MittelstandsWiki

On Tuesday EU finance ministers unanimously agreed on standardized regulations for cashless payments via bank cards and money transfers. Costs, procedures and periods for such payments are to be adjusted to those already in effect in individual member states. The objective is to create a single European space for payment transactions (Sepa). The intention of the finance ministers is to realize some parts of this project as early as 2008. +++

Over recent years the increasing necessity to make use of renewable sources of energy has led to the advent of a new industrial sector in Germany which has meanwhile developped into an important line of business with an annual turnover of about 32 billion Euros. The Darmstadt-based Hoppenstedt business information service provider has now established a ranking of companies in this new renewable energy sector listed by company size. +++

Even though 84% of all German companies started innovative projects over the last three years in order to stay competitive and most of them are determined to keep doing so, many companies have problems in commercially exploiting their innovative product ideas. This fact was recently revealed by a study named “Zukunft gestalten im globalen Wettbewerb – Innovation als Erfolgsfaktor im Mittelstand” which was conducted by the “Unternehmer Perspektiven” initiative set up by Commerzbank. +++