUTE project in the European Cluster Excellence programme is helping clusters in 
the  automotive  and  land  machinery  industry  boost  their  performance  by  strengthening  the 
skills  and  deepening  the  knowhow  of  six  clusters  in  Europe.  This  project  also  supports  the 
implementation  of  the  ClusterXChange  scheme  to  facilitate  international,  sector  and  cross-
sector cooperation between clusters, SMEs and large organisations. This helps companies and 
employees  prepare  for  future  challenges  and  helps  foster  innovation  for  world  class 
products and services. 

The projects for Strategic Alliances for the Uptake of Advanced Technologies by SMEs 
for economic recovery also focused on helping SMEs implement technological innovation. 
The  ‘ReStartSMEs’  project  supported  under  this  call  assisted  manufacturing  SMEs  in 
adapting to value chains and new demand caused by COVID-19. 

SDG 12 (sustainable consumption and production patterns) 

The  WORTH  project  to  boost  competitiveness  and  innovation  of  SMEs  in  lifestyle 
industries contributes to SDG 12. The second call for proposals for SME partnerships focused 
on  green  and  digital  transition  including:  the  circular  economy,  efficient  use  of  energy  and 
resources, transition towards more sustainable production and consumption; social innovation 
and  social  inclusion;  and  reduction  of  the  carbon  footprint.  For  example,  the  Framiore 
capsule  concept  aims  to  raise  the  lifetime  worth  of  women’s  clothing,  by  offering  high 
quality  garments  that  do  not  go  out  of  date,  together  with  features  to  customise,  and  adapt 
garments, and a repair and trade-in programme48. 

Some of the ongoing tourism projects also support sustainability and climate goals, 
including for example the TourINN-act project49. 

The  clusters  internationalisation  projects  also  cover  sustainable  consumption  and 
production patterns in various sectors, including energy and water consumption, water-smart 
solutions, and renewable energy and smart grids). 

SDG 13 (climate action) 

47 This led to the creation of EEN Sustainability Advisers as from 2022. Since the start of 2022, the EEN SME 
client  assessment  (the  starting  point  for  defining  which  services  an  SME  needs)  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. 

48 https://worth-partnership.ec.europa.eu/projects/framiore-capsule-collection_en  
49 https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/projects-

details/31059643/101038173/COSME  

23 

 
 
 
One  relevant  measure  is  the  development  of  a  European  Climate  Neutral  Industry 
Competitiveness  Scoreboard  (CIndECS)  to  assess  the  EU’s  competitive  position  on  28 
climate-neutral  solutions.  This  work  identifies  strengths  and  weakness  for  each  solution 
against 10 specific criteria. The results will provide support to policymakers both at national 
and EU level to develop more targeted support actions. The total EU funding for this action 
(EUR 430 000)  is  entirely  dedicated  to  climate  goals.  The  project’s  results  have  already 
contributed to and are referenced in the following policy documents: 

•  Net  Zero  Industry  Act  (COM(2023)  161,  SWD(2023)  68  final)  Investment  needs 
technology 

to  strengthen  EU’s  Net-Zero 

assessment  and 
manufacturing capacity, p. 55, 74, 76, 103; 

funding  availabilities 

•  Net Zero Industry Act (COM(2023) 161, SWD(2023)68, p. 10); 
•  The  2021  and  2022  editions  of  the  Progress  report  on  competitiveness  of  clean  energy 
technologies (COM(2021)952 final) - and supporting documents -  and (COM(2022)643 
final 

•  The  CIndECS    also  fed  into  numerous  Clean  Energy  Technology  Observatory  reports 
(https://setis.ec.europa.eu/publications/clean-energy-technology-observatory-ceto/ceto-
reports-2022_en). The final report is due in September 2023. 

The EEN, WORTH and Initiatives for a Built  Environment  also  contribute to  SDG  13  (see 
also the climate action heading above). 

Social dimension of SDGs 

Some  COSME  actions  and  projects  include  a  social  dimension  (social  economy  measures, 
and  measures  for  women  entrepreneurs  and  other  specific  groups  of  entrepreneurs).  Other 
COSME projects and actions have a social dimension embedded in their wider sustainability 
and  competitiveness  objectives  (e.g.  some  of  the  tourism  projects  and  the  WORTH  project 
mentioned  above).  The  first  call  for  proposals  for  SME  partnerships  for  WORTH  was 
aligned  with  the  New  European  Bauhaus.  It  contributed  to  Sustainable  Development  Goals 
by increasing the awareness and/or development of solutions contributing to more beautiful, 
sustainable and inclusive living environments. Several clusters projects focus on social goals; 
these  include  the  EXCELIVING  project  under  the  Clusters  Excellence  scheme,  which 
focuses on a smart, healthy, age-friendly and sustainable living environment. The project 
helps clusters active in these fields to review their strategy and develop new services and is 
delivering studies, visits, webinars and matchmaking activities focusing on these fields. 

3.  Contribution to digital goals 
Several  actions  support  digitalisation  in  conjunction  with  other  goals.  These  include  the 
clusters  actions  and  the  call  for  digitalisation,  innovation  and  new  technologies  in  tourism 
through transnational cooperation and capacity building. 

Within  these  calls  there  were  some  individual  projects  dedicated  more  specifically  to 
digitalisation. For example, the EU DigiTOUR tourism project supports European tourism 
SMEs  lagging  behind  in  their  digital  transition  and  enhances  cooperation  in  the  tourism 
ecosystem to develop new, innovative and smart tourism solutions, products, services, skills 
and  new  business  models  through  the  use  of  artificial  intelligence,  internet  of  things, 
virtual  reality,  augmented  reality  and  big  data.  The  maximum  grant  amount  for  this 

24 

 
 
project is EUR 999 963. The project involves nine partner organisations from five countries 
(Croatia, Germany, Italy, Serbia and Slovenia). 

Another  example  is  the  EURO_EMOTUR  tourism  project.  The  project  pays  special 
attention to neuromarketing techniques to boost the digital reputation of SMEs and increase 
their  performance  and  key  performance  indicators  both  in  the  short  and  long  term.  The 
ongoing project, which has a maximum EU grant amount of EUR 563 236, has six partners in 
five countries (Belgium, Finland, Italy, Spain and the UK). 

Under  the  Public  Buyers  Network  initiative  (service  contract),  one  of  the  10  ‘big  buyer’ 
groups  supported  by  the  digital  platform  deals  with  artificial  intelligence.  This  platform 
helps public buyers build up joint intelligence on specific procurement needs in this field and 
work on joint statements of demand. 

The Clusters excellence project EPIX aims to boost the excellence of clusters that deal with 
smart  cities.  Another  Clusters  Excellence  project,  MEDIC  NEST,  is  working  to  create  a 
European  meta-cluster  in  the  field  of  precision  medicine.  The  project  includes  a 
ClustersExchange scheme to stimulate cross-fertilisation and exchanges of experience related 
to  digital  technologies.  There  are  also  clusters  projects  focusing  on  digitalisation  in  sectors 
such as agrifood (AgriFoodX5.0 project), fashion (CLOTH project) and automotive and land 
machinery (EVOLUTE project)50 .  

4.  Contribution to gender mainstreaming goals 

While  no  specific  gender  objective/target  is  provided  for  in  the  COSME  legal  basis,  this 
dimension is taken into account in all actions. 

For  the  EFG  and  LGF,  the  gender  dimension  is  tracked  in  the  biannual  analyses  by  the 
European Investment Fund. The latest analysis from 2020 demonstrates that as of 2019: 

•  almost 2 in 10 of SMEs receiving equity support via the COSME EFG have at least one 

female in an executive position; 

•  almost  every  4  in  10  of  the  SMEs  that  received  debt  financial  support  via  the  COSME 

LGF have either a female CEO, general manager or company director. 

There  was  one  COSME  action  totally  dedicated  to  enhancing  digital  and  entrepreneurial 
competences in girls and women (ESTEAM). Further information is given in point 2.4 above. 

57%  of  EEN  coordinators  are  women,  while  43%  are  men.  The  EEN  also  has  a  dedicated 
group  that  supports  women  entrepreneurs  and  provides  partnership  and  advisory  services 
specifically tailored to their needs. 

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. 

50 Further information on these projects is available on: https://clustercollaboration.eu/ 

25