U.S. Department of State

Monday December 3

Venue: Truman Room at the White House Conference Center, 726 Jackson Place NW

9:00

Registration of participants

9:30-10:30

Institutional opening and Signing of ITA- European Enterprise Network MOU

Ambassador Miriam Sapiro, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative

Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General, Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry, European Commission, and EU SME Envoy

Michael Camuñez, Assistant Secretary for Market Access and Compliance, Department of Commerce

Dario Gomez, Associate Administrator for International Trade, Small Business Administration

Signe Ratso, Director, Directorate General for Trade

Dirk Vantyghem, Director International Affairs, EUROCHAMBRES – The Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry

10:30- 10:45

Coffee Break

10:45-12:30

Intellectual Property Resources for SMEs

Update on the SME-Focused work of the Transatlantic IPR Working Group; Ideas going forward - Presentations followed by roundtable/open discussion with the audience

Susan Wilson – Department of Commerce/International Trade Administration

Kira Alvarez – Deputy Assistant USTR for Intellectual Property Enforcement

Michael Rogers - Department of Commerce/International Trade Administration

Susan Anthony - Department of Commerce/U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Wawrzyniec Perschke – DG Enterprise and Industry - by teleconference

Stephanie Mitchell – DG Enterprise and Industry

Signe Ratso – DG Trade

Discussion:

Introduction to the Transatlantic IPR Working Group

SME Tools and Resources – What we have and what’s coming

Respective resource updates – U.S. and EU

Online IPR resources: www.STOPfakes.gov; Transatlantic IPR Portal

Help Desks and other models for cooperation

Lessons learned from development of online and other resources

Training SMEs – Making smarter exporters of IPR-intensive products and services

Tour of EU and U.S. SME IPR training programs – past and future

Lessons learned from IPR training

Roundtable – Bringing content and users together (structured open discussion with audience on the questions below)

Moderator:

Susan Wilson

Who constitutes the demand – how do you identify and reach your users? What’s working – online and in person training? How can these resources be improved? What’s missing – content and delivery mechanisms?

12:30

No-Host Lunch

2:00-3:30

Roundtable – Standards

Standards as a powerful means of enhancing competitiveness of SMEs and facilitating SMEs access to wider markets.

Moderator:

Jennifer Stradtman, Director, Technical Barriers to Trade, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

Speakers:

Gary Kushnier, American National Standards Institute (ANSI): SME participation in standardization activities and ANSI engagement with the European Standards Organizations

Gordon Gillerman, Chief of Standards Services, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): Standards and Conformity Assessment Strategies for Market Success

Bob Straetz, Department of Commerce: Special Discussion on CE Marking, with CE mark related presentation by Nathan Muncaster, Polyguard

U.S. Case Study: Micro Distillers Face Hurdles on Both Sides of the Atlantic- Ralph Erenzo, Tuthilltown Spirits Farm Distillery

Costas Andropoulos, Head of Unit, SME Policies, DG Enterprise and Industry

Discussion:

3:45-5:15

Transatlantic SME Finance

Discussion on crowd funding trends, loan guarantees, the development of the venture capital market and potential private sector cooperation

Lori Cooper, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the European Union, U.S. Department of Commerce

Randy Mitchell, Senior Trade Strategist for Private Equity and Venture Capital, Office of Financial Services Industries, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

Dennis Chrisbaum, Director International Trade Finance, Office of International Trade, U.S. Small Business Administration

Sara Hanks, Co-founder and CEO of Crowdcheck

David Blass, Chief Counsel, Division of Trading and Markets

Per-Ove Engelbrecht, Head of Unit, SME Access to Finance, DG Enterprise and Industry

Jouko Ahvenainen, Co-founder of Grow Venture Community

Anna Wróbel, Polish Agency for Enterprise Development

5:30 p.m.

Networking Reception for all U.S.- EU SME Workshop Participants

Location: (5 minute walk from the workshop venue)

U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Briefing Center
1615 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20062

Tuesday December 4

9:00 – 10:15

Roundtable – Mapping of clusters– Potential transatlantic linkages

Discussion will cover exchange on the mapping of clusters, identification of clusters organisations on both sides interested in international cooperation and a discussion how transatlantic cooperation could be facilitated.

Erin Andrew, Director of Innovation Clusters and Skills Initiatives, Small Business Administration

David DeFalco, Director, Office of the European Union, U.S. Department of Commerce – Transatlantic Innovation Action Partnership

Kathy Dedrick, Senior Advisor, Economic Development Administration, Department of Commerce

SBA cluster (tbc)

Nikos Pantalos, DG Enterprise and Industry- by teleconference

Discussion:

10:15-11:30

Best Practices in Entrepreneurial Programs- Women and Youth-Owned SMEs

Discussion will highlight existing programs targeting youth and women SMEs. The U.S. will provide an overview on its Start Young Program and also provide background on its Women Business Center Program and its support of 50+ women entrepreneurs.

Ana Harvey, Office of Women’s Business Ownership, Small Business Administration

Erin Andrew, Director of Innovation Clusters and Skills Initiatives, Small Business Administration

Stephanie Mitchell, Deputy Head of Unit, DG Enterprise and Industry

Anna Wróbel, Polish Agency for Enterprise Development

Discussion:

11:30-12:45

Roundtable – EU-US cooperation on SME internationalisation (links for possible cooperation for SMEs to access information provided by EU and US on existing databases, market access issues in third countries). A joint discussion with SMEs and business associations on how to further develop the transatlantic marketplace.

Moderator:

Christina Sevilla, Deputy Assistant USTR, Small Business and Market Access

Anne Grey, Executive Director of Trade Promotion Programs, U.S. Commercial Service, Department of Commerce

John Larsen, Trade Promotion Coordination Committee, Department of Commerce

John Liuzzi, Trade Compliance Center, U.S. Department of Commerce

Stefanie Holland, Director International Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Signe Ratso, Director, DG Trade

Wojciech Sopinski, Policy Officer, Internationalisation of EU SME policy, DG Enterprise and Industry

Dirk Vantyghem, Director International Affairs, EUROCHAMBRES – The Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry

Discussion:

12:45 – 1:00

Conclusions

EU-U.S. Joint Declaration – a report submitted to the TEC

Christina Sevilla, Deputy Assistant USTR, Small Business and Market Access

David DeFalco, Director, Office of the European Union, U.S. Department of Commerce

Lori Cooper, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the European Union, U.S. Department of Commerce

Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General DG Enterprise and EU SME Envoy Signe Ratso, Director, DG Trade