Smart SMEs operate best in smart environments, where an effective ecosystem of smart people, smart organisations and smart infrastructure are best realized. The urban environment is generally perceived to offer real opportunities for such an ecosystem to thrive. So how can smart SMEs make the most of such ecosystems to thrive, prosper, improve their bottom line, and contribute to society? Smart technologies, smart cities and smart enterprises appear to have acquired a level of significance which may be in keeping with the rapid advances made on the technology frontier. How we keep up with the whirligig of software, sensors, apps, artificial intelligence, nano and other technologies, has become a critical issue for entrepreneurs, managers, and policy makers. On the one hand we have this extraordinary proliferation of technologies, and on the other we find the rather confused response that we make as entrepreneurs, decision makers and citizens in shaping new ventures that can mobilise these resources creatively in especially urban environments. Somewhere in the middle lie opportunities. In this presentation I will explore critically the urban context of smart, productive entrepreneurial responses to the issues stated above and how creative managers can derive optimal value for their businesses, for themselves, for their customers, and for the wider society in which they are embedded.
Developing and managing SMART SMEs in SMART environments
Relator: Prof. Jay Mitra
Chair, International Entrepreneurship Forum and Professor of Business Enterprise and Innovation, Essex Business School, University of Essex, United KingdomJay Mitra is Professor of Business Enterprise and Innovation, Director of The Venture Academy and director of International Development at Essex Business School, University of Essex, UK. He has acted as a Scientific Adviser to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and is a Visiting Professor at University Externado in Colombia and EDHEC Business School in France. Jay Mitra also leads the International Entrepreneurship Forum (IEF) a unique network and forum for researchers, policy makers and business practitioners working on entrepreneurship, innovation and regional development. He has written widely on the subjects of entrepreneurship and innovation in refereed journals worldwide and won several best research paper awards in the UK and the USA. He has represented his institution as a keynote speaker in distinguished international policy, practitioner and research forums, and has worked with leading agencies such as the OECD, UNCTAD, UNIDO, the EU, and with several government agencies worldwide. He is the editor of the ‘Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies’, published by Sage and he sits on the editorial board of various referred international journals.
