Dr. Jaroslaw Poteralski
Institute of Management, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland
Email: [email protected]
DOI: 10.23918/ICABEP2022p7
Abstract
After joining the European Union in May 2004, Polish enterprises became beneficiaries of the European Community’s structural aid, granted mainly under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF). These are the so-called structural funds, the aim of which is to strengthen cohesion between individual Member States and their regions. Thanks to them, it is also possible to increase the competitiveness of economic entities, including enterprises from the SME sector. The main areas of enterprise support were defined in strategic documents at the national and regional level, in the applicable EU budget perspectives. They presented a comprehensive analysis of the main spheres of socio-economic reality of the regions, their economies and entities, and defined the main goals to be achieved thanks to the financial assistance of the European Union. Support for enterprises from the SME sector under the so-called operational programs is mainly aimed at increasing the innovativeness of the economy and its entities. The main goal of the program assumes the development of the economy based on innovative enterprises and is implemented through a number of specific objectives, including increasing the innovativeness of enterprises, increasing the competitiveness of science and strengthening the role of science in economic development, as well as increasing the use of information and communication technologies in the economy. The main factor determining the dynamics of economic development is the innovative potential of enterprises. Development trends and globalization have meant that sustainable development can only take place when enterprises that base their activities on innovation gain a competitive advantage. Therefore, one of the challenges is to increase the innovativeness of enterprises by placing greater emphasis on the innovativeness of economic activity and stimulating investment outlays. Improving the innovativeness of the economy requires the development of various instruments to support enterprises operating in the SME sector at the initial stage of development and the use of the latest technological solutions of great importance to the economy. Along with the support for innovative activities, enterprises will gain greater opportunities for external financing of investments. The range of financial instruments supplementing a bank loan is also expanding (e.g., guarantees, microcredit, risk capital). In addition to financial support, the enterprise sector, and in particular start-ups from the SME sector, receive specialist advisory support.
Keywords: Enterprises, SME, Structural Fund, Investment
ICABEP2022
4th International Conference on Accounting, Business, Economics and Politics
Organized by
Tishk International University, College of Administration and Economics, Salahaddin University-Erbil, and
University of Szczecin, Poland.
