Summary Regional – Innovative regional business partnerships to strengthen the regional economy Hilten, R. van (Qoin) InnovationNetwork Report No. 11.2.267, Utrecht, The Netherlands, March 2011. The world is globalizing. The local SME sector, in particular, is contending with the twin problems of fierce competition and talent moving out of the region. Regional authorities know that the role of SME entrepreneurs goes well beyond their commercial task of offering excellent, value-for-money products. Local entrepreneurs make a vital contribution to the quality of regional employment as well as to such aspects as innovation, diversity and safety. Certain clearly discernible economic forces are currently creating stormy conditions for SMEs: the competitive power of (large) new players, the deterioration of their working capital (partly due to the financial crisis of 2008 – 2009) and the ECB’s macro-economic policy that is unable to cater to the needs of individual regions. In the search for successful policy instruments, valuable lessons can be learned from the ‘community currency’ programmes, which several regions have introduced to gain a tighter grip on their own economy. In Switzerland, for instance, more than 70,000 SMEs started several years ago to settle transactions amongst themselves with their own regional currency. This helps to secure regional purchasing power, boost the profits of the participating entrepreneurs and increase the strength – and resilience – of the regional economy. A second good example can be found in Uruguay, where the president introduced the C3 as an alternative currency alongside the national Peso. The C3 is only accepted amongst SMEs. The aim is to reinforce the SME sector by encouraging innovation and creating employment. Our third example concerns the regional monetary systems in Germany, the UK and the US. Under these systems, municipalities issue their own money with a view to supporting local retailers. According to various studies, these programmes have a substantial impact in strengthening the regions and making the SME sector financially more robust. Drawing on these insights, this report sketches a concept for a commercial network for SME entrepreneurs and their customers in which payments are (partly) made in regioneuros. A region-euro has the same value as a normal euro, but is only accepted as payment by the participants. The advantages are that SME entrepreneurs manage to 21 Pagina 26
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