Fusion recently went to meet with one of its members, Enterprise Europe Scotland to find out more on what services they have to offer. We visited the office at Highland Opportunity Ltd on Castle Street, Inverness, however, Enterprise Europe Scotland is a consortium made up of partners from Scottish Enterprise, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and Highland Opportunity Ltd and part of the much wider Enterprise Europe network.
The Enterprise Europe Network’s role is to help small business to make the most of the European marketplace. This may involve developing commercial partnerships such as identifying agents or distributors, licensing new products or finding research and development partners. A core function of the network is operating a European enquiry service so, for example, if a business was looking to move into Europe they can assist with a wide range of enquiries including legislation, labelling, standards, market information and funding. Enterprise Europe also offers support for public procurement including help to identify sources of European tenders, advice on procurement rules and setting up search profiles for services such as the Public Contracts Scotland website.
Another of Enterprise Europe’s key activities is holding matchmaking events along side large trade fairs such as the European Seafood Exhibition, Medica and Anuga. These matchmaking events involve arranging one to one meetings between businesses which provides an opportunity to meet potential partners and make the most of attending the trade fair. The team are currently recruiting food and drink companies who might be interested in attending a matchmaking event at ANUGA, one of the largest food and drink fairs in Germany, taking place in October at Cologne. A further way that Enterprise Europe can help to build partnerships is to assist businesses in creating partner search profiles which can be tailored to specific countries. These profiles are then distributed out to clients throughout the network which spans over 40 countries. The surprising thing about Enterprise Europe is that it doesn’t just cover Europe – there is an office in the United States of America and contacts are increasing in Asia.
The great thing about Enterprise Europe is their services are free. Businesses can receive information directly from the website www.enterprise-europe-scotland.com where it’s possible to set up an online profile to receive tailored alerts–a worthwhile investment of the small amount of time this takes to set up, phone to speak to someone in the team or have a face to face meeting. We were advised that any business looking to go into Europe should have a clear objective – this makes the support they can give much more effective and meaningful.
So for anyone looking to get involved in the European market, make sure the Enterprise Europe network is your first port of call.
The Enterprise Europe Network’s role is to help small business to make the most of the European marketplace. This may involve developing commercial partnerships such as identifying agents or distributors, licensing new products or finding research and development partners. A core function of the network is operating a European enquiry service so, for example, if a business was looking to move into Europe they can assist with a wide range of enquiries including legislation, labelling, standards, market information and funding. Enterprise Europe also offers support for public procurement including help to identify sources of European tenders, advice on procurement rules and setting up search profiles for services such as the Public Contracts Scotland website.
Another of Enterprise Europe’s key activities is holding matchmaking events along side large trade fairs such as the European Seafood Exhibition, Medica and Anuga. These matchmaking events involve arranging one to one meetings between businesses which provides an opportunity to meet potential partners and make the most of attending the trade fair. The team are currently recruiting food and drink companies who might be interested in attending a matchmaking event at ANUGA, one of the largest food and drink fairs in Germany, taking place in October at Cologne. A further way that Enterprise Europe can help to build partnerships is to assist businesses in creating partner search profiles which can be tailored to specific countries. These profiles are then distributed out to clients throughout the network which spans over 40 countries. The surprising thing about Enterprise Europe is that it doesn’t just cover Europe – there is an office in the United States of America and contacts are increasing in Asia.
The great thing about Enterprise Europe is their services are free. Businesses can receive information directly from the website www.enterprise-europe-scotland.com where it’s possible to set up an online profile to receive tailored alerts–a worthwhile investment of the small amount of time this takes to set up, phone to speak to someone in the team or have a face to face meeting. We were advised that any business looking to go into Europe should have a clear objective – this makes the support they can give much more effective and meaningful.
So for anyone looking to get involved in the European market, make sure the Enterprise Europe network is your first port of call.
