ISSN 1022 - 6559 RTD and Innovation Support for SMEs An overview of European Commission actions designed to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in participating in and benefiting from EU research and innovation activités. EUROPEAN COMMISSION Foreword f rom the RTD and Innovation President of the Support for SMEs Research Council CONTENTS SMEs have an increasing role to play in the economic development of the European Union. This is linked to INTRODUCTION the importance of knowledge as a factor of production Small and Mediumsized Enterprises (SMEs): 4 and the ability of entities to create and exploit How they can benefit from EU RTD Programmes. knowledge. Increasingly what we see is that SMEs are The Background: 5better able to interact with their environment in an SMEs,RTDandtheEU Research Programmes. innovative way. The Member States in their national CurrentOpportunities:6 policies and the Union in its various schemes must Specialmeasuresdedicated to SMEs in the better exploit this SME potential. 4thFrameworkProgramme. TheFuture:7SMEs are not homogenous. In a capability hierarchy, SM E supportinthenext Framework Programme. we must distinguish between leaders the top 1096 which arc the hightech research performers and the EXISTING INITIATIVES TO PROMOTE remainder, which are the technology followers.