The CSCP Advocates for Multi-stakeholder Collaborations Between European and Asian SMEs at ASEIC Global Innovation Forum in Jakarta

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are central to the economy in many countries worldwide. Because they are driving economic growth and providing a large share of employment, it is essential for the SME sector to be sustainable and relevant to current and future trends. The CSCP showed why collaboration is essential in this endeavour at the Forum.

In emerging economies, SMEs contribute up to 45% of total employment and 33% of GDP, worldwide. They make up 90% of businesses and more than half of employment. When taking the contribution of informal businesses into account, SMEs contribute to more than half of employment and GDP in most countries irrespective of income levels (IFC, 2010). These make SMEs indispensable to countries that seek to achieve their sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Realising the SMEs’ potentials in driving sustainable development, 35 international experts, policymakers and researchers from Asia and Europe convened at the 2018 ASEIC Global Innovation Forum, which took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 4-5 September 2018 to discuss strategies to strengthen eco-innovation for inclusive and sustainable growth.

At the conference, Michael Kuhndt, Executive Director of the CSCP, delivered a keynote speech on the importance of cultivating collaborations among different stakeholders to develop an SME sector that is sustainable, inclusive and relevant to current and future trends:

“The global value chains have brought Europe and Asia closer as the trade between the two regions has increased substantially. We should therefore try to capitalise on this to strengthen SMEs from both regions. In Europe, the CSCP has been working with businesses to increase their value through the identification of hot spots as well as sweet spots along their supply chains and tapping into new opportunities. If we see these processes as part of the global supply chains, it is easy to see where SMEs from Europe and Asia are interlinked and how we can cultivate collaboration and alliances among them, and with those alliances foster broader collaboration between Europe and Asia.”

The CSCP is currently working with SMEs through the SME Competence Centre eStandards and CSR Hub NRW, as well as nurturing multi-stakeholder collaborations in the banana supply chain through the Action Alliance for Sustainable Bananas (ABNB).

For further questions, contact Kartika Anggraeni.