The EU4Digital Facility will hold an ICT Innovation networking event on 18 May. The topic of the virtual session is ‘ICT Innovation ecosystems for start-ups and scale-ups: Facilitate the development of expert communities and increase their involvement into policy design and implementation’. 

The event aims to provide better knowledge on start-ups’ and digital SMEs’ ecosystems building, and to discuss the opportunities of developing joint communities of digital experts in the Eastern partner countries. It is aimed at participants from the Eastern partner countries representing ICT associations and networks, ministries and agencies coordinating the development of the innovation ecosystem and other actors. 

The networking event will consist of two sessions focusing on the role of communities for innovation ecosystems boosting and expert communities concentrating on the digital market’s development. The event will be opened by a keynote speech introducing the guidelines for developing ICT entrepreneurial ecosystems and the role of ecosystem actors, including the ways to support and empower them in the EaP countries. Then, the leading organisations that act as nodes for national ecosystem builders and digital SMEs communities in the EU will present their value proposition, benefits of cooperation and other opportunities for the Eastern partner countries.

The key EU partner organisations participating in the event are:

• Startup Europe Regions Network (SERN).
• European DIGITAL SME Alliance.
• Federal Association of ICT-SMEs of Germany (BITMi).

The meeting will be moderated by EU4Digital ICT Innovation Stream Lead Anna Pobol, and will be built around the presentations and Q&A sessions of the following speakers:

• Chiara Frencia, SERN Board Member;
• Sebastiano Toffaletti, Secretary-General at European DIGITAL SME Alliance;
• Annika Linck, Senior Policy Manager at European DIGITAL SME Alliance; 
• Justina Bieliauskaite, Projects Director at European DIGITAL SME Alliance;
• Sebastiano Toffaletti, Secretary General at European DIGITAL SME Alliance;
• Lisa Ehrentraut, Operations Team Lead at BITMi.

If you are interested in participating in the event or have any questions, please refer to ICT Innovation stream Lead Anna Pobol (anna.pobol@gmail.com).

Registration for the target audience is open here until 17 May.

Other ICT networking events:

• ICT Innovation first networking event on blockchain
• ICT Innovation second networking event on alternative finance
• ICT Innovation third networking event on ICT clusters development
• ICT Innovation fourth networking event on intellectual property management
• ICT Innovation fifth networking event on DIHs development