Details
Date
September 25, 2019
Time
15:30 - 17:30 UTC+1
A panel with senior representatives from policy, SMEs and academia will discuss how SMEs can take advantage of digital tools to improve their competitiveness. The discussion will be followed by cocktail reception.
 | André RichierPrincipal Policy Officer, DG GROW, European Commission | Sivan PätschFOSS4SMEs consortium, |
FOSS awareness and education is the perfect tool to increase the technology competences of European citizens, businesses and the public sector. A priority for the European Union is to increase the digital competence of SMEs, but the role of FOSS has not been adequately acknowledged. FOSS is also a perfect fit for the SMEs, as they usually don’t offer products covering the whole production cycle, making them depend on collaboration with other (SMEs) to link products into a productivity chain.
FOSS is conductive to interoperability, linking different products together into a coherent productivity workflow. Aside from the business realities, the collaborative FOSS development and usage environment ensures that users become more than just users, but part of the project – collaborators. Using FOSS leads to authentic collaboration, which teaches much more than, for example, a training course could. Understanding a concept on an abstract level is less impactful than seeing it in action and experiencing through own interaction.
– 15:00 – 15:30 Welcome coffee
– 15:30 – 15:45 Keynote on European Commission point of view, by André Richier,
– 15:45 – 16:00 Presentation of Policy Recommendation Report, by Sivan Pätsch
– 16:00 – 17:00 Expert panel on academic, SME and policy implications consisting of
– Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, Polytechnic University of Milan
– Lucas Lanziotti, European Digital SME Alliance
– Cedric Thomas, OW2
– Sivan Pätsch, OpenForum Europe
– 17:00 – 17:30 Q&A
– 17:30 – 18:30 Cocktail reception
