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28 February 2008, Brussels

European University/Business Forum: Toifl outlines SME needs

President Toifl, Director-General Quintin

The European Commission organised the first European University/Business Forum on 28-29 February 2008 in Brussels.

This meeting aimed at facilitating the exchange of good practice between universities and businesses, providing for mutual learning and networking, and inspiring further action in the Member States. The Forum responds to calls from universities and companies, including SMEs, for there to be a regular, lasting platform for dialogue, exchange, sharing and learning.

President Georg Toifl spoke at the meeting, which was attended by around 250 participants from Higher Education Institutions and associations, from companies and business associations, and from public authorities.

Faced with globalisation, rapid changes in technology and the lack of qualified staff, SMEs needed to benefit from closer ties with academia and vice versa, said Mr Toifl, who singled out management and innovation as the most promising areas for collaboration.

President Toifl, Prof. Winckler (European University Association)

On management, Mr Toifl stressed the need for a “reality check”: the offer of SME-specific management curricula by European universities was still very limited and the number of graduates working in SMEs needed to be increased, not to mention the necessity to build bridges between the two realities for instance through stages and internships.

On innovation, Mr Toifl touched upon several aspects, such as the need to fully exploit SMEs’ innovative potential, a point that was echoed by University representatives; the success of SME-geared, small-scale projects; the need to widen the concept of R&D to include non-codified innovation used by crafts and SMEs; the importance of regional clusters for technology transfers and cooperation.