Author: SME Chamber

GRTU and Europe
Direct, which is an EU funded office hosted within GRTU, have this week held an
information session on Research and Innovation for SMEs. It was a very
successful meeting because SMEs were given a lot of hands on information of how
research and innovation is relevant to them and what funds are available to
carry out actions.

European
Commission Head Mr Martin Bugelli and GRTU President Paul Abela opened the
session. Mr Bugelli that Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation
programme that was ever created. Not only there are a large amount of funds
specifically targeted for SMEs but this programme is different from FP7 because
it is simpler and more streamlined, making it easily accessible for SMEs. Mr
Paul Abela stated that we hold these kind of information sessions that are
tailor made for SMEs so that SMEs are given the right information in a manner
they can easily understand it and after the meeting have a clear idea of what
is available and from where to start.

COST – Networking in the EU made easy

COST
gives any business owner the opportunity to choose a discussion topic, called
‘Action', under a specific sector to become involved in. This involvement would
consist of meeting other stakeholders (another business owner, researcher,
university, etc…) around twice a year and remain in contact with them to
discuss and share ideas on this topic. There are no funds for research as such
but participants get reimbursed for expenses in conjunction with flights and
accommodation to COST meetings – it also leads to excellent contacts and can
also lead to preparation for future grant proposals as in Horizon2020. Minimal
administration is involved!

Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 is
the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation implementing the
Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's
global competitiveness. Horizon 2020 will run from 2014 to 2020, with circa €79
billion budgeted for its 7 years duration. Horizon 2020 has a number of key novelties
that make it fit for purpose to promote growth and tackle societal challenges.

Horizon 2020 provides a unique opportunity to share knowledge,
experience and facilities across Europe. It also:

Helps you get
your first pick at licensing patents since all knowledge generated by you
during the project is yours!

Commercialisation voucher programme

The scheme
provides support with the aim of assisting SMEs in assessing the commercial and
market potential of their ideas. The intention is to determine the commercialisation
potential of the proposed innovative solutions before actually undertaking any
R&D. The inventor would already be informed about the possibility of
protecting the idea through intellectual property as well as gain awareness
about the market potential and the economic wealth it can generate for the good
of society at large.

One or more of
the following activities would be supported sequentially: IP Check, Market
Research, Product Development Costing, Economic Impact, Risk Profile, Initial
Patent Application, Business Plan and Investors Meetings.

Technology
Development Programme

The programme
focuses on technology transfer between academia and industry with specific
focus on priority sectors identified in the National R&I Strategy.

Project
proposals submitted through this Programme should typically have a duration of
between one and three years and are of a value between €50,000 and €200,000.

Applicants need
to have undertaken feasibility studies which show that the research proposal is
dealing with an innovative or step change improvement solution, as well as
having commercialisation potential for eventual launch into the market. In
order to facilitate matters, these feasibility studies and assessments could be
paid through the first 5 activities of the Commercialisation Voucher Programme.

Europe Enterprise Network

The Enterprise
Europe Network hosted at Malta Enterprise is the gateway to competitiveness and
innovation.   Maltese SMEs can get access
to all the information they need to develop business and find the right
business partners.

The Network
offers support and advice to businesses across Europe and helps them make the
most of the opportunities in the European Union. Our services are specifically
designed for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) but are also available to all
businesses, research centres and universities across Europe.

The Enterprise
Europe Network is made up of close to 600 partner organisations in 54
countries, promoting competitiveness and innovation at the local level in
Europe and beyond. Whether you need information on EU legislation, help with
technology transfer or finding a business partner, want to benefit from
innovation networks in your region or need information on funding
opportunities, this is the place to start.

EXPLORE is a series of six information sessions, each session
targeting a different thematic area, which will include different Managing
Authorities and National Contact Points delivering a presentation on the
different funds under the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020.

Participants will also have the opportunity to participate in a brokerage
session, whereby the representatives from Managing Authorities and National
Contact Points will be present in an adjacent room to answer queries on a
one-to-one basis. 

After the success of the first EXPLORE session,
Culture and the Arts, MEUSAC is holding another 
EXPLORE session promoting EU funding programmes related to the Education
and Training sector for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and businesses
active in the area, as well as local councils.

Should you be interested in taking part, kindly fill
in the form below and reply on by not later than Tuesday,
February 18, 2014. Further information on the main speakers and the agenda will
be available in the coming days.

 Date: Thursday, February 20, 2014 

Time: 17:00 hrs – 19:00 hrs

Venue: The
Waterfront Hotel, Gżira

Citizens and
firms moving to another EU country would face less red tape under a draft law
passed by Parliament. But this law, which would simplify procedures for proving
the authenticity of certain public documents such as birth or marriage
certificates, still needs to be approved by EU member states.

The law,
which lays down rules for testing the authenticity of public documents, but
would not require member states to recognize their contents, was passed by 573
votes to 62, with 44 abstentions.

Fewer administrative formalities

The law
would do away with administrative formalities of certain public documents, such
as those proving civil status, family relationship or intellectual property
rights. MEPs want more documents to be covered by simplified procedures and
propose for example that educational records, as well as tax and social
insurance documents, should be included. MEPs also beefed up rules designed to
facilitate acceptance of non-certified copies and translations.

Optional multilingual EU forms

The law
would also introduce new multilingual EU forms which citizens could use instead
of national ones to prove birth, death, marriage, registered partnership or the
legal status and representation of a company. MEPs also amended the proposal to
include a further eleven forms concerning name, descent, adoption, non-married
status, divorce, dissolution of a registered partnership and so on.

Safeguards against fraud

In the
event of reasonable doubt, the authorities would be able to check the
authenticity of a document with the issuing authorities, using the existing
Internal Market Information System (IMI).

EU annual gross
domestic product (GDP) figures will be revised upwards by around2.4 % when the
EU switches to a new accounting standard in September 2014, Eurostat, the
statistical office of the EU, announced on 16 January.        

Volume of retail trade down by 1.6% in euro area
– Down by 0.8% in EU28In December 2013 compared with November 2013, the seasonally adjusted
volume of retail trade fell by 1.6% in the euro area (EA17) and by 0.8% in the
EU28, according to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European
Union.       

As part of an
EU funded project entitled ‘Healthy Mind for Healthy Business' led by Richmond
Foundation in which GRTU is a partner a one hour training session is being
organized free of charge.

The session is entitled ‘Mental Health Policy at the
Workplace' and it aims to raise awareness of mental health issues, how these
affect the workplace and how they can be handled. Studies show that healthier
employees are more productive and we are sure that employers want their
employees to be healthy and help them where they can.

The same
session will be delivered twice on the same day on Thursday 13th February at
the Gozo NGO Centre, Triq il-Madonna tar-Rummiena, Xewkija. You can choose to
attend the session at 10.00am or the one at 11.30am.

If you
are interested, kindly register at
or 21232881

Investment Aid
Tax Credits support enterprise in investment and job creation. The scheme is
mainly focused on attracting new investment projects and promoting expansion or
diversification of existing enterprises.

Eligible
enterprises, as defined in the incentive guideline document, can benefit from
tax credits calculated as a percentage of the value which is set according to
the enterprise size.  The principle beneficiaries
are enterprises engaged in manufacturing, ICT development activities, call
centres, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, filming and audio-visual industries.

Tax
credits are computed as a percentage of either the value of capital investment
or the value of wages for 24 months covering new jobs created as a result of an
investment project.

The tax
credits which are not utilised during a particular year are carried forward to
subsequent years.

Further
information can be found at: http://www.maltaenterprise.com/en/support/investment-aid-tax-credits

Children risk
injury and even death from fires caused by novelty cigarette lighters and
cigarette lighters which are not child resistant. For this reason the EU has
extended the ban of such lighters until 11 May 2015.

The aim is to protect
children across the EU from the dangers that arise from the misuse of cigarette
lighters. In the meantime, the relevant European standardisation organisation,
CEN, is continuing to work on a suitable European standard for determining the
child resistance of lighters. This standard will be based on technical
parameters rather than the use of child panels which are considered to be too
burdensome. A further prolongation of the ban is possible in the future if
necessary.

For
further information: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/safety/prod_legis/prod_legislation_lighters_en.htm

A final
agreement on the Data Protection Reform package is to be postponed until after
the May 2014 elections in the European Parliament. The European Commission, the
two lead rapporteurs on the issue in the European Parliament, together with the
Greek Presidency and the incoming Italian Presidency agreed to set the deadline
for the adoption of the Data Protection bill at the end of 2014.