The D4SME Global Initiative is a platform for OECD governments, large business, industry experts and the SMEs themselves to work together on the digital transformation of SMEs.

What is the issue?

Many SMEs are lagging behind the digital transition. Most of them ignore the potential benefits in productivity and competitiveness, cannot clearly identify their needs, or do not have enough capabilities or financial resources to access and effectively use digital instruments. The SME digital gap slows productivity growth and widens inequalities among people, firms and locations. The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly accelerated the need for businesses to operate digitally, making this issue a top policy priority for OECD government.

What is the goal?

The D4SME Global initiative aims to promote knowledge sharing and learning on how to enable all SMEs to make the most of the digital shift.

The initiative places a specific emphasis on the diverse opportunities and needs for the large “missing middle” of “traditional” SMEs and entrepreneurs that are not yet digitalised and on their role for an effective, inclusive and sustainable digital transition of the whole economy.  Three pillars underpin the development of the Initiative: Analytical Research, SME experiences, and Network and policy dialogue.

The OECD Digital for SMEs Global Initiative (D4SME) aims to promote knowledge sharing and learning on how to enable all SMEs to make the most of the digital shift, placing specific emphasis on the diverse opportunities and needs of the large ‘missing middle’ of SMEs and entrepreneurs, and on their role for an effective, inclusive and sustainable digital transition. 

In this context, D4SME Conversations with Small Business Owners provides SMEs with a voice to share their personal stories and experience of digital transformation.  D4SME network members, from different industries, OECD countries and levels of technology uptake can use this platform to exemplify different pathways to digitalisation, key factors of success as well as persisting challenges. They also have a space to share on the current role of governments and public policies in their journey and on how policy makers could effectively support them and/or create the right conditions for their digital transition.

The D4SME network wants to highlight cases in which business owners are weathering the turmoil and using digital tools to stay afloat in the context of the Covid-19 outbreak. But also to use these cases as a starting point to discuss how this “accelerated” digitalisation can impact SMEs’ business models in the longer term.

Read the first article here

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