• Together with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) and the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA), the European DIGITAL SME Alliance seeks European businesses offering digital solutions that promote energy independence and sustainability.
• The submitted digital solutions will be featured in a catalogue available on the DIGITAL SME website.
• The European Commission will organise sustainability and supply chain resilience workshops with the best submitted solutions.

The Russian aggression in Ukraine has refocused international efforts on energy dependence and supply chain resilience. In this context, DG GROW, alongside DIGITAL SME and the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA), is looking for European businesses offering digital solutions that promote energy independence and sustainability. The submitted solutions will be collected in a catalogue, and a jury will select the best solutions, which will be presented in two workshops.

Through our initiative, we want to spotlight digital solutions and business models that can offer the most impactful solutions to become less dependent on oil, gas and input/raw materials and resilient within the global supply chain.

“We need to support SMEs to accelerate the digital transition actively. Through the “Get Digital” workshop series, we aim to ensure leading digital SMEs in Europe, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia can use the Single Market to scale digital solutions that help all our industries, including our many SMEs, become greener and more resilient. Our Single Market is the best lever to promote digitalisation and help our industries to thrive in today’s global context,” explained Kerstin Jorna, Director-General of DG GROW.

“DIGITAL SME is proud to partner with the European Commission to support a sustainable digital transition. The joint “Get Digital” initiative will showcase the innovation potential of our SMEs, whose solutions can address Europe’s strategic issues, such as energy dependence and supply chain resilience,” said DIGITAL SME President Dr Oliver Grün.

WHY SHOULD MY BUSINESS PARTICIPATE?

We would help you to:

• Promote your innovative digital business model and increase your business exposure.
• Receive information and advice on financing sources and support access, business support such as mentoring advice, IP registration and protection, sustainability advice and digitalisation support services etc., from specific European Business and innovation support services.
• Receive tailored support based on your company needs from specific European Business and innovation support services if selected by the Jury.
• Match-make with other companies from across the continent.
• Learn about and get inspired by some of the leading solutions in the digital ecosystem.
• Mainstream and promote your digital solution to the traditional industry environment (e.g., through matchmaking).
• Find help to tackle the key business obstacles and barriers when attempting to scale your digital business solution.
• Inform policymakers about your company-specific needs.

GET STARTED

You can submit your solution to the catalogue, which will also allow you to participate in two workshops:

• The first “Get Digital: Go Green” workshop will focus on digital solutions that can reduce overall energy consumption within business operations.
• The second “Get Digital: Be Resilient” workshop will zoom in on digital solutions supporting the supply chain resilience of European industry.

OUR DIGITAL CATALOGUE

The submitted digital business solutions will be featured in the exclusive digital catalogue. A jury made up of independent investment and business managers will select the most impactful submissions, which will get the opportunity to present at the workshops.

These companies will receive tailored coaching from experts of SME support services funded by relevant EU programmes based on each company’s project needs. We will also organise webinars for all companies included in the catalogue to present the main SME support services offered by the EU. The webinars will inform companies on how to get in touch with the experts who provide such services and can help facilitate the mainstreaming of businesses’ solutions.

If your start-up/SME from the EU, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia provides an innovative digital solution in this direction, please visit https://www.digitalsme.eu/get-digital-go-green-resilient/.

Read the call for expression of interest here.

For further enquiries, please contact Giulia Zampedri (g.zampedri@digitalsme.eu).