The digital competitiveness of a country reflects both the Small Businesses possibilities to enter the digital economy as well as the access to digitally skilled staff and customers. If you don´t have the infrastructure and skills - being a part of the digital economy is more difficult. Small Businesses - and not at least startups - are dependent on the surrounding "digital environment" to be able to innovate, develop and to compete with new Business Models and Ideas on an international digital market.

In theDESI 2018 - The Digital Economy and Society Index annual report we can monitor and compare the progress in Europe and Europe vs the rest of the World.The Nordic countriesSweden, Denmark andFinland are together with Netherlands and Luxembourg in top positions but countries like Spain, Cyprus and Ireland  have found that extra gear and are catching up quickly.

“ETC.4SE – eTraining Centre for Social Entrepreneurs” is a two-year (2017 - 2019) European project which aims to develop an online training centre in which adults can find support in setting up their own social enterprise.
In order to define the e-Training Centre’s contents and understand the relevant training needs, the project consortium investigated the skills and competences of adults in the partner countries.
The document intends to be a compilation of the information collected by all partners in the national reports in order to have an overview of the state of art of social entrepreneurship in the participating countries. Based on this information the consortium will now define the training curriculum, the contents and the digital tools to be developed for the online training course.

Based on the management model implemented in the social economy sector, the project focuses on the work for the improvement of certain generic skills, such as active entrepreneurship, critical thinking and digital competences, using the theoretical bases of social economy to work the collaborative spirit, and inclusive entrepreneurial thinking.
In this sense and aiming to provide an effective and practical business tool for both trainers and learners the consortium will start now working in the development of the online training course that will consisting of didactic units and a simulation tool of business practices using the adapted Bridge Model technique.
The business simulator is intended to provide learners with practical knowledge in order to have a first approach to the business realities. The ETC.4SE business simulator has the added value provided by the adaptation of the Bridge Model technique, by which it is possible to guide learners through the process of creating a social enterprise through an interactive tool composed of different phases: the users will be entering data on the business he/she wants to develop and will receive feedback with ideas and information on successful practices implemented by other social entrepreneurs.

The National Need Analysis Report of Turkey has been developed in order to outline; the current situation about migrants’ employability and entrepreneurship, needs of highly skilled migrants (HSM) in order to become entrepreneurs in Turkey, from the perspective of HSMs and organizations working with migrants as well as other bibliographic resources.
It also aims to enlighten the gaps in training offered to migrants found through the research activities, as well as propose solutions for the improvement of training available for HSMs in these areas. The report contents relies on the results gathered through a comprehensive desk research and field research activities. The primary dimensions of the report comprise of the results from focus groups meetings and in-depth interviews with highly skilled migrants and stakeholders.

"All but 0.2 % of enterprises which operated in the EU-28 non-financial business sector in 2016 were SMEs. These SMEs employed 93 million people, accounting for 67 % of total employment in the EU-28 non-financial business sector, and generating 57 % of value added in the EU-28 non-financial business sector. Almost all (93 %) of the SMEs were micro SMEs employing less than 10 persons.

In 2016, 30.6 million individuals were self-employed in the EU-28, accounting for 14 % of total EU-28 employment."

European Robotics/3D Printing Training Survey 
The aim of this Project Output was to study and determine the conditions under which robotics and 3D printing training flourishes within Europe and make recommendations as to what strategies training organizations need to adopt to encourage such training.
In respect of both robotics and 3D printing, all respondents would clearly welcome educational institutions providing more knowledge and training opportunities on the topics. A majority of respondents are also willing to take such courses if available for free.

First of all - a great thanks to all of you responding to the survey!

We are happy that more than 10% of the members of the SME Academy took their time and responded to the survey "What can we do for you as a SME Academy Network member?". The results will be a part of our planning for our future activities and our improvements of the SME Academy Network for you as a member.

Some quick results:

• Activities should preferable be online, short (<60 min) and with a fixed agenda.
• "European SME-programs" and "Small Business Challenges" are ranked with the highest interest
• Most valuable section of SME Academy web is "Reports & Results" and "Articles"
• Network members want to contribute with "Reports and Results", "Presentations" and "Events". 

This is a summary of the top rankings - but in general it was a very even result between alternatives and we an see a need for a wide range of information, activities etc..

In a Press release from 20th June 2017 the European Commission presents the annual ranking of Innovation in Europe - again Sweden is the over all leader of innovation in Europe and Ireland shows the highest rate of involvement of SMEs and Employees.
As the comments indicates Europe needs to increase the innovation pace and also make it more even around the union as the average in EU 28 shows there is room for improvement. 

"This handbook represents the culmination of the work of the Erasmus+ project Teacher 2020.
It offers a series of examples of projects of entrepreneurial education and an explanation of what made them successful. Also, includes reflections derived from the practical initiatives. Using the tool to assess entrepreneurial initiatives and the global framework will help you understand the projects and support you in creating your own."

To educate and train our future entrepreneurs is a topic many organizations and institutions around the world are struggling with.
Not only need we train and motivate students - but also provide teachers and trainers with tools and skills required for the task
Not to mention the motivation they need to keep up the good work and develop it.
In this report a team of partners in an Erasmus+ project have
produced a guide that is worth to spend some minutes to read.

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The Easy of Doing Business Rank shows that the easiest countries to do business in is:

• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Denmark

Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1–190. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm. The rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate distance to frontier scores on 10 topics, each consisting of several indicators, giving equal weight to each topic.
When it comes to starting a business the rank changes a bit:

• New Zealand
• Canada
• Hong Kong SAR, China

See the full list by following this link

New 2017 Doing Business Report Shows a Record Number of Reforms Worldwide - check the interview with Rita Ramalho, Manager Doing Business World Bank Group.
​Notice also the difference in gender perspective mentioned in the video by Rita Ramalho.

Find a quick overview of the Thailand startup scene - a report created by Techsauce, Thailand.

Techsauce is Thailand's leading technology business media and publication.
We are the source for reliable, insightful news, analysis and opinion pieces on startups in Thailand and SEA. In addition, Techsauce is the creator of Techsauce Summit – the one of leading international tech conference in SEA

Since 2012, we have been researching and collecting all facts that happened in Thailand's startup scene. Every data represented in this report was officially announced in the news. No rumour is included

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY by Authors at DOCEBO
The state of the e-Learning market globally continues to shift, grow, and evolve. This is illustrated by increasing budget allocations for e-Learning programs, the growing prevalence of e-Learning in various geographic markets around the world, new trends in emerging technologies and tools that support e-Learning, and the swelling role of social learning as a top learning and development(L&D) priority.
The global L&D industry is complicated, with many moving parts, disruptive technologies, and shifting priorities. That’s why we have developed e-Learning market trends and forecast 2017-2021, a complete report outlining the global state of L&D and e-Learning in particular. For this comprehensive report, we have pored over metrics and insights pulled together by some of the leading analyst voices in the space. We have also collected a wide array of data and statistics that show how e-Learning is changing and evolving.

Developing and promoting entrepreneurship education has been one of the key policy objectives for the EU and Member States for many years.
There is a growing awareness of the potential of young people to launch and develop their own commercial or social ventures thereby becoming innovators in the areas in which they live and work.
Entrepreneurship education is essential not only to shape the mind-sets of young people but also to provide the skills, knowledge and attitudes that are central to developing an entrepreneurial culture.
This report captures all the latest developments in this regard in European countries, following earlier Eurydice reports (2006, 2012). It covers school education (primary, general secondary and school based IVET) in all Eurydice network countries/regions, except Germany, Ireland and Liechtenstein.
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This report showcases the impact of Mowgli’s entrepreneurial mentoring programs on developing sustainable entrepreneurship, evolving leadership and building human capacity in the countries that we operate in.
Read the report and learn about the impact the Mentoring programs have had since 2008.