1 Project supported by the European Commission ECREIN Platform in Rhône-Alpes (RA) Analysis of instruments and actions to support eco-innovation and eco-investment in the « Development - Exportation » stage 16 th of October 2007 (afternoon)

2 Identified difficulty n°1 Small size of French SMEs Limited shareholders equity SME capital Bank loans Availability of the manager Public supports Amounts of subsidies depend on shareholders equity Fear of manager to lose his control on activity Few reinvestment Difficulties to obtain an interesting loan when the shareholders equity are limited Lack of thought concerning the innovation strategy Problem in recruitment

3 Identified difficulty n°2 Multiplicity of public structures Number of structures Bad visibility Lack of coordination information spreading Public subsidies segmented with changing selection criteria. No support on the long-term Difficulties to find the good interlocutor and the appropriated support Too many information sources

4 Identified difficulty n°3 Difficult access to subsidies Access to subsidies Building of the project Eligibility criteria Agreement Waiting period Refusal justification Many specific instruments Misunderstanding Statements difficult to fill in

5 Working track Review: oMany financial instruments, many providers and available money oNecessity of increasing shareholders equity of SMEs Thoughts: oDevelop shareholders equity Leverage effect for companies which capitalize thanks to shareholders equity oConnect providers and project holders CdC and Rhône-Alpes have made a survey dedicated to SMEs in 2007: Identified drag: bad knowledge among providers and project holders, Strategy: creation of a platform to merge the projects chosen by national clusters, Objective: accelerate the matching between interlocutors.

6 Working track Review: o8% of 1000 SMEs are organized to innovate regularly o56% have one or more innovations pending Managers need help to have a better organization to have more time (in 59% of the cases, this lack of time explains why innovations are not exploited) Thoughts: oDevelop formation and information around enterprise strategy and entrepreneurship

7 Diapos pour mémoire

8 Difficultés identifiées Phase de recherche – démonstration: omanque de visibilité à long terme, opas de guichet unique où trouver les informations sur les aides financières opas de culture du risque du côté des entrepreneurs et des financeurs odifficile coopération entre les centres de recherche et les PME pour stimuler la diffusion de linnovation et le transfert de technologie Développement des métiers dinterface grâce à la bourse CIFRE