Interim evaluation of the participation of SMEs in the Cooperation Programme and the Research for the benefit of SMEs schemes under the Capacities Programme of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research, Technological development and Demonstration activities

Client                           DG RTD, European Commission
Implemented by        Panteia/KMFA/IKEI/ENSR
Year                              2012-2014

The Seventh Framework  einafter FP7)1 contains two main initiatives in favour of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)

  • Cooperation specific programme of FP7;
  • Two Research for the benefit of SMEs schemes under the Capacities specific Programme: Research for SMEs and Research for SME associations.

The overall objective of this evaluation is twofold:

  • to assess the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of the two initiatives;
  • to assess the impacts on the SMEs participating in the two initiatives and on society, including the impacts on economic performance, European Added Value (EAV), behavioural additionality and innovation.

Where it is relevant – the two initiatives are compared. In addition, recommendations are developed how the two initiatives, as well as future priorities and implementations of EU Research and Innovation support to SMEs, can be improved.

For the report: see https://ec.europa.eu/research/sme-techweb/pdf/volume_i_smes_in_fp7-may2014.pdf