Support of SMEs from Operational Program Enterprise and Innovation

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse support given to SMEs in the Czech Republic through grants from the Operational Program Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OP EI). SMEs are generally accepted as extremely important to every national economy and the Czech Republic reflects that in many documents on a national level and in the OP EI which in majority of its grant schemes favours the SMEs and especially those that are located in regions that are subject to intensive state aid. This paper examines the allocation of OP EI funds among the enterprises with regards to their size and location based on data published regularly by the CzechInvest agency. It concludes that the resources are invested mainly into projects implemented by the SMEs but not necessarily in the state supported regions though applicants from these categories are strongly supported in the process of project evaluation. However there is decidedly positive trend of larger percentage investments of public funds into projects implemented by SMEs. Podpora malého a středního podnikání z operačního programu Podnikání a inovace