6 October 2011
8.45-12.30h, followed by a sandwich lunch
European Parliament (Brussels)
Small businesses are key drivers for growth in the EU and beyond, but their potential is hindered by various obstacles. The digital agenda aims to address some of these obstacles in helping small enterprises taking full advantage of the opportunities available in the Digital single market, but it is crucial to raise further awareness of its benefits as its potential is still largely unexploited by this category of users.
UEAPME (The European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) and ACCA are therefore jointly organising a high level conference on the benefits of the Digital agenda for SMEs under the umbrella of the EU SME Week 2011. It will be hosted by Paul Rübig, MEP and take place on 6th October 2011 at the European Parliament in Brussels.
The main goal is to showcase and disseminate best practices illustrating that the digital agenda can be used as a tool to remove administrative, cross-border trade, and access to finance barriers for SMEs and to open the debate on the remaining obstacles and the future policy options.
RSVP information
RSVP by 28 September 2011
Contact for information and registration: cecile.bonino@accaglobal.com
Tel: +32(0) 2 286 11 37
Draft agenda
8.45-9.00 Registration
9.00-9.05 Welcome speech by the host, Paul Rübig, MEP
9.10-9.30 Key note address, Constantijn van Oranje, Member of the cabinet of Neelie Kroes, Commission Vice-President and Commissioner in charge of the Digital Agenda
Roundtable on The digital agenda: a tool to remove administrative, cross-border trade, and access to finance barriers.
9.30-10.20 Case studies- the state of play, benefits/failures moderated by Luc Hendrickx, Director Enterprise Policy and External Relations, UEAPME
- Removing administrative barriers through cloud computing- Mark Lange, Microsoft
- Facilitating cross-border trade through e-commerce - Stefan Krawczyk, ebay
- Interconnection of business registers, Yves Gonner, Director GIE, Registre du Commerce et des societes du Luxembourg
- Empowering SMEs to better access to finance - the example of online peer to peer lending - Jean-Christophe Capelli, Friendsclear
10.20-10.40 Q&As
10.40-10.50 Key note speech European Commission Vice-President Tajani, tbc
10.50-11.45 Panel debate: What policy options at EU, national or local level to optimise the use of the Digital Agenda for SMEs- moderated by Robin Jarvis, Head of Small Business Affairs at ACCA and a member of the European Banking Authority (EBA) Banking Stakeholders' Group
- Daniel Calleja-Crespo, SME envoy, Deputy Director General, DG ENTR
- Claire Bury, Director Capital and Companies, DG MARKT, tbc
- Harrie Temmink, Deputy head of unit online services, DG MARKT
- Miguel Gonzalez-Sancho, Deputy Head of Unit ICT for inclusion, DG INFSO
- Magdalena Ochej- Łokuciejewska-, Head of Competitiveness Unit at the Ministry of Economy of Poland, Chair of the Internal Market Working Party
- SME user, name tbc
- MEP, name tbc
11.45-12.15 Q&As
12.15-12.30 Concluding remarks by Andrea Benassi, Secretary General of UEAPME
12.30 Lunch