09.35 - 09.45 Keynote speech on BUSINESSEUROPE's EU SME policy manifesto

Keynote speech by Markus Beyrer, Director General of BusinessEurope

09.45 - 10.30 SESSION I: Developing future-proof regulation supporting entrepreneurs in the digital and innovation-based economy

How to design legislation which supports SMEs in developing, testing and applying new digital technologies and new business models?

- Torsten Andersen, Deputy Director General of the Danish Business Authority and Danish SME Envoy
- Erdem Ovacik, CEO of Donkey Republic, Copenhagen
- John Watson, Director of Directorate E in charge of Single Market & Connectivity, Secretariat General, European Commission
- Andreas Schwab, MEP

10.30 - 11.10 SESSION II: Ensuring that SMEs can achieve their full growth potential through digital

How to enable a fair and vibrant platform economy that upholds trust of citizens and business users?

- French SME (tbc)
- Anna-Lena Bohm, CEO of Uniguide AB, Chair of BusinessEurope's "Entrepreneurship and SME" Committee
- Member of the European Parliament (tbc)
- Mr Werner Stengg, Head of Unit "E-commerce and Platforms", DG Connect, European Commission

11.10 - 11.30 Coffee break

11.30 - 12.30 SESSION III: Supporting SME expansion beyond national borders

What should be the next steps for supporting SME expansion within the Single Market and outside it? How to improve the quality and relevance of information that SMEs obtain when planning to enter a new market? How to ensure that more SMEs benefit from the EU Free Trade Agreements? How can digitalization be best used as an enabler for SME internationalisation?

- Grzegorz Szczęśniak, President of Szczęśniak Special Vehicles Ltd
- Cinzia La Rosa, CEO of La Rosa Energy srl and Vice President of Piccola Industria
- Jean-Luc Demarty, Director General of DG Trade, European Commission
- Irmfried Schwimann, Deputy Director General of DG GROW, European Commission

12.30 - 12.45 Conclusions

12.45 -13.30 Networking lunch