The Internationalising SMEs (ISME) project aimed to enhance the capability and capacity of SMEs to exploit opportunities in overseas markets by providing:
- Market engagement and events activity to assist small and medium sized enterprises to enter, establish and expand in international markets;
- Specialist advice to cover locally significant sectors, such as Advanced Manufacturing, Food & Drink Production, High Performance Technologies, Transport Equipment Manufacturing and Environmental Technologies & Construction. The project also offer specialist market research advice to help SMEs target the right markets for their products/services;
- Grant funding for SMEs, in order to address financial barriers to exporting.
The project was co-funded by the Department for International Trade and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds.
ERDF funding was allocated to this project by the following Local Enterprise Partnerships:
- Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire (D2N2) LEP;
- Greater Lincolnshire LEP;
- Leicester & Leicestershire LEP;
- South East Midlands LEP.
The project ran from 1st October 2015 to 30th September 2021.
Grants for SMEs are still available via a new project called the Internationalisation fund