I. Accessing the Portal

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1 Quick guide SME INTERNATIONALISATION PORTAL The small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) internationalisation portal is a central online information portal that provides reliable, consistent and regularly updated information about support services available for SMEs wishing to expand their business outside the EU. Examples of these support services include information on rules and regulations, sectoral programs, credit guarantee schemes, staff training, trade missions, trade fairs and matchmaking events, business cooperation and networking events, seminars, workshops, advice and consultancy, etc. This quick guide explains how to find your way around the portal. Contents: I. Accessing the Portal II. Looking for Support Services III. Looking for Service Providers IV. Finding Additional Support for Internationalisation V. Technical Support I. Accessing the Portal The SME Internationalisation Portal is publicly accessible from the European Commission's GROWTH website. All you need are: an internet connection Internet Explorer (v.9 or later), Mozilla Firefox (v.16 or later) or another up-to-date web browser. To access the portal: 1. Type the following address in your browser's address bar: 2. Press Enter. Result: The portal homepage appears: 1

2 II. Looking for Support Services Multiple criteria can be combined to find the support services which are best suited to your business needs. The basic search allows you to select the country in which you are based (i.e. the origin country/'your' country) and the country into which you would like to expand or about which you would like more information (the 'target country'); and the advanced search options allow you to look for support services of a particular type, or services aimed at a specific business sector, or provided in a given EU language. To look for support services: 1. On the portal homepage, click on your country on the map to select it as the origin country, or click on the Select your country dropdown menu in the blue box to choose the relevant country. 2. Select the desired green target country on the world map, or click on the Select target country dropdown menu in the green box to choose the relevant country: 3. Either click the big Search button in the upper bar, or select Service Providers in the 'Target country' box on the map: 2

3 Note: Clicking Service Providers in the 'Origin country' box will show all providers in that country, regardless of the target country selected. Result: The list of support services available in the target country for SMEs from your country is displayed. The information is organised in 4 tabs: Support in your country SME support services offered in your country (or in all EU countries if you did not select your own country in the 'Select your country' box on the homepage and left it to 'EU by default') Support in other Member States SME support services offered in EU countries other than the country where your firm is based EU Support SME support services provided by European institutions (in any country) Support in target country SME support services offered in the target country selected in the 'Select your country' box on the homepage (but not provided by EU institutions) 4. If needed, you can further refine the search results by using the advanced search options to only include e.g. support services of a particular type, or services aimed at a specific business sector, a specific type of internationalisation, etc. To do so, set the appropriate filter(s) using the box(es) just above the active tab, and then click. 5. To view the list of services offered by one of the displayed service providers, click in front of the desired service prodiver's name: 3

4 6. To view more details about one of the services in the list, just click on the service name. Result: Details of the selected support service are displayed: 7. Should you wish to contact a provider of a specific service, click on its name. 4

5 Result: All available information for contacting the service provider will then be displayed: 5

6 III. Looking for Service Providers Searching as described in the previous pages will only bring up those service providers that have chosen to include their services on the portal. However, the database of service providers available is much wider. If you do not find the service that you need, you may wish to look at service providers that have not yet published their services to the portal. To look for a service provider: 1. From the portal's left-hand side menu bar, click on Service providers. Result: This will show the full list of service providers found in the system, with options to filter the list: 2. Use the upper filter options to search for (one or more) service provider(s) based in a specific country and/or working in a specific country, and then click : Result: All service providers matching your filter criteria will be displayed below. You can click on any of the found service providers to view its contact details, or click in front of a service prodiver to view all its offered services. 6

7 IV. Finding Additional Support for Internationalisation The Useful links page provides a list of links to other EU websites that might be of interest to SMEs wishing to expand their business outside the EU. These include: Market Access Database Enterprise Europe Network Your Europe European Small Business Portal European SME Week Erasmus for young Entrepreneurs Access to finance for SMEs The SME instrument EUR Access to Finance Days Let's focus on a few of those links. Market Access Database If you are considering exporting to a non-eu country and need information on the tariffs, procedures and formalities, trade barriers, sanitary and phytosanitary issues or rules of origin which apply in that country, please visit the Market Access Database by clicking on its logo on the portal homepage: 7

8 Enterprise Europe Network On the Enterprise Europe Network website, you can find hundreds of organisations providing support services for SMEs, many of whom specialise in providing advice on SME internationalisation. You can easily find the Network partner closest to you via the Network s homepage. The Network can help you find international business partners, source new technologies and access EU funding. It can also advise you on a wide range of issues including intellectual property rights and EU laws and standards. To access the Enterprise Europe Network, click on its logo on the portal homepage: Your Europe Business Portal The Your Europe Business Portal is for companies doing business or wishing to expand within the EU, or in Iceland, Lichtenstein, and Norway. It provides companies with information on rights, obligations, and opportunities in the EU single market, signposts to relevant national information and authorities, and dedicated support services. Most of this information is available in 24 languages. To access this, click on its logo on the portal homepage: 8

9 European Small Business Portal If you want to learn more about the EU policies affecting your business and how to take advantage of the EU single market, the European Small Business portal can help. To access this, click on its logo on the portal homepage: V. Technical Support If you have any problems using the SME internationalisation portal, or if you have any issues with or questions about its content, please send us a message by clicking on the Contact link in the menu at the top and bottom of each portal page and completing the contact form. The direct link to the contact page is: 9