The Enterprise Europe Network has great potential to assist and support SMEs to boost their resilience and adapt to shocks. Initiatives to match suppliers of medical and protective equipment with the demand side during the pandemic and the recent supply chain resilience platform to help SMEs affected by the war in Ukraine only serve to illustrate this. 

We are looking to build towards a twin transition for resilience. 

The twin transition of green and digital are each other’s prerequisites if done right and should be developed in tandem to avoid working in opposition with each other. The resilience of industry, meaning the ability to continue business during unforeseen crises or despite disruptions in value chains, is crucial in ensuring the long-term sustainability of the transition. 

We can only achieve the goal of a green, digital and resilient economy with the direct involvement of the stakeholders of key industrial ecosystems underpinning the fabric of European industry. 

The retail ecosystem accounts for 11,5% of EU value added. It directly employs almost 30 million people in 5.5 million companies, 99.9% of which are SMEs. SMEs account for two thirds of the ecosystem’s employment and generate almost 60% of its value added.  The European Commission just launched a public consultation to accelerate the green and digital transitions of the EU. The whole industrial value chain – including public authorities, social partners, and research organizations – is invited to propose actions to accelerate the twin transition of the sector and initiate the process of developing a transition pathway for the retail ecosystem. 

The targeted public consultation on the transition pathway for the retail ecosystem will be open until 26 September. 

For more information, click here.