Logo and name The Study Case of: increasing the SMEs capacity in understanding and accessing European funds through structural funds projects Mariana Lodroman Final Conference Bucarest 24 October 2008

Logo and name 1. Where Bucarest and the region close to Bucarest North of Romania Cluj county The main criteria: Industrial development and the on going investments Large number of Italian SMEs High interest in structural funds and various initiatives in accessing European funds The existing branch of Unimpresa in Cluj

Logo and name 2. Which target sector and why As a state member of the European Union, Romania benefits of financial assistance of about 30 milliard Euros in the period Therefore we decided it is very important for the SMEs to have proper information, in real time and to be monitored at the beginning of this initiative. Since there are no specific sectors in which the Italian SMEs are developing their activities we didn’t concentrate our labs on economic sectors but mostly on specific activities : human resources, consultancy, training, etc. It is to be mentioned the Italian experience in this matter, so that from the “cultural” point of view the companies participating in the project had basic knowledge.

Logo and name 3. Which target groups Italian SMEs active in Romania together with companies belonging to a group (holding) Aim: activity on a target group of SMES in in order to help them to better understand the mecanism, to facilitate the access the structural funds, to networking in order to increase their competitiveness Tool: audit procedure in SME (interview, seminars, group meetings)

Logo and name 4. Reporting on Labs for SMEs Labs for second tier facilitators 2 workshops on: Structural funds mechanisms and the advantage of networking n. 5/8 participants: consultants, managers, human resources officers Aims: to increase the participants' capacity in facilitating cooperation and networking in developing projects; to explain and promote the Action Learning approach Brainstorming and mind mapping, visualisation

Logo and name 5. Labs for second tier facilitators Achievements: Discussing context, methods and the appropriate means for recruiting and developing the facilitators Learning facilitator concept and role in active manner, identifying the qualities that a person needs for being a good facilitator Increasing interest for the project and AL method Lesson learnt: The learnshops were a good opportunity to learn and to exercise the learning by doing concept Preliminary phase of sensibilisation of participants is essential Facilitators must be flexible to adapt AL method to specific context

Logo and name 6. And after SME ACTor? Develop the concept of „consorzium“ of SMEs with a facilitator in the project is one of the future projects that Unimpresa will develop. The „relay-race“ of SME ACTor project will be carry on by Unimpresa Formazione which is a specialized structure of our association. Using AL methods we can further promote and facilitate the structural funds projects, explain the mechanisms, the priorities and the advantages of industrial development by using European funds.