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SMEs' benefits in EU funded research projects

Schulz, Stephanie (2014) SMEs' benefits in EU funded research projects.

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Abstract:Today the European Union (EU) is strongly competing on break-through technologies with the USA and Asia. One way of the EU to approach this is to co-finance innovative project ideas, by opening calls for tender within their Framework Programmes. The projects are carried out in consortia of large firms, small and medium-sized firms (SMEs), and research institutions. As previous research showed, it is especially challenging for SMEs to participate in these projects, which is the reason why this Master Thesis answers the main research question `To what extent do SMEs benefit from participating in EU funded research projects?’ The analysis of this study showed that realized benefits are lower than the expected ones. The fact that firms expect higher drawbacks than realized, calls for a correction of this misperception by politicians. Furthermore, data indicate a clear trend that firm size, as well as prior experience in this type of projects influence the realized benefits. The expectation to learn new skills has most effect on the realized benefits. The answer to the overall research question is that the extent to which SMEs benefit from participating in EU funded research projects varies, since it depends on the type of benefit.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:70 social sciences in general, 83 economics, 85 business administration, organizational science, 88 social and public administration
Programme:Business Administration MSc (60644)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/64745
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