Brussels, 12/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission wants to set up a match-making platform for creating partnerships between designers, small producers and SMEs.
The Commission wants to give a boost to the fashion industry, which accounts for nearly 3% of EU GDP and 10% of EU exports, with 850,000 companies and 5 million jobs. It is an industry “recognised world-wide as it links creative efforts with tradition and heritage as well as technology and innovation, creating high value-added quality products”, the Commission states in a press release.
European Commissioner for Industry Antonio Tajani met representatives from the fashion sector and high-end ready-to-wear industry in Europe (including managing directors or directors from well-known companies such as Chanel, Falke, Harrods, Imax-Max Mara, LVMH, Moser, Emilio Pucci, Ricosta and Zegna) in Brussels on Tuesday 12 February to discuss short-term action for the sector's competitiveness.
In order to guarantee the availability of qualified labour, the Commission first wants to strengthen the capacity of training institutes to offer students the required skills, through better use of alliances and working groups and greater interaction between the industry and institutes.
Match-making between designers and small producers and SMEs, via the Worth project, is the other key measure promoted by Tajani, and for which the Commission is going to launch a call for tenders during 2013. As a match-making agency, the platform should allow partnerships to be identified between designers and small producers or craftsmen in order to support the creation of new products with a high design content and more value added, which will then be able to be presented in industry fairs. Also open to Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, the Balkans, Turkey and Israel, Worth will last two years and will have a budget of €1 million.
The Commission also wants to support innovation in the sector via the interoperability of e-commerce tools (eBiz project) and promote it internationally via growth missions in the emerging countries.
Lastly, the Commission wants to strengthen protection of intellectual property, especially through awareness-raising of counterfeit goods. Representing 50% of all the cases recorded of counterfeit products seized by EU customs in 2011, fashion products are the most affected. (EH/transl.fl)