Taiwan Joins EEN to Boost Cooperation between SMEs from Taiwan and Europe

On May 28, 2015, the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) of the European Commission officially announced that Taiwan was admitted to the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), for which the EEN Taiwan was immediately formed to bring new dynamics for cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from Taiwan and Europe. 

As authorized by the Bureau of Foreign Trade under the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs, the TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) has worked with and formed a consortium with the ITRI (the Industrial Technology Research Institute), TEEMA (Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association), the ECCT (the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan), and NARLabs (the National Applied Research Laboratories) to successfully file an application for admission to the EEN in early 2015. 

According to the TAITRA, the formation of the EEN Taiwan is expected to connect Taiwanese SMEs with those from Europe in commerce, technology, and innovation and further to strengthen the cooperation between SMEs from Taiwan and Europe in trade promotion, exhibition, and sale promotion, etc., a significant fulfillment of Taiwan-EU commercial cooperation and economic and trade interchanges. 

To enhance the internalization and competitiveness of SMEs in Europe, the DG GROW of European Commission established the Enterprise Europe Network in 2008 to provide such services as business matching, research cooperation and technology transfer.  It serves as the biggest support network for business and innovation in the world.  The EEN has 600 business cooperation centers in 55 countries (e.g. 28 EU member states and the other 27 countries in America, Asia, and Africa), the TAITRA said.

Following Taiwan’s joining the EEN, the Director-General of DG Grow, Calleja, led a Mission for Growth to Taiwan 2015 from June 3 to June 5, 2015 to not only visit the Computex Taipei 2015 but also hold a trade and investment conference on June 4, 2015.  During this Mission, Calleja of DG Grow and the TAITRA signed an agreement to officially start operation of the EEN Taiwan.  (May 2015) 
/CCS