Skills and Jobs: How SMEs Go Digital
The 25 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the EU are the backbone of European economy and key for competitiveness. They not only drive growth, innovation and employment forward, but also play a crucial role in digitalisation and the overall digital transformation of the European continent. And the benefits of increased digitalisation are here to stay: by leveraging digital technology, SMEs can improve operations, expand their market reach and contribute to innovative solutions to pressing challenges such as fighting climate change and increasing social cohesion.
About this event
In this virtual get-together, Cedefop and Eurofound, two EU agencies for which 2025 marked a 50 year anniversary, team up to present new joint work on digitalisation policies and to explore how digital SMEs in Europe are today.
Live from Dublin and Thessaloniki, Cedefop and Eurofound will dive into the key challenges and barriers SMEs face in becoming more digital and review digitalisation and digital skills support measures. The links between digitalisation and job quality in SMEs will be assessed by looking at how digital tools and algorithmic management practices affect work organisations and working conditions.
The virtual get-together is open to policy makers, social partners and sectoral representatives, SME representation organisations, VET providers and institutions, representatives from national, regional, and local authorities, and labour market, education and training, and skills experts.
Programme
14:00 - 14:15 Welcome and introduction | Juergen Siebel (Cedefop Executive Director) and Ivailo Kalfin (Eurofound Executive Director)
14:15 - 14:40 How SMEs go digital | Jasper van Loo (Department coordinator at Cedefop) and Franz Eiffe (Research manager at Eurofound)
14:40 - 15:15 Panel conversation | Moderated by Jasper van Loo
- Valentina Guerra (Policy Director at SMEUnited)
- Ants Sild (Lecturer-Consultant BCS Digital skills academy, Estonia)
- Thomas Oberholzner (Director of KMU Forschung, Austria)
- Marjorie Grassler (EU project manager at Mobile World Capital, Spain)
15:15 – 15:30 Policy pointers and take-aways | Sara Riso (Senior research manager at Eurofound) and Jasper van Loo
Further details and registration
Registration for the event is now open! Register and join to know more about the unique challenges SMEs in Europe face.
