“Family firms have been the invisible giants of the European economy for far too long. It is time to stand up and fulfil their true potential in Europe! Family firms are crucially important for Europe. They make a significant conribution to Europe’s GNP and employment, and tend to be great innovators, with a longer-term vision.”Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, Former President of the European Commission (EC)1

Scope and Benefits: Around 14mln EU companies (65-85% of all EU businesses) are family businesses, contributing 50% to Europe’s GDP and more than 60 mln jobs (60% of all jobs). Our project, SPRING, aims to help EU family businesses to fulfil their potential, by offering them a complete package with the necessary training, mentoring, support and guidance in the areas of :

1. Smooth succession and business continuity, accounting for multi-dimensional factors (leadership, management, governmance, ownership, legal issues), through failed and successful cases
2. Strategy for growth and internationalisation, built on innovation and regeneration.
3. Development of entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and interpreneurship across generations, converging the entrepeneurship and family business training content, promoting a start-up culture and innovation-based growth mindset within family businesses, while considering other strategies besides succession (exit strategies, external investors coming in, etc.)
4. Inclusive and responsible family business acts to ensure they adopt not only CSR practices but the full cycle, to maximise value creation for all involved stakeholders, promoting inclusive entrepreneurship among the next generation members and female leaders.

Main activities and outputs: Design and pilot an innovative and practical SPRING Training and Consultancy programme, jointly offered by renowned EU universities and adult training and consulting companies. This will be the first of its kind in Europe, combining both training and consulting services within one programme.