Topics


1st session - Policy context: Boosting Investment Readiness in Europe
The Investment Plan for Europe under President elect Juncker includes a package of measures to unlock public and private investments in the real economy of at least € 315 billion over the next three years (2015-2017). The funding must reach viable projects, with a real added value for the European economy. Investors need the certainty of a continuous pipeline of sound projects. Among the different measures the European Commission and the European Investment Bank will launch the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) in which SMEs and Small mid-caps are among the investment priorities.

In addition the increased importance of a continued support to SMEs is a crucial aspect within the policy priorities of the European Commission to foster growth and jobs. Horizon 2020 and the Competiveness and SME programme (COSME) are the major instruments to provide direct support and a favourable environment for growth of SMEs.

A supply side policy approach to mobilise investments in Europe must be accompanied by demand-side initiatives which enhance the quality of deal flow. Therefore “Boosting Investment Readiness of SMEs in Europe“ is a key ingredient for a successful implementation of  related policy measures.
The current political developments make this conference fit well into the EU´s policy priorities agenda by mobilising stakeholders and creating a suitable ecosystem that foster more investments.

2nd session - New insights into Investment Readiness
High level experts working in the investment field will present the mission and the vision of the InvestHorizon Programme in order to raise awareness among stakeholders of the benefits that this programme involve.  In addition, a presentation on recent developments and trends in investment readiness programmes will create the required environment to engage with the stakeholders participating in the conference.

Workshops

  • Investment Readiness
  • Investor Sensitisation
  • Cross-border Matching

Each of the three workshops will be held twice so that participants will have the opportunity to discuss two different topics and change groups in the coffee break. The idea is to mix the different stakeholder groups (red area of chart above) in the workshops in order to receive a large variety of recommendations from different perspectives. In every workshop a crucial task will be to define and comment best practices in four different areas: strategies, needs, tools and measurement of successes and improvements.