The primary goal of implementing the project was to facilitate the digitalization of self-employed individuals, micro, and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the European Union, with a focus on inclusive growth. Defining the requirements of SMEs through focus group discussions & extant research through literature review was our first step to understand their needs. Then, the consortium tried to achieve its main aim through the development of an online platform, offering cross-sectoral roadmaps for support, a digital readiness self-assessment questionnaire, a digital awareness e- course and a more personalised support through a mentoring process with digital consultants. In general, the #SMESGoDigital project strategically envisions the establishment of a tech hub, serving as a comprehensive resource and a one-stop destination for stakeholders. This hub aims to provide awareness, orientation, and digital competence to guide the target groups, including micro and SMEs manpower, and self-employed individuals through their digital transformation journey, thereby alleviating barriers and constraints faced by SMEs in growing digitally and optimizing their capacity for skills and resources in digital enablement
The application for this project, derives from the need to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are struggling to keep up with the changes in the business world. Nowadays, there's a big shift toward using new and innovative technologies, but many SMEs, which are the backbone of the EU economy, are falling behind in adapting to these changes. There has been interest in tackling the specific problems faced by SMEs, especially the smaller ones and self-employed individuals, who are finding it tough to catch up with the digital and environmentally friendly ways of doing business. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has made things even harder for traditional businesses, highlighting the need for SMEs to quickly adjust to new ways of operating and dealing with digital challenges. One major issue is that SMEs often don't know how to take advantage of digital technologies to make their businesses more productive and competitive, and they lack the support to figure things out. In this project, the main goal was to make a positive impact & raise awareness by providing practical help to SMEs. There is a need for support, in order to figure out what they need & understanding the benefits of going digital.