South Ostrobothnia is a region of entrepreneurship. The digitalization of our SME’s is an important theme for us and is at the forefront of the development plans of our companies and institutions. As a partner in the project CDR EUROPE – Corporate Digital Responsibility in Europe, we are gathering new knowledge for the benefit of our SME’s.
Corporate Digital Responsibility can be defined as a set of practices and behaviours that help an organisation use data and digital technologies in ways that are perceived as socially, economically, and environmentally responsible. (Source: International CDR Manifesto).
The project consortium consists of partners from Italy, Hungary, Romania, Spain, France, Ireland and Finland. The consortium had its second project meeting in Seinäjoki on the 24th and 25th of October. The two-day meeting was focused on consolidating CDR concepts, and deepening our understanding on the challenges SME’s face with adopting CDR.
With the theme ”Focus on the final beneficiaries (SME’s)” we heard amazing presentations from Cork Local Enterprise Office’s (Ireland) ‘Digital Start’ Pilot programme, and from South Ostrobothnia the project ‘Becoming digitally native – promoting the digitalisation of SMEs’ project was introduces by Into Seinäjoki Business Development. These input presentations helped us on our group work on SME engagement.
Day 2 started with presentations from local SME’s and stakeholders on understanding the challenges in South Ostrobothnia. We had presentations from waste management company Lakeuden Etappi on recycling in the digital era. Their RE-appi -recycling application helps South Ostrobothnian citizens easier time with recycling their waste. We also got to learn about digital services and sustainability in theatre business as well as of a digital theatre production solution from the company Misto ART. Lastly, University of Vaasa’s projects on the Digitalization of Finnish SMEs, DigiNet and DIKO project were presented.
For the evening program, we visited Kyrö Distillery for a distillery tour, tasting and dinner. An evening program is important for networking, team building, cultural engagement, and relaxation, ultimately contributing to the success of the gathering.
CDR Europe -project is financed from Interreg Europe programme. You can find more information on the CDR EUROPE project on the home page here.