Our Secretary General Stefan Moritz spoke on the morning of Nov. 14th at the SME Assembly 2023 in Bilbao, Spain, in the session “Upskilling SMEs for a data-driven future”, which covered wide topics like digital skills, Data protection, AI, data use and cybersecurity for SMEs.
His key message was that small and medium-sized companies adopt technology for its added value, meaning optimising outcomes while reducing costs. He explained the lessons learned from our projects DigitaliseSME and DataSkills4SMEs. He highlighted the need to focus on improving the business performance of SMEs with the use of digital technologies.
Furthermore, he proposed that in order to recover European competitiveness, we should invest far more resources into European supercomputers and servers, into data security, and in particular establishing a “European SME Data Fund“, offering technological support and calculation time allocated primarily to SMEs, to develop their ideas for innovative digital solutions, especially for Large Language Models as used for AI applications.
During the event, Mr Moritz had also the chance to meet with many prominent representatives from different European countries, like Enrico Letta (here on the right), which has been asked by the Spanish and Belgian presidencies to draft a Report on how to improve the European Single Market.
When speaking with him, Mr, Moritz focused on two key suggestions:
1) The “Once Only” principle in the treaties, as a right for companies to get access to all 27 Member States’ markets for their products without further obligations, and
2) Implementing this Once Only principle immediately with the A1 Form for seconding workers abroad using the new Single Digital Gateway of the EU-Commission, valid for all countries and as long as the worker works with one company, independently in which country she or he goes and how often, how long or how short. This is to avoid each travel would require a different form in different languages, following different submission procedures, different kinds of supporting documentation, etc.
The 2023 SME Assembly took place from 13 to 15 November 2023 in Bilbao and was hosted in conjunction with the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The Assembly featured high-level panels and interviews, expert round tables, interactive workshops, informative masterclasses and numerous networking opportunities.
