FinNetSME, the Network for Regional SME Finance, is a project designed to encourage an intensive exchange between regional public financiers on how to improve access to finance for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. FinNetSME gathers partners from all parts of the EU - from Spain in the West to Lithuania and Latvia in the East, from Greece in the South to Finland in the North. FinNetSME will collect and analyse data on regional financing instruments and contact points as well as on public financing structures, support services and schemes in the different regions.

FinNetSME addresses the need for an inventory of existing good practices in regional SME finance by building a platform for public regional financiers. The aim is to develop common regional tools and strategies promoting SME access to finance and to bridge the market gap in SME finance by exploiting the given financial sources in an innovative way. On the practical level, models of regional SME finance have been elaborated to provide easily available advice on the development of promotional instruments with EU support. The partners of the network have accumulated their experience in setting up financial and non-financial support instruments, co-operation strategies etc. They will develop them into templates that can be used in other regions to start corresponding initiatives and establish similar means.

For more information on FinNetSME and its results - including the "Experiences and Practices" guide and a presentation, please be referred to the "project" section of this website. You can access to the database after a short registration ivia the login field in the upper right hand corner of this site.

FinNetSME final conference on "Financing enterprise growth in the regions of the EU - models and recommendations" hosted by EURADA and EAPB in Brussels on 6 June 2007!
Presentations now available in the events section.