Helping SMEs win in the Information Society

Europe's 20 million small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of its economy, providing around 65 million jobs and a key source of innovation and growth. If Europe is to prosper, these companies must successfully adopt advanced Information & Communication Technologies.

Overview ¦ Example Projects

Play video

SME schooling for those down on the farm
View all SMEs videos

While all SMEs by definition employ less than 250 employees, they are very diverse - from dynamic, flexible and innovative companies to traditional, family-based enterprises, embedded in local business environments. Not to mention Europe's start-ups - generally fragile organisations with huge growth potential.

SMEs have a great deal to gain from Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs). eBusiness, for example, eliminates the barrier of distance, allowing them to trade throughout Europe's vast Single Market - and indeed the world - without having to expand a physical network of offices and shops (see the eBusiness theme).

"Many case studies demonstrate that SMEs successfully use ICT and e-business, whether in response to customer requirements or proactively to stay competitive and to support growth strategies" - 2008 eBusiness report

On the other hand, smaller companies do not necessarily need the same powerful solutions as large firms in order to achieve the same benefits, because their organisational structure is less complex.

Promoting SME use of ICTs must therefore involve:

improving technical and management skills - see the Digital Literacy theme;
making appropriate eBusiness solutions for SMEs available;
addressing the high cost of ownership of ICT equipment;
tackling security and privacy issues;
make SME-specific information on eBusiness available;
promoting eGovernment: reducing administrative overheads and creating an incentive to engage in e-business - see the eGovernment theme.

Further Details and Quicklinks

Policies
Activities
See Also

Relevant Policies

i2010: the Investment and Innovation in Research promotes innovation and technological leadership, with a view to define e-business policies aiming to remove technological, organisational and legal barriers to ICT adoption with a focus on SMEs.
The TaskForce on ICT Competitiveness and Uptake, which met for the last time in November 2006, aims to identify obstacles to the uptake of ICTs and recommend possible policy responses;
eBusiness Support Network for SMEs: a one-stop-shop for all public European e-business initiatives (national, regional or local level) promoting ICT and e-business adoption among SMEs;
Wider Picture: the European Charter for Small Enterprises (June 2000) calls upon Member States and the Commission to support SMEs in ten key areas, including e-business, technological capacity, online access and skills;
The Privacy Enhancing Technologies page covers projects in various Commission programmes aimed at minimising risks such as identity theft, discriminatory profiling, continuous surveillance and fraud.

Relevant Activities

Browse some relevant Example Projects or jump straight to the following sites:

SME-friendly research: Under the EU's new ICT research programme (FP7, 2007-2013), the EU contribution covers up to 75% of SME participants' costs, compared to 50% for other organisations (see the IS Research theme for an overview of EU ICT research);
eBusiness Support Network for SMEs: a one-stop-shop for all public European e-business initiatives (national, regional or local level) promoting ICT and e-business adoption among SMEs;
One of the priorities of the eTEN Programme is to support the development of services that support the participation of SMEs in the e-economy.
Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP): this features two relevant specific programmes:
- ICT Policy Support Programme: this carries on many of the activities of the eTEN Programme.
- Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme will support innovative SMEs in a variety of ways, including promoting the uptake of ICTs;
Amongst other activities, the Cohesion Strategic Guidelines support RTD in SMEs and technology transfer (enabling SMEs to access RTD services in publicly funded research institutions) whilst strengthening R&D capacity building, including ICT & research infrastructure with significant growth potential.

See Also

Highlights from the SME Newsroom and Library:

Report: SME retailers take to e-commerce but it’s strictly national (8 February 2007)
Conference: Standards help SMEs to boost their competitiveness (17 October 2006)
Conference: Facilitating SMEs’ access to EU programmes 11 October 2006
Factsheet 11: Electrifying business (September 2005, pdf; all Factsheets here)
The TaskForce on ICT Competitiveness and Uptake recommended - among other things - "raising firms' awareness of the benefits of ICTs" - read the press release.

Last Updated March 2007