Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasized the necessity of accelerated digital transformation across sectors, industries, and enterprises. The UN SEIA of the COVID-19 in Turkey, finalized in August 2020, underscores these specific country challenges and suggests that the ongoing crisis should be understood as an opportunity by the authorities in Turkey to deal with structural issues and support the industry to diversify, modernize, digitalize, and become more innovation-intensive. The COVID-19 crisis also opens a window of opportunity for sophisticated business sector in Turkey. Global disruption can be a chance for the SMEs, if it accelerates the industrial productivity and competitiveness in global market.
Currently, while SMEs are still largely in survival mode, a key concern as businesses reopen on a larger scale lies in whether SMEs could adapt to a new post-COVID-19 environment and adopt new business models. Going forward, SMEs will need to embrace digital technologies to strengthen their resilience and propel further growth.
However, they face substantial challenges with the lack of technical knowledge and the high costs associated with shifting towards digitalization. Given the relatively low capacity of SMEs, public initiatives and incentives are extremely critical and required in this area. Therefore, structural policies are needed to address not only short-term challenges faced by SMEs with remote working, but also broader and longer-term concerns with digitalization, training and innovation.
To answer above mentioned challenges and opportunities, “Beyond Recovery of SMEs through Digitalization (Digital Way)” project is designed and being implemented in collaboration with the General Directorate of Development Agencies of the Ministry of Industry and Technology. The project consists of two outputs;
- Output 1: SME Digitalization Platform developed addressing digital disruption and innovation in SMEs.
- Output 2: Piloted gender-sensitive incentive support schemes for digitalization in SMEs.
Within the scope of Output 1, a road map and activation plan for the “SME Digitalization Platform” addressing digital disruption and innovation in SMEs is being prepared.
Specific Objectives
The overall objective of these services is to provide grounds for SMEs to boost their levels of digitalization by developing a comprehensive web-based platform including knowledge tools, matchmaking opportunities as well as guidance to technical and financial assistance. A web-based match making, service delivery and learning platform will be established and sustained by the development agencies to accomplish the objective.
Qualifications
The Contractor shall provide adequate staff in terms of expertise and time, in order to complete the tasks required and to achieve the overall and specific objectives of the Contract in terms of time, cost and quality. The Contractor shall mobilize a team of experts comprising following key personnel.