Image Source: European Commission

The EU External Investment Plan (EIP) will leverage up to EUR 44 bn in private investments across Africa and the EU Neighbourhood until 2020. The key financial instrument of the EIP is the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSD) – an EU guarantee worth EUR 4.1 bn designed to back up risky investments that otherwise will not happen.

At the end of October, the European Commission published the final Work Programmes for Horizon 2020, covering the budgetary years 2018, 2019 and 2020 and representing an investment of around €30 billion.

Current and future initiatives supporting the development of sustainable energy in third countries through EU external aid funding instruments were presented in Brussels on 21 November in the context of a Sector Seminar organized by the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU and CEBRE, the Czech Business Representation to the EU. The event gathered over 100 companies from 14 different Member States as well as representatives from the EU Commission, the EIB, AFD, the Electrifi imitative and the Africa-EU Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme.

The European Commission’s DG Connect has launched the Digital Opportunity pilot project to provide digital internships to students across Europe.

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Brussels Invest & Export invited Schuman Associates to present at their event on 18th October in Belgrade. The aim of the event is to present the Brussels' economic environment and a wide range of opportunities it offers. Not only is Brussels the capital and the largest city in Belgium, but it also hosts a number of European and International Organizations. It is a place where policies are decided that impact businesses both in and beyond the European Union. 

Following the adoption of the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD), members of the EFSD Strategic Board convened for the first time in Brussels on the 28th of September to discuss overall strategy and investment areas, the so-called ‘investment windows’ that will define the Fund’s priority sectors.

12 months after the announcement of the ambitious EU External Investment Plan, President Junker in his State of the Union Address 2017 called upon all Member States to show solidarity by increasing their aid commitment to Africa. When speaking about the pressures several Member States are experiencing under the growing number of migrants coming from Africa, the President highlighted the role of different financial instruments that the EU has put in place to manage the migration flows.

While the last cut-off dates of the 2017 SME Instrument call for proposals are approaching, it is already time to look ahead and share some details about what applicants should expect by the new calls to be launched under the 2018-2020 Work Programmes.

Schuman Associates analysed a draft version of the new European Innovation Council pilot WP 2018-2020 that, on top of the SME Instrument, also include three other innovation support schemes: Fast Track to Innovation (FTI), FET Open and Inducement Prizes. All these schemes have been adapted to support market-creating innovation more effectively, also taking into account recommendations collected from the Horizon 2020 interim evaluation.

At the Western Balkans Summit in Trieste, Italy, the EU Commission and the regional partners agreed on seven new projects in transport and energy worth over 500 million euro, out of which 194 million euro are EU grants and loans from EBRD and EIB. The European Union is planning to allocate up to 1 billion euro by 2020 to key infrastructure projects in transport and energy of major importance to the region and its connectivity with the EU.

The 2017 European Development Days took place in Brussels between 7-8 June with over 8000 participants from the development community. One of the key topics of this year was digitalization in the development world as an enabler to achieve sustainable growth and accelerate the achievement of the UN 2030 SDG’s. In this sense, the EU signed the "New European Consensus on Development" which represents a new collective vision and plan of action to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development.

Schuman Associates participated in the Botswana Investment Forum hosted by H.E. Ambassador Outlule and organized by Connect Africa on 26 May 2017 in Brussels.

The event aimed at exchanging knowledge and experience on the investment opportunity in The Republic of Botswana. This included exploring and discussing vision 2036, the emerging innovation & startup ecosystem as well as the quality and effectiveness of business support structures in Botswana. Young entrepreneurs, investors and experts gathered in Brussels to share experiences, insights, and know-how, dishing out how to’s for potential investors, and inspiration for the rest.

We are currently looking for a social media & community manager for a full-time assignment with the European Commission. Please visit Work with us section for further details. We look forward to hearing from you!

Would you like to join over 5,000 people from 150 countries to debate the world’s most pressing issues? Register for the European Development Days 2017 (EDDs) before 13 May 2017.  EDD 2017 promises to be the most inclusive and dynamic edition and will take place in Tour & Taxis on 7-8 June 2017 in Brussels, Belgium.

The EU has been funding innovative low-carbon technologies through the third phase of the EU emissions trading system (ETS) in a programme called NER300 and is currently debating the 4th phase.

The NER 300 programme established carbon capture and storage (CCS) and innovative renewable energy (RES) projects on a commercial-scale . The programme supported a range of RES technologies (bioenergy, concentrated solar power, photovoltaics, geothermal, wind, ocean, hydropower, and smart grids) but also some CCS technologies (pre-combustion, post-combustion, oxyfuel, and industrial applications).

The EU cohesion policy has been a major driver of change in Bulgaria for the last 10 years.  Since its EU accession in 2007, Bulgaria has benefited from the Union’s Structural Funds at an increased speed - these funds has contributed significantly to the Bulgarian economy with positive effects on employment, economic development, modernization of  infrastructure, etc.

Schuman Associates has participated in the roundtable organized by Polityka Insight in Warsaw. Industry representatives gathered with Minister of Digitization Anna Streżyńska, Deputy Minister of Development Jerzy Kwieciński, and the head of Office of Electronic Communications, Marcin Cichy to discuss the main challenges and opportunities for mobile technologies investments in Poland. 

The European Commission set up a Support Facility for the Broadband Competence Offices (BCOs). The Brussels-based facility is starting its operations in January 2017 and will help BCOs to share their experiences in a European network. Read the interview with Jan Dröge from Schuman Associates, who is starting up the support facility.

On 25-26 January, Schuman Associates travelled to Verona, Italy, to take part to the kick-off meeting of B-WISER - “Be a Winner In Sport & Employment before and after athletic Retirement”, a brand-new EU project funded under ERASMUS+ Sport.

European Week of Regions and Cities (so called Open Days) is an annual four-day event in Brussels during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement the European Union cohesion policy (EU funding), and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance.