Annual report on European SMEs 2020/2021 : digitalisation of SMEs : SME Performance Review 2020/2021 / authors, Patrice Muller ... [et al.], European Commission
.-- Luxembourg : Publications Office of the European Union, July 2021
.-- 185 p. : gráf. ; 1 documento PDF
The COVID-19 crisis brought to an abrupt halt or even reversed the gains made by the EU SME sector over the past decade. However, the various business support measures implemented by Member States during the pandemic limited the employment impact of the decline in economic activity. The first part of this report reviews the impact of the pandemic on EU SMEs in 2020, and the likely performance of EU SMEs in 2021, after providing a brief overview of their pre-pandemic performance. The second part of the report focuses on the digitalisation of SMEs. The use by SMEs in 2020 of various digital tools (e.g. remote working, online/click and collect selling, etc.) helped to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. In this regard, the 2020 ‘EU SME Strategy for a sustainable and digital Europe’ was launched at the most opportune time. It aims to “support European SMEs through strengthening their capacities to adapt to climate neutrality challenges, help them to reap the benefits of digitalisation, reduce the regulatory burden that SMEs face, and improve their opportunitiesto access finance”. This report supports the SME Strategy, by reviewing and assessing the digitalisation activities undertaken by SMEs so far, especially during the pandemic, as well as the digitalisation issues and challenges faced by SMEs, and actual and potential policy responses to these challenges.
978-92-9460-422-4 (PDF)
2467-0162 (PDF)
10.2826/56865 . doi EA-AK-21-001-EN-N .
Empresas
Europa
SMEs economía UE COVID-19 digitalización tecnología empleo industrias