Working Breakfast with the European Parliament

Working Breakfast with the European Parliament: “How policy makers can support the digitalization for European SMEs”

Hosted by Adriana Maldonado López, MEP member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and substitute on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and on the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA).

In the framework of the H2020 Innovation and Research Programme, the European Commission selected different acceleration programmes to support the implementation of breakthrough technologies in the European SMEs and make the transition to their digitisation more agile. In this framework, three acceleration programmes were selected with the aim of facilitate the revolution of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) across European SMEs, supporting the development of innovative use-cases and supporting technological SMEs through the road to market.

The session is jointly organized by three acceleration programmes with a relevant role fostering the adoption of Blockchain and DLTs, by the SMEs in Europe:

• The BLOCKCHERS project selected from more than 150 applicants a wide portfolio of SMEs and use cases, comprised by 30 teams from 12 EU countries, where the application of DLTs in new sectors and applications different from fintech was demonstrated.
• BLOCKSTART is a 3-stage partnership programme. Each DLT/ blockchain startup receives a grant (equity-free) of up to €20,000, tailored tech and business mentoring. This accelerator is focused on fintech, ICT, and retail.
• BLOCKPOOL project is already ongoing and has selected for funding 25 SMEs to develop and test DLT in more than 11 different DLTs and directly affecting 8 different economic sectors.

During the breakfast, attendees will have the opportunity to know first-hand three relevant SMEs participating in the programmes, who will explain in detail their use cases and business ideas, as real examples of application and success.

To complete this session, the attendees will have the opportunity to know the main challenges that SMEs have towards their digitisation, and some policy recommendations for the future regulations in the field of these disruptive technologies (Blockchain and DLTs).

The deadline for registrations is the 26th of January 2021 at 17:00h CET. The places available are limited. Register here.