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ABOUT SMEDA
The "Support to SME Development in Armenia" or SMEDA project commenced in 2016. It is
co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation
and Development (BMZ) and it is implemented by GIZ’s “Private Sector Development in South
Caucasus Programme”. SMEDA is part of the EU4Business (www.eu4business.eu) and
EU4Innovation initiatives of the European Union.
The objective of SMEDA is to improve the business and investment climate and support the
creation and development of SMEs to enable broad-based growth in Armenia along five result
areas.
The project is implemented in cooperation with different partners aiming at strengthening the
private sector, strengthening the capacities of Armenian SMEs to foster competitiveness, linking
research and economic institutions, ensuring proper implementation of innovation business
management practices, promoting and developing economic clusters, free economic zones,
incubators, and techno-parks.
The focus of SMEDA is in general the support to small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in
Armenia. To do this, SMEDA works on different levels to strengthen the business environment –
for example through supporting the development of national strategies for private sector
development, the implementation of the SME strategy in Armenia and the development of a
statistical overview over the SME in Armenia in order to target strategies and initiatives on their
particular needs. The key partner in this area is the Ministry of Economic Development and
Investments (MEDI) as well as the SME Development National Center (SMEDNC).
SMEDA also focuses on the support for business associations so that they may better advocate
and lobby for SME relevant topics. Another focus is on improved linkages between research
institutions and the private sector in order to achieve a better rate of commercialisation of ideas.
A key partner in this field is the National Academy of Science.
The development of economic clusters, techno-parks, incubators, free or industrial zones are
another field for activities. The objective here is to improve the management of these entities and
turn them into stronger hubs for economic development throughout Armenia.
An additional field of activities targets the development of alternative funding mechanisms for
innovative start-ups and existing companies. The Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) is a key
partner here.
Result Area 1 SMEDA concentrates on improving the policy making process and coordination of
supports to SME development. Here, we work on ensuring that SMEs are better and more
actively involved in policy making and legislative processes and that more efficient public-private
dialogue mechanisms are in place. In order to achieve this, we are engaging business
organisations (BMOs, BROs, BSOs) in this process. To make accurate projections and monitoring
on SMEs, the Government and any interested entity should have access to comprehensive and
reliable statistics on SMEs. Hence, we are developing with international and national experts
these statistics to help implement the SME Strategy 2016-2018 on a reliable basis.
Result Area 2 We also target private sector organisations and work closely with Business
Membership Organisations (BMO) to increase the range of quality services provided and increase
their membership base. Business associations need to be strengthened in their membership
management to better advocate for private sector topics. SMEDA collaborates for this with various
BMO, BRO, and BSO to provide better services. As a result, more recommendations on effective
SME strategies and appropriate policies nationwide and a strategy shall be presented and
implemented through the support of strong business associations.
Result Area 3 Here SMEDA works to improve the economic development in Armenia through
the commercialisation of ideas, linking research institutions and businesses via cooperation
networks that promote and focus on innovation. Cooperation platforms and joint collaboration
between the private sector and the research community are being facilitated by SMEDA to
compete in EU’s programme for Research and Innovation “Horizon 2020” (H2020) and COSME.
Furthermore, SMEDA supports the Government in developing an Innovation Strategy and
contributes to promoting innovation-related policies and projects.
Result Area 4 We ffocus on an improved management and design of economic clusters including
incubators, techno-parks, Free Economic and Industrial Zones. Besides strengthening the
economic clusters, SMEDA contributes to a sustainable overall concept to allow economic
clusters to become an integral part of Armenia’s economic development. As most promising
sectors for potential clustering- Precision Engineering and High-Tech, Clean Tech, and Creative
and Cultural Industries were identified followed by a number of measures and activities by
SMEDA.
Result Area 5 SMEDA aims at establishing access to a more diversified financing portfolio for
Armenian start-ups and existing SMEs. SMEDA provides both grant schemes and other
alternative measures to offer better financial assistance to innovative ideas that may furnish new
business models or other entrepreneurial opportunities. For this intend, SMEDA works with the
Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) as its major implementing partner to provide funding for
two cycles for Innovation Matching Grants (IMG) and Science and Technology Entrepreneurship
Programme (STEP) grants to technology-based Armenian start-ups. SMEDA likewise supports
the Armenian startups and SMEs with finding alternative funding sources.