Digitalisation is a double-edged sword — TWIN helped SMEs hold it safely

After an intensive project period, TWIN — coordinated by VERDE with partners MindSpin (Cyprus), Yıldız Teknopark (Türkiye), and Fundación Santa María la Real (Spain) — has come to a close. The project set out from a sobering statistic: SMEs provide two-thirds of private-sector jobs in Europe and over half of the EU's GDP, yet only 58% of them use advanced digital tools such as cloud services, big data, or AI, compared to 83% of large companies.

TWIN's premise was that digitalisation is a double-edged sword. It offers SMEs tools to cut costs, optimise operations, and improve sustainability — but it also brings cyber threats, change-management failures, and, done carelessly, a larger environmental footprint. The project was designed to help SMEs capture the benefits while managing the risks.

The outputs

• A training programme covering the four areas where SMEs need the most support: Industry 4.0 tools and innovation (AI-powered chatbots, virtual assistants, data analytics), cybersecurity for sustainable development, competitiveness and digital marketing for niche audiences, and change management with customer-centric strategies.
• A collaborative online platform where SMEs share insights, form partnerships, and co-create solutions to common digitalisation challenges.
• A digital maturity assessment framework that helps SMEs understand where they stand and choose realistic next steps.

What we learned

The digital divide among SMEs is not primarily about technology — it is about capacity and confidence. Small businesses do not lack tools; they lack the time, guidance, and safety nets to adopt them without risking the operations that pay their salaries. Training that acknowledges this — short, practical, tied to immediate business problems — consistently outperformed broader awareness sessions.

Cybersecurity was the theme that engaged participants most. For many SMEs, TWIN provided the first structured training they had ever received on protecting their data and digital infrastructure — a striking gap given how much of their business now runs online. And throughout the project one message kept returning: digitalisation done right supports, rather than competes with, the green transition, a principle at the heart of both the European Green Deal and the EU Digital Decade targets.

We thank our partners and every SME that took part. TWIN (reference 2024-1-EL01-KA210-VET-000250644) was co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.