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COVID-19

SURVEYApril 2020, Brussels

Table of Introductory Section: Participants

Exhibitions cancelled or postponed where your organisation had a pavilion in 2020

Crisis management for 2020 and beyond

SME support and Recovery strategy

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Contents 123

Respondents 28

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21 ETPOA members

21 CountriesAustria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom

7 Non-ETPOA members

22 National TPOs

6 Other ETPOA members

Impact of COVID-19 crisis on participation in exhibition in 2020

a�ected by exhibition

cancellation

planned pavilions by respondents in exhibition in 2020

1283

255

a�ected by exhibition

postponement

307

As of March 31st 2020, of the total number of exhibitions, 20%

were cancelled and 24% were postponed. Of all the events that

did not take place, 58% were postponed and 42% were cancelled

by the Organisers.

Max per participant: 200

Max per participant: 30

Max per participant: 70

Min per participant: 3

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1Only

5%of the

participation in

exhibitions was

cancelled by the

respondents

themselves

Around

9.000 clients are

estimated to have

been a�ected by

the cancellations or

postponements

The vast majority

of clients are

SMEs

Crisis management for 2020 and beyond

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2

Possibility that shareholders or government will change the mission of the organisation

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89%

11%

No, our overall mission

will stay the same

No answer

25

32Impact on mission

Possibility that shareholders or government will adapt the annual objectives or KPI's for 2020 for your organisation

Impact on operations

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39%18%

14 %

29%

Yes, we will get new objectives

No, they will stay the same

Yes, the objectives will be lowered

No answer

11

8

5

42

E�ect

Exhibition pavilions

downsized

Exhibition pavilions

cancelled

Trade missions with

reduced number of

participants

Trade missions cancelled

More individual

prospection trips

Other types of services to

replace the exhibitions and

missions cancelled

12

16

12

16

5

17

E�ect on the action plan of respondents for Q3 and Q4 2020

Impact on operations

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89%

4%7%

Yes

No

No answer

25

2

12

Teleworking as a means to continue o�ering services full or partly

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93%

4%4%

Yes

No

No answer

26

1

12Impact on operations

Additional proposals on crisis management for 2020 and beyond

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2Digitalisation, Flexibility, Agility and Adaptability will be key in the

future.

Act more pro-actively

Support internationalization of SMEs via PPPs and collaborations among

various stakeholder organisations: be synergetic

Use multiple sources for data collection and analysis to evaluate the

situation

Switch to online services and digital tools in export promotion once

traditionally o�ered

Dissemination of the survey results among all European TPOs

Repeat the survey after a month

SME support and Recovery strategy

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3

Will the respondents design new services, activities or actions to support exporters?

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93%

4%4%

Yes

No

No answer

26

1

13

Type of new services, activities or actions your organisation put in place to help internationalisation of SMEs

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3Corona Helpline by telephone

Corona Chatbot service

Corona Webpage on your website

Corona communication and information

campaign, including on social media

Expanded webinar o�ering

Individual support to adapt their

internationalisation strategy

Increased grant amounts or new financial

grants for internationalisation activities

Faster payment of grants for

internationalisation activities

Free access to otherwise charged services

Online business matching tool

Other

15

4

20

22

20

17

8

8

7

10

3

O�cial helpline source (trouble shooting) and (free) consulting services

Information on financial aid opportunities for SMEs, online interactive

map on restrictions and dedicated COVID-19 section on the website with

live updates in foreign markets

Individualised approach in supporting SMEs

Reduction or cancellation of fees for previously paid services

Online consultancy by o�ces abroad and daily reporting

Publicly accessed database of producers and importers of COVID-related

products

Digital tools:

Webinars for training SMEs on market information and foreign

business opportunities

Promotion of and training in e-commerce tools among SMEs

E-learning

Web-based matchmaking with foreign partners

Active presence (e.g. via short videos) on social media, e.g LinkedIn &

Facebook, to publicise online events for SMEs

Detail of new services, activities or actions your organisation put in place to help internationalisation of SMEs

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3

Recovery actions envisaged and planned by the respondents for the second half of 2020 and for 2021

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3New services proposed to SME customers?

More actions on the key markets missed in

2020 due to the cancellations?

Di�erent types of actions, not exhibitions?

Actions with other ETPOA members to

share the costs/risks?

16

19

19

4

Advisory support

Access to more financing for SME export development missions

Increased digital and online services (a sustainable investment during

the crisis):

webinars on key industry sectors

virtual matching tools

e-commerce among SMEs

individual portal for clients

videoconferencing for companies with local and expatriate sta�

Thorough analysis of key industries to understand the newly emerging

value chains

Monitoring and interviewing of SMEs to figure out the kind of assistance

required

More promotional activities organised abroad

Priority of ETPOA solidarity and beyond: common activities to deepen

collaborations (e.g. joint participation to events, matchmaking options)

Too early for the "day after” – di�cult for an organisation to have a

finalised strategy in place yet

Recovery actions envisaged and planned by the respondents for the second half of 2020 and for 2021

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ETPOA role to help its members cope

with the crisisA

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Share guidelines on dealing with exhibition

organisers

Benchmark initiatives

Working groups

Create a European SME support platform that will

match o�er – demand

More online operational and information-exchange meetings

Guarantee dynamic information flow among members, hold dialogue and exchange of good practices with partners

ETPOA role to help its members cope

with the crisisA

ISB

LDevelop processes

and analytical tools to handle

challenges

Facilitate a direct path to the EU

institutions and programmes as practised in the

past

Jointly develop SME internationalisation support programmes and apply for European funding

Interface with EU (DG TRADE, DG AGRI and DG GROW) for a joint recovery plan for SMEs with TPOs – specialised media campaigns to promote industries mostly a�ected