Through the activities of the Enterprise Europe Network of the Republic of Srpska, domestic companies and entrepreneurs can get information on the conditions for entering the European Union market, new export opportunities, access to new markets, funds, opportunities for technology transfer and access to other mechanisms to support business and entrepreneurial development.
The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) is the largest network to support the development of business and entrepreneurship in the world. It was launched three decades ago by the European Commission with the idea of creating a standardized set of business support instruments in Europe. Given the success achieved in Europe, the concept was later extended to the rest of the world. All countries that mean something in economic terms in the world today are members of the EEN. The consortium from the Republic of Srpska was admitted to the EEN at the end of 2014, and that was the best thing that the economy of the Republic of Srpska has received from the European Commission so far. Through this support mechanism, the institutions of Srpska were given the opportunity to work on the development of domestic companies through direct communication with Brussels.
With the completion of the ratification of the COSME agreement at the end of 2016 by the competent institutions of BiH, conditions were created for the consortium from the Republic of Srpska (EUNORS) to receive funds to finance its activities from the two most important programs of the European Commission to support the development of enterprises and entrepreneurship: COSME and Horizon 2020. Also, companies from the Republic of Srpska, through the mediation of domestic financial institutions, have gained access to new financial instruments, tailored to their needs.
Analyses of research on the needs of companies in the Republic of Srpska have shown that the main challenges they usually face are difficult access to markets, finances, the lack of quality workforce, and the growing need to improve innovative capacity. EEN was the one that was created as a support to companies in order for them to overcome these obstacles more easily.
Bojan Ćudić, PhD
Coordinator of the Enterprise Europe Network of the Republic of Srpska