CEEDR/ISBE - SME Finance Conference June 2017

CEEDR, Middlesex University & ISBE, June 2017 Conference

SME Finance 10 years after the Global Financial Crisis

The Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research (CEEDR) and Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship conference at Middlesex University Business School on Tuesday 20^th June brought together leading SME finance academics, policymakers including the British Business Bank and UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and practitioners to discuss the dynamic evolving SME finance landscape in Europe and the UK. Parallels between the Global Financial Crisis and the current economic and political uncertainties around Brexit and UK coalition government were made.

Key themes emerging from the presentations and lively debate included:

• The emergence of new alternative forms of finance such as Crowd Funding and Blockchain and questions around how these might further develop.
• The need for a more holistic ecosystem approach to innovative business finance to ensure that commercialisation takes place and businesses reach their optimal potential for both the local/national economy and investors.
• The need to address the continuing problems of demand-side failure, including better investment readiness support to reduces access to finance failure and borrower discouragement.
• The increasing importance of social and green finance and that more patient capital is required for longer investment horizon ventures.
• The need for State Investment Bank type oversight of the developing finance escalator and financial ecosystem.

Next steps – the conference forms part of the new ISBE SME Finance Community of Interest Group and will springboard other conference and seminar events across Europe and a special issue of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Programme of the day and Conference presentations are available to download.

Presenters Short Biographies and Abstract to download

For further information please contact:

Dr Robyn Owen, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance, CEEDR r.owen@mdx.ac.uk or robynowen63@gmail.com and or Dr. Ciarán Mac an Bhaird, ISBE Trustee and Lecturer of Economics and Finance at Fiontar (Enterprise), Dublin City University, ciaran.macanbhaird@dcu.ie