Annual Report on European SMEs 2020/2021
The Annual Report on European SMEs 2020/2021, commissioned by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) of the European Commission, reviews the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on EU SMEs in 2020 as well as their expected performance in 2021, after providing a brief overview of their pre-pandemic performance. The report focuses particularly on the digitalisation of European SMEs, as the use of various digital tools in 2020 helped to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
2020 was a momentous year for EU SMEs, as well as for EU businesses and citizens more generally. The Covid-19 crisis brought to an abrupt halt or even reversed the gains made by the EU SME sector over the past decade. Many industries, especially in the SME-intensive services sector, experienced large declines in sales as a result of the various lockdowns and other measures introduced by the Member States to fight the spread of Covid-19. However, the various business support measures implemented by the Member States during the pandemic limited the employment impact of the decline in economic activity.
Full report and more information are available here: