SME Funding Scheme Evaluations

Second independent evaluation of the SME funding schemes

A new independent evaluation of the Agency’s SME funding schemes has found that they are “relevant to the important health and safety issues faced by SMEs” and show a “high degree of financial additionality”. The report goes on to state:

“Although the scale of the interventions (some €9 million over two years) is modest compared to most EU-funded programmes, the scheme achieves considerable added value, has beneficial impacts on the target group of SMEs, and has wider ‘demonstration’ effects”.

In 2003, the Agency commissioned an external company to carry out an independent evaluation of the SME funding schemes, the second such evaluation to take place since the first scheme began in 2001. The UK-based Centre for Strategic Studies (CSES) carried out this task, examining the sustainability of the first scheme (2001-2002) more than one year after completion of projects and engaging in a first analysis of the outcomes of the second scheme (2002-2003).

In addition to the evaluation of performance so far, the report comes up with a series of recommendations on how to optimise similar funding schemes in the future. Among these are the possibilities of retaining the schemes separately or integrating them into larger EU-funded programmes, as well as an examination of the strong case for a special SME funding scheme dedicated to the New Member States.

The final report of the external evaluation of the SME funding scheme, completed in June 2004, and the executive summary are now both available online.

Executive Summary - Available in PDF format (221 Kb)
Full Report - Available in PDF format (1,5Mb)

External evaluation of the SME Accident Prevention Funding Scheme 2001-2002

The Agency commissioned an external company to carry out an independent evaluation of the first SME Funding Scheme, to assess if the scheme was performing to high standards and to indicate recommendations for its improvement. You can read the Executive Summary or Full Report of this external evaluation carried out by the IDOM consultancy, both of which are available on pdf.