Blockchain in Practice: Promoting blockchain and DLTs in European SMEs (2021)

Blockchain is a technology which enables trustful, transparent, and verifiable interactions and transactions. Blockchain thus holds the potential to boost the European economy and to benefit the European society as well. 32% of the world’s blockchain start-ups are in Europe (in 2019) – it is thus a technology in which European SMEs can have a head-start. Blockchain technologies are especially important for the digital sector: trust is a fundamental element to ensure the growth of the digital economy.

Therefore, the European Commission supports blockchain on the policy, legal, regulatory, and funding levels. To enhance Europe’s leading role in blockchain technology, the European Commission has launched different initiatives, among them the Horizon 2020 Innovation Support Actions (INNOSUP).

The INNOSUP actions supported multiple blockchain related projects aiming at showing how policy makers and innovation agencies can support SMEs in their adoption of blockchain.They aim to remove the barriers of blockchain uptake.

The report "Blockchain in Practice: Promoting blockchain and DLTs in European SMEs", published in September 2021, presents five INNOSUP projects as well as their results. Overall, approximately EUR 10 million was spent, of which EUR 5.1 million was directed to SMEs.