Maria da Graça Carvalho participated as a speaker in the high-level meeting of the SME Finance Forum devoted to EU financial instruments for SME Competitiveness, Research and Innovation.
The meeting which was organized together with the European Investment Fund, was hold in Brussels today at the European Comission´s Berlayment building.
The aim of the meeting was to present and discuss experiences with the current financial instruments, with a particular focus on the impact of the CIP and FP7 (RSI) programmes, as well as to give a broad overview of the future EU financial instruments for 2014-2020. The event provided an opportunity for dialogue between the EU institutions, key SME organizations and financial institutions, notably the current CIP and FP7 (RSI) intermediaries. During the meeting it was also presented the future EU financial instruments 2014-2020.
Maria da Graça Carvalho gave a welcome address on the Horizon 2020 Programme following the introductions from Joanna Drake, Director SMEs and Entrepreneurship, DG Enterprise and Industry; Clara de la Torre, Director Research and Innovation, DG Research and Innovation; and MEP Jürgen Creutzmann, who spoke about the COSME Programme.
Speakers included: Richard Pelly, Chief Executive, European Investment Fund; Nick Jennett, Director for New Products and Special Transactions, European Investment Bank; José Figueiredo, President, European Association of Mutual Guarantee Societies; George Anson, Chairman, European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association; Andreja Turčin, Privredna Banka Zagreb, Croatia; Alessandro Tappi, Head of Guarantees, Securitisation & Microfinance, EIF; Carlo Mazzaschi, CR Cento, Italy; Johannes Winkler, Deutsche Bank, Germany; Rémi Charrier, Head of Product Development, Guarantees, EIF; Ciprian Cristea, Head of Unit "SME Access to finance", Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry, European Commission; Jean-David Malo, Head of Unit "Financial engineering", Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission; António Gonçalves, Head of Unit, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy; Max Uebe, Head of Unit, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion, European Commission; Daniel Calleja, Director-General, DG Enterprise and Industry; Rudolf Strohmeier, Deputy Director-General, DG Research and Innovation.