Drivers of growth and jobs: Council debates role of SMEs and the Innovation Union

The Competitiveness Council on 26 and 27 September 2013 looked at EU developments in support of SMEs and the state of play of the Innovation Union.

Ministers discussed a number of issues related to the creation of growth and jobs in the EU. Concretely, they debated:

• the EU's main actions in support of SMEs, during which they looked at developments since the Small Business Act and explored ways to improve SME growth across the EU;
• the state of the Innovation Union strategy and progress towards completion of the common European Research Area.

As part of their discussions, ministers also looked at the new generation of public-private partnerships that will help to establish key parts of the Innovation Union. 

• Agreement on "Horizon 2020": the EU's research and innovation programme for the years 2014 to 2020

Other topics on the agenda

Ministers also discussed the current state of play of EU industry, in particular:

• issues affecting industrial competitiveness, such as innovation, access to finance, market conditions and human capital;
• the proposed action plan to promote the competitiveness and efficiency of the defence industry. The outcome of this debate will feed into the thematic European Council meeting on defence, scheduled for 19 and 20 December 2013.

• European Council meeting 24-25 October 2013