The small and medium-sized enterprises or SME Assembly is the annual highlight for policy makers in the EU. In 2017 the event will be held in Tallinn during the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU. Estonia’s interest is to show itself as a favourable environment for SMEs, mostly thanks to a good digital infrastructure. It is also a chance to showcase our startup entrepreneurship and innovation.
The highlight of the assembly is the ceremony of the European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA). Each nation chooses two winners who then represent their country on the European level. Previously, Estonia has been represented by projects such as Garage48, the Company Registration Portal, the e-Annual Reporting System, the student satellite ESTCube, and Gamefounders.
The Small Business Act performance review will be published during the assembly, including fact sheets for countries. A meeting of the SME envoys will be held as a part of the assembly, chaired by the European SME Envoy Commissioner Elżbieta Bienkowska.
The three-day programme consists of numerous plenary sessions and workshops, covering themes from funding to digital solutions and startups. The workshops offer a number of new ideas and experiences for policy makers and participants and the themes are also linked to key policy initiatives at the European level.
In addition, there are plenary sessions for all participants. The SME Assembly is a good opportunity to reflect on the latest trends in the European enterprise policy and to raise important issues.
The SME Assembly is organised by the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the European Commission.