Ex post evaluation of the MAP 2001-2005 initiative and suggestions for the CIP 2007-2013

In the EU25, some 23 million SMEs represent 99% of all enterprises, provide 75 million jobs and make a 55% contribution towards the creation of wealth: in addition, one third of employees and over two thirds of private-sector employees in Europe work in SMEs. Given their outstanding strategic importance, the European Commission has launched several policies to promote the development of SMEs, their access to finance and investment in R&D and innovation. A prominent role among EU programmes targeting SMEs is played by the Multi-Annual Programme for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship 2001-2005 (MAP), funded by Community budget and co-financing instruments. The MAP has been extended until the end of 2006 to create a bridge with the forthcoming Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), a very ambitious project that will run from 2007 to 2013. Against this background, the Budgetary Committee of the European Parliament commissioned CEPS to evaluate the output of the MAP over the period 2000-2005 in terms of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and utility, by highlighting the value for money of the programmes and related actions, and emphasising whether the funds dedicated to their implementation have produced the expected quantitative and qualitative effects. In this report, CEPS was also asked to provide some orientations for future-generation programmes, namely the CIP. The authors focus in particular on the actions undertaken between 2001 and 2006, as they provide more relevant and consistent information on the output of the MAP initiative and, in turn, better orientation for the forthcoming CIP.