From the 12th to the 13th of October 2026, INSME will hold its XXII Annual Meeting in Crete, Greece, co-organized with Enterprise Greece. The meeting will focus on “Empowering SMEs: Innovation, Sustainability and Growth,” responding to a rapidly changing global landscape that is pushing small and medium-sized enterprises to fundamentally redefine what competitiveness means.
At the heart of this transformation lies the convergence of Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and automation; technologies that are proving to be powerful equalisers. Alongside this digital shift, sustainability has become a core pillar of competitiveness, with green innovation, circular economy models, and cleaner production central to businesses growth and resilience. Innovation and sustainability, once treated as parallel agendas, have become inseparable.
However, fully unlocking the potential of these twin transitions requires strong and accessible knowledge ecosystems. In many regions, links between SMEs and universities, research organisations, technology clusters, and innovation intermediaries remain fragmented, limiting access to applied knowledge and specialised expertise. At the same time, access to finance continues to represent a major structural barrier, as many SMEs struggle to find funding models suited to their scale and growth trajectories. Without blended financial approaches that combine public support, guarantees, and private investment, the gap between innovation potential and real-world implementation remains significant.
Where these enabling conditions are in place, the impact extends well beyond individual firms. SMEs are deeply embedded in regional economies and play a key role in employment, innovation diffusion, and local development. They also contribute significantly to the cultural and economic identity of territories, reinforcing cohesion and attractiveness. For this reason, SME competitiveness is increasingly understood not only as an industrial policy priority, but also as a driver of inclusive and territorially balanced growth.
Against this backdrop, the XXII INSME Annual Meeting will bring together policymakers, entrepreneurs, researchers, ecosystem actors, and financiers to examine how these elements interact and shape SME competitiveness. The discussions will aim to foster a shared understanding of the conditions that enable SMEs across different regions and sectors to innovate, grow, and contribute to shared prosperity. Overall, this two-day conference will allow INSME members to convene, connect, collaborate and ultimately drive innovation together.
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