I believe that SMEs are key to Europe’s economic recovery and I have several reasons that support my thinking. The first reason is sheer volume: there are almost 21 million SMEs in the European Union and 90 % of these have fewer than ten employees. Imagine the potential if every SME could hire just one more person!

As always on our website, we try and bring you a wide variety of opinion pieces from specialist guest bloggers from both the private and public sector.

The ICT sector is a very fluid and aggressive global market where technology is driving change, in fact it’s driving innovation across all sectors. There’s a huge amount of innovation coming from Russia and across the East. Look to Asia and you’ll see the Japanese ‘eBay’ coming our way which will undoubtedly put pressure on eBay. In the coming years we are going to see some...

Small and medium-sized enterprises – SMEs – will be the powerhouse of the Innovation Union that the EU must become if we are to enjoy sustainable prosperity in the face of ever stronger global competition.

See what Microsoft’s Blaise Vignon and Brigitte Baumann, President of EBAN, had to say on the event which provided opportunities for growth and highlighted the contribution of early-stage investors to the Europe 2020 strategy.

How can small businesses succeed in a market as internally varied as Europe? Will current EU regulation further help the growth process for businesses?

Hosted by Guy Kawasaki, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Follow the highlights of the event on Microsoft.eu