Resilience und crisis support for ukrainian SMEs

The ifm works within the framework of the project “EU4Business: Competitiveness and Internationalization of SMEs”, which is co-financed by the European Union and the German government and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The project was originally intended to create competitive and innovative companies, boost Ukraine's economy and facilitate trading conditions with the EU. After the invasion in February 2022, these objectives were adjusted to ensure support for Ukrainian SMEs during the state of war.
Three components of the project are currently running. First, micro-grants are awarded to SMEs. In addition, cities receive grants for the establishment of programs for local SMEs. The third component aims to create and establish sector-specific clusters in which companies in the same sector support each other. The beneficiaries (SMEs, municipalities and clusters) will be selected in a complex selection process.

The ifm will identify all relevant internal and external actors, institutions, processes and factors and evaluate the support measures by collecting quantitative, experimental and qualitative data and also aims to gain scientific insights into the topic of entrepreneurship in times of crisis.