SME Innovation: 10 Priorities for Support Post-COVID-19

Post-pandemic, public bodies must restructure SME support systems for long-term growth with well-functioning innovation systems with the right balance of instruments.

The economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak has been especially severe on SMEs.

In response to this challenge, policymakers in the EU have increased budgets for direct public support mechanisms and SME subsidies. However, many of these new support instruments have been badly designed and poorly implemented, and tend only to focus on short-term liquidity needs.

As governments now look ahead to the so-called ‘new normal’ post-pandemic, the COVID-19 crisis offers a strong opportunity to restructure SME support systems to drive sustainable long-term growth via a well-functioning innovation system with the right balance of instruments. In this article, we define the 10 areas of focus that will drive this objective.