Commentary
Society
Unlocked
The Means Of Destruction
28 November 2023
27 January 2023
The V4 countries have a variety of specific attributes that allow businesses to thrive, especially SMEs which have struggled tremendously during and after the pandemic. However, for the region to become a hub for entrepreneurs and new enterprises, it needs to embrace modern solutions like digitalisation at much faster rate.
No one would say the last few years have been easy. Society is still contending with the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation and increasing energy prices. The upcoming period will be a huge challenge, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
SMEs play an indispensable role in the economy of all European countries as they account for more than 50 per cent of GDP and employ almost 75 per cent of the active workforce. The pandemic and the increase of energy prices have hit SMEs severely, and thus, providing help to these businesses should be among the government’s top priorities.
The digitalisation of SMEs may not be among the top priorities of national governments, but it is undoubtedly one of the key priorities for the European Commission, which has set ambitious goals towards 2030 in this area.