• "Small Business Act" for Europe
• Improving the business environment
• Promoting Entrepreneurship
• Access to markets
• Facts and figures
• Good practices in SME policy

Conference on the European Charter for Small Enterprises

"The best ways to make life easier for SMEs!"

At the annual Charter conference some 360 participants from policy and business attended to learn from each other the best ways to facilitate the business environment for small enterprises. More than 40 countries were represented at the conference.

The Charter countries presented their most successful SME policy measures in areas such as internationalisation, reducing the administrative burden and teaching entrepreneurship at all levels of school. In addition, expemplary cases to foster a quicker growth of start-up innovative companies and e-government activities were discussed.

Key-note speakers Andrej Vizjak, the Slovenian Minister of the Economy and Heinz Zourek, Director-General of DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission, gave an overview on the support that SMEs can count upon at EU level for the time to come.

The conference was organised by the European Commission and the Slovenian Presidency.

• Programme brochure
• List of participants

Speakers' Presentations

TUESDAY 3 JUNE

• Opening address
  Andrej Vizjak, Minister of the Economy, Slovenia

The Charter Premium Cases

• CETMOS - The Central European Trade mark observation service
  Ursula Höfermayer, Austrian Patent Office, Austria
• Strategic plan for introducing entrepreneurship education
  Inger Aarvig, Director of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprises, Norway
• The Regulatory Guillotine
  Tajana Kesic-Sapic, State Secretary, Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship, Croatia

Good practices evolving

• High-quality dialogue engineering education
  Judith Herzog, VDMA-society for research and innovation, Germany
• The Kafka Test
  Dannie Goossens, Administrative Simplification Agency, Belgium

Workshop 1 - Education and training for entrepreneurship

• Youth Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Strategy (YES) in Wales
  James Taylor, Sportstars Wales, United Kingdom
• Business Plan Competition
  Inga Beiliuniene, Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania, Lithuania
• The School/Work project
  Maria Silvia Gatto, Ministry of Education, Italy
• Network of Highschool Training Firms
  Stamen Tassev, Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum, Bulgaria
• Fostering Entrepreneurial Spirit in Higher Education
  Prof. Lassaad Mezghani, University of Sfax, Tunisia

Workshop 2 - Better legislation and regulation, especially how to think small first

• Reducing the administrative burden for businesses and citizens
  Tatyana Mizori Zupan, Ministry of Public Administration, Slovenia
• Electronic tax declaration: appointment of a tax return representative
  Anders Meijer, Swedish Tax Agency, Sweden
• The Public consultations website
  Reet Teder, Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Estonia
• Health & Safety Risk management plans - simplified!
  Andrew Large, Cleaning and Support Services Association, United Kingdom
• "In Tune with Business" programme
  Laszlo Csernenszky, Ministry of Economy and Transport, Hungary

Workshop 3 - Fostering high growth innovative SMEs

• The innovation voucher scheme
  Mariana Karepova, Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH (FFG), Austria
• The "Capital City supporting new business ideas" scheme
  Iztok Lesjak, Director of the Technology Park Ljubljana, Slovenia
• The fostering of innovative SMEs in Ireland
  Tom Hayes, Enterprise Ireland, Ireland
• Innovative SMEs - a challenge for Serbia
  Igor Brkanovic, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, Serbia
• What Europe can do for high growth innovative SMEs
  William Stevens, CEO of Europe Unlimited, Belgium

WEDNESDAY 4 JUNE

Workshop 4 - Best of other Charter areas

• euBAn - The euregional Business Angels network
  Marc Langohr, WFG Ostbelgien, Belgium
• Businessinfo.cz - A portal for business and export
  Michal Sontodinomo, Czech Trade Promotion Agency, Czech Republic
• The SME pact
  Emmanuel Le Prince, Director-General, Comité Richelieu, France
• The Business Plan Toolbox
  Pol Wagner, Ministry of Higher Education, Luxembourg
• bro:Tplus - Software for master bakers
  Frank Rennebarth, German Baker's Confederation, Germany

Workshop 5 - Successful promotion of entrepreneurship

• The Super-Entrepreneur Contest on TV
  Manuel Lozano, Producer, Lua Multimedia, Spain
• The UK Enterprise Week
  Mike Paice, Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, United Kingdom
• The National Week of crafts companies
  Isabelle Molin, Chambres des Métiers et de l'Artisanat des Vosges, France
• Emax - The Nordic training camp for young entrepreneurs
  Janis Eriksson, STARTcentrum, Sweden
• Promotion of entrepreneurship in Montenegro
  Zarko Djuranovic, EICC Manager, Montenegro

Workshop 6 - Top-class small business support, especially support to internationalise

• Competence Network Netherlands/North Rhine-Westphalia
  Hildegard Bongert-Boekhout, Regional Crafts Association, Germany
• Pipe - Introduction plan to foreign promotion
  Alicia Sanz, ICEX, Spain
• Business Links
  Bent Lindhardt Andersen, Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority, Denmark
• Kivi - Competitiveness through internationalisation
  Severi Keinälä, Confederation of Finnish Industries, Finland
• KSU - National Services Network for SMEs
  Aleksandra Klos, Pomerania Development Agency Co., Poland

Closing

• Closing speech
  Miran Pleterski, Director-General, Ministry of the Economy, Slovenia