Deloitte announces 2 new application sessions in the EU Gateway program

Romanian fashion designers can apply for an economic mission to Japan and Romanian companies in the Healthcare and Medical Technologies Industry can apply for an economic mission to South Korea

The European Commission sponsored programme, EU Gateway, opens new application sessions addressed to fashion designers for an economic mission to Japan (deadline October 26, 2012) and to companies related to the Healthcare and Medical Technologies field for an economic mission to South Korea (deadline October 12, 2012).

Since the start of the program, over 20 Romanian companies have been selected to participate in the missions that took place so far. Romania shares the same cluster with Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia.

"This programme represents a good opportunity for Romanian fashion designers to present their collections in the Asian fashion hub, Tokyo.” said Alexandru Bernea, Consultant within Deloitte Consultanta and coordinator of this stage of the programme.”Also, Romanian companies in the Healthcare and Medical Technologies industry can find new business opportunities in South Korea, a country with its healthcare system in full expansion, which benefits from strong Government support. Moreover, the combination between modern and traditional medicine yields new perspectives for development”, said Alexandru Bernea.

"If I were to single out the most important advantage of participating in the programme (especially considering the current economic context), would be the fact that companies pay only for the transport to Japan/ South Korea. The rest of the expenses like trainings before the missions, promotional materials for the participating companies, lodging and study tours will be covered by the European Commission”, added Alexandru Bernea.

The EU Gateway Program is initiated by The European Commission and aims to help the companies from EU countries enter specific high tech and design sectors. Deloitte practices in the EU, Korea and Japan offer support and coaching for the companies from the application stage until the end of the business mission week. The program organizes six cycles of Business Missions throughout six years until 2014.

The application process has two stages. First, companies need to fill in a form expressing interest, their eligibility thus being evaluated by Deloitte professionals. If they comply with the program's criteria, they go to the second phase, filling in an application form. The entire process takes place online, on www.eu-gateway.eu, with no financial effort from the applicant. Interested companies benefit from Deloitte assistance during the whole application process, as well as for the stages followings the acceptance into the program. 

Companies eligible for the program must be based in the European Union and exist on the market for at least five years. Selection criteria also include being fully or majority-owned by European Union capital, and having sufficient turnover and employees so as to guarantee the market entry in Japan and / or Korea. Companies must also prove track record in international business cooperation, and have a "solid” business strategy for entering the two Asian markets. In addition, their key decision makers must be English fluent speakers. 

Information on the new EU Gateway Program can be found on the campaign website: www.eu-gateway.eu or send an email to abernea@deloittece.com or jkosinska@deloittece.com. Program operators in the Member States are available to provide companies with more detailed information about the program and the individual EU Gateway sector events.