Led by commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska, Euratex underlined the importance of support to SMEs’ internationalisation and access to innovation funding at a forum on fashion and high end industries.
According to a Euratex press release, in December 2013, an action plan for European fashion and high-end industries was adopted to set out concrete actions to strengthen their competitiveness.Led by commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Euratex underlined the importance of support to SMEs' internationalisation and access to innovation funding#
The action plan also established a multi-stakeholder forum aimed at monitoring the implementation of the plan’s actions and outlining the future developments.
On June 16, the forum was for the first time headed by Elzbieta Bienkowska and Euratex representatives were among 26 industry representatives invited to discuss the way forward of the action plan.
In an overview of past actions, Euratex felt proud to find a number of its initiatives identified among ‘best practice examples’, namely the Worth Project and the eBiz initiative.
Other best practice examples of Euratex cited were the projects to promote energy efficiency, address skills mismatch through the Skills Council, improve companies’ CSR profile and others.
In the debate on the future challenges of the industry and possible future actions, Bienkowska stated that fashion and high-end industries are an integral part of the cultural and creative industries.
The European Commission together with the intergroup on creative industries is seeking to maximise the impact of actions bringing all creative industries together for a new political initiative.
At the forum, Euratex president Serge Piolat welcomed European institutions undertakings for the support of creativity and innovation.
He underlined that the specificities of the whole textile and clothing industry and not only its fashion part should be taken into account in future joint actions.
Among those, the key elements are strengthening the industrial base and conducting a balanced policy at sectoral level.
He also suggested that companies going international should be supported with accessible tools and SMEs’ access to innovation funding should be facilitated by means of existing platforms.
“The first meeting of the forum clearly demonstrated that the high-end and fashion industries play an important role in reinforcing the EU industrial base,” Euratex added.
“The European Commission is already working on the strategy to boost the potential of cultural and creative industries in growth and jobs creation which is planned to be presented in 2016,” it noted. (AR)
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India