Market and Trade Information - UNIDO

UNIDO has developed a methodology for establishing Business Information Centres (BICs), providing a package of private sector and trade development information services. To achieve sustainability, the BICs operate on a demand-driven and commercial basis, ensuring the trust and support of SMEs through a strong local owernship by public and private sector business partners. The process of establishing a BIC follows four integrated steps:

• an SME needs assessment to ascertain information gaps and requirements;
• the development of a commercial business plan;
• the establishment of a commercially operating BICs; and
• rural extensions of the BICs to complement the national SME information support infrastructure.

The following statistical products prepared under the auspices of this service module help governments, industries, institutions, researchers, and UNIDO, to monitor and assess the industrial trends and performance of developing countries and economies in transition:

• Production and dissemination of the UNIDO statistical database;
• Publication of the International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics; and
• Preparation and dissemination of statistical country briefs and statistical regional outlooks.

An annual publication that monitors trends in the industrial competitiveness of individual countries building on the methodology developed in the UNIDO Industrial Development Report 2002-3 and refined in subsequent issues of the report. It provides policy makers and development practitioners with a compact tool to assess changes in industrial competitiveness at the country level.