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“Information for Innovation and Socioeconomic Development”

International Workshop at the crossroad of Earth Information, Technology and

Social Sciences June 23 – 24, 2013, Florence, Italy

SMEs as key players in geospatial-driven

innovation Giacomo Martirano (Epsilon Italia)

www.smespire.eu g.martirano@epsilon-italia.it

2/19 SUMMARY

SMEs: the backbone of the EU economy Geo-ICT SMEs: a new paradigm? Input from SMEs for a more sustainable

ecosystem Conclusions

3/19 Definition of SME SME stands for Small and Medium-sized

Enterprises – as defined in EU law (EU recommendation 2003/361).

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are defined according to their staff headcount and turnover or annual balance-sheet total.

N° of Employees (E)

Turnover (T), in M€

Balance sheet (B), in M€

Medium 50 ≤ E < 250 10 ≤ T < 50 10 ≤ T < 43 Small 10 ≤ E < 50 2 ≤ T < 10 2 ≤ B < 10 Micro E < 10 T < 2 B < 2M€

More information available at: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figures-analysis/sme-definition/index_en.htm

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Some numbers about SMEs, taken from “EU SMEs in 2012: at the crossroads - Annual report on small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU, 2011/12” (http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figures-analysis/performance-review/files/supporting-documents/2012/annual-report_en.pdf), by Ecorys

SMEs: the backbone of the EU economy

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SMEs form the backbone of the EU economy – accounting for 99.8 % of non-financial enterprises in 2012, which equates to 20.7 million businesses.

The overwhelming majority (92.2 %) are micro-enterprises, defined as those with fewer than ten employees.

Some 6.5 %of SMEs in the EU are classified as small enterprises (employing between 10 and 49 people) and 1.1 % are medium-sized (50-249 employees).

SMEs: the backbone of the EU economy

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Large businesses, with more than 250 employees, account for just 0.2 of enterprises in the EU’s non-financial sector.

In employment terms, SMEs provided an estimated 67.4 % of jobs in the non-financial business economy in 2012, almost identical to 2011 (67,4 %) but up from 66.9 % in 2010, although SMEs provided a slightly smaller share of GVA in the EU in 2011 and 2012 (58.1 %).

On average, SMEs across the EU employed 4.22 people in 2012, following 4,23 in 2011 and continuing a steady decline in size from 4.34

SMEs: the backbone of the EU economy

7/19 SMEs: the backbone of the EU economy

Source: Eurostat/National Statistics Offices of Member States/Cambridge Econometrics/Ecorys Note: 2011 and 2012 figures are estimates.

Number of SMEs, employment in SMEs and value added of SMEs (2005=100)

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Source: Eurostat/National Statistics Offices of Member States/Cambridge Econometrics/Ecorys.

Number of enterprises, employment and gross value added in EU-27, by size-class, 2012 (estimates)

SMEs: the backbone of the EU economy

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GVA by size class, EU-27, 2005-2012 (in billion Euro)

Employment by size class, EU-27, 2005-2012 (in million persons)

Number of enterprises by size class, EU-27, 2005-2012 (in million)

SMEs: the backbone of the EU economy

10/19 Geo-ICT SMEs: a new paradigm?

This is not in scale, but it gives

a picture and, most important, a

trend

11/19 Geo-ICT SMEs: a new paradigm? • ICT SMEs in EU27 • Overall picture

– ICT SMEs: 480.000 (Eurostat, 2009) – Total turnover: 400bln€ – People employed: 2.9 million – “micro” (< 10empl.) 90%

• smeSpire estimation: up to 2% of ICT SMEs dealing with GI

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Location of ICT SMEs “Computing services & related activities” 1995 - 2000 2001 - 2004

source: EC-JRC, 2007, Mapping the ICT in EU Regions http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/eur23067en.pdf

EU ICT SMEs location

13/19 EU Geo-ICT SMEs location

source: smeSpire project www.smespire.eu

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• smeSpire conducted a study to assess the market potential of the geo-ICT sector in Europe, by means of 3 data collection activities: – document analyses (studies, policy documents, statistics, …) – survey among Geo-ICT companies in Europe – interviews with companies, associations, public authorities

• Online survey launched in November 2012 • Questionnaire includes more than 30 questions about:

– general characteristics – activities, knowledge and skills – impact of INSPIRE

• By June 2013 more than 270 Geo-ICT companies completed the survey, becoming members of the smeSpire Network

Input from SMEs for a more sustainable ecosystem

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• Main findings of the study: – Geo-ICT companies in Europe have the skills and knowledge to

participate in the implementation of INSPIRE – Competences needed to implement INSPIRE are available – Need for cooperation with actors in education & training – Impact of INSPIRE on the innovative performance of Geo-ICT

companies in Europe is already high, and expected to increase in future

– Current impact related to introduction of new products/services – Future impact related to new products/services and new

customers – INSPIRE already has a quite significant (43%) impact on

companies’ turnover – However there are still barriers to overcome and gaps to fill-in

Input from SMEs for a more sustainable ecosystem

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• More details about the study conducted in 12 EU Member States:

• will be presented Thursday June 27th during the oral presentation “Leveraging Sme’s Strength for INSPIRE”

• will be discussed Monday June 24th during the workshop/roundtable “ Concrete steps to implement INSPIRE: synergies between the public and the private sector”

Input from SMEs for a more sustainable ecosystem

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• Geo-ICT SMEs are almost ready to offer mature solutions to implement INSPIRE, but who is willing to pay for that?

• How the public and the private sector can build synergies to boost the economy of the Geo-ICT sector?

Conclusions

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• Geo-ICT is a broad and sometimes ambiguous definition, but, at the same time, many companies can consider to belong to this “ecosystem”.

• Geo-ICT sector is expanding, not only in relation to INSPIRE but even beyond (location …).

Conclusions

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Thank you!

Questions?

Conclusions

g.martirano@epsilon-italia.it Join us at www.smespire.eu

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