20 Feb 2018

First-ever DIGITALEUROPE SME Award goes to three European digital SMEs which have the potential to become tomorrow’s tech giants

“We have a Winner – and maybe the birth of a new European tech giant!” said Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General of DIGITALEUROPE today in Brussels.

Three European digital SMEs – AirFaas from Finland, Deeper from Lithuania and Plytix from Denmark – have received the first-ever “DIGITALEUROPE SME Award” during a ceremony which took place this morning with Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for the Digital Economy & Society, at the Masters of Digital conference.

Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General of DIGITALEUROPE, explained: “The DIGITALEUROPE SME Award promotes excellence and rewards innovation. All three SMEs awarded today are role models in pioneering innovative digital services, and all have the potential to become the future European tech giants. We will monitor the development of these Tech SMEs in the years to come and we will form an informal “European tech SME network” at DIGITALEUROPE.”

“SMEs employ 93 million people and account for 99.8% of businesses operating in Europe. It is essential to publicly acknowledge the positive impact that digital SMEs have on the European economy, and to stress the importance of a non-fragmented cross-border market that enables SMEs to scale up in Europe”, she added.

Winner of DIGITALEUROPE SME AWARD 2018:

AirFaas, Finland
AirFaas delivers Factory as a Service. Like an Airbnb for manufacturing, AirFaas is a portal that allows companies to manufacture their machines and component without owning factories, production equipment or having production workers. Businesses can upload their product design and arrange a global supply chain closest to their markets.

Two other finalists were also rewarded today:

Deeper, Lithuania
Deeper is leading the connected devices revolution. With the Deeper smart sonar, they allow 18 million anglers across 50 countries to explore underwater and to collect a whole set of data. Deeper’s turnover has increased by 7,000% in 4 years and is the 2nd fastest growing company in Central Europe.
Plytix, Denmark
Plytix is devoted to digitising small and medium businesses. Plytix introduces affordable artificial intelligence and big data analytics tools that enable SMEs to become more data-driven, automate their process, and perform on par with – or even outperform – their entreprise competitors.

Background

DIGITALEUROPE – the leading European technology trade association representing over 60 multinational companies and 38 national trade associations – has organised its first ever “DIGITALEUROPE SME AWARD” in 2018.

The award aims at celebrating and rewarding SMEs that have the potential to become the future European Tech giants. It puts under the spotlight SMEs from across Europe which successfully digitise their business processes and offer innovative digital services.

The “DIGITALEUROPE SME AWARD” also testifies the vital importance of SMEs in the wider digital ecosystem. It represents an opportunity to advocate for EU-wide policies and regulatory frameworks that nurture an entrepreneurial culture and enable SMEs to scale up.

All 38 National Trade Associations affiliated to DIGITALEUROPE were asked to identify and select an innovative SME from their country. Eleven companies were shortlisted and the winner, as well as two other finalists, were awarded today at the Masters of Digital event in Brussels during a ceremony with European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel.

List of shortlisted SMEs