Supporting specialised skills development : big data, Internet of things and cybersecurity for SMEs : executive summary

The digital revolution is not only about large tech companies but also essentially about start-ups and SMEs that provide or use digital solutions. SMEs are vital to the European economy, making up 99% of Europe's businesses and accounting for two-thirds of total employment. The variety is huge, from innovative and fast-growing companies that provide or use digital solutions, to those that face significant challenges such as acquiring the necessary skills to benefit from digital technologies. Whereas improving basic digital skills is already a challenge, the emergence of technologies such as big data, IoT and cybersecurity is creating significant new specialised skills gaps, shortages and mismatches, especially for SMEs, who cannot afford to compete with large enterprises to attract and retain the scarce digital talents. There are serious skills shortages at every level in the hierarchy of SMEs: from e-Leadership skills to ICT-professionals to users' digital skills. This is an issue, as European SMEs run the risk of missing out on the huge market potential. German association Bitkom estimates economic damage for German companies to be around 10-billion-euro of revenues as a result of shortage of IT specialists. Strategies such as up- or re-skilling via offering training to employees in SMEs is far from common practice. Less than 10% of SMEs provide training to ICT specialists and less than one in five SMEs offers training to other employees. Currently, more than 90% of European SMEs consider themselves lagging behind in digital innovation. The Commission has identified IoT, big data and cybersecurity as areas where European SMEs would benefit from an increase in the skills level. Both IoT and big data hold enormous potential to maximise customer intelligence, optimise internal processes, renew business models and develop innovative services and solutions. In times where SMEs are increasingly targeted by cyber-attacks, cybersecurity is essential to ensure business continuity and protect the value chain that SMEs are part of.