Since its creation, EBAN has been a strong partner of the European public authorities, notably the European Commission. EBAN is in constant dialogue to provide a better working environment for business angels and other early stage investors.

EBAN has successfully:

• Illustrated and convinced policy makers of the importance of supporting business angel activities in order to fill the equity gap and provide mentorship and guidance to young innovative companies
• Promoted the concept of business angel investing and linked the importance of supporting business angels to that of financing innovation
• Promoted the importance of business angel networks as regional platforms providing visibility to angel activity and a number of valuable add-on services to entrepreneurs and investors
• Promoted the concept of investment readiness and improving not only the supply of finance but also demand for finance and dealflow
• Worked to enable the European Investment Fund to be able to co-invest in funds where business angels are active, through the GIF intrsument of the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme

Moreover, EBAN has enabled its members to participate in a number of European pilot projects such as Ready for Equity 1 and 2, EASY, AFIBIO.

Business angels have been a constant reference in policy documents related to innovation and entrepreneurship in the last years thanks to EBAN’s work, among which:

• Guide to Risk Capital Financing in Regional Policy (2002 and 2004)
• The Green Paper on Entrepreneurship (2003)
• The BEST Report – Benchmarking Business Angels (2003)
• Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on access to finance for SMEs (2003)
• Action Plan on entrepreneurship (2004)
• Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (2005)
• Risk Capital Guidelines (2006)
• OECD Report on Financing SMEs (2006)
• Estoril Declaration after the Portuguese Presidency (2007)
• Fostering Innovation in Services (2007)
• Financing SMEs-Adding European value (2007)
• EC Expert group report on removing obstacles to cross-border investments by venture capital funds (2007)
• Small Business Act (2008)
• EC Report: Seed finance for high-growth SMEs active in eco-innovation (2008)
• Creating an innovative Europe – Esko Aho report (2009)
• Cross border venture capital in the EU (2009)
• EC Removing tax obstacles to cross-border VC investments (2009)
• Public consultation on EU2020 strategy (2010)
• Conclusions of the SME Finance Forum (2010)

EBAN actively participates in a number of expert groups at the European Commission, among which those related to investment readiness, cross-border collaboration and advancing female entrepreneurship.

Below are EBAN’s latest policy documents. For anterior documents, please contact the Secretariat at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

SME Finance Forum: "How to exit the recession and achieve smart growth"
6th May 2010, Brussels, Belgium

The forum addressed the purpose of analyzing the current challenges in access to finance for SMEs. Vice President of the European Commission in charge of Industry and Entrepreneurship Antonio Tajani said that improving access to finance is a top priority as part of his efforts to support SMEs during the crisis. Full conclusions of the SMEs Forum can be downloaded here.
As a follow-up of the event, a permanent forum will be set up for which representatives of financial institutions, financial intermediaries and SMEs will be invited to participate. EBAN is already in contact with members of Antonio Tajani's cabinet to contribute on this matter.

EBAN´s Position Paper to European Commission´s "Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth"

The Europe 2020 strategy put forward by the Commission sets out a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21st century. It shows how the EU can come out stronger from the crisis and how it can be turned into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. EBAN has elaborated a Position Paper which summarizes the perspective of early stage investors on how Europe can overcome its current challenges and how to improve access to finance and growth for innovative companies.
 EBAN Position Paper EU2020 Strategy

EBAN Statement on the Financial Crisis - 2009

How the current financial and economic crisis is impacting business angel and early stage investment activity as well as recommendations to policy makers on how best to stimulate the angel market during challenging times.
EBAN Statement on the financial crisis

EBAN White Paper - 2007

Stimulating the European informal venture capital market: the contribution of business angels to the EU strategy of growth and jobs.
White paper