“Here & Now” – the fifteenth edition of the European Congress of Small and Medium Enterprises is coming

The fifteenth edition of the European Congress of Small and Medium Enterprises will take place on October 27-28, 2025 at the International Congress Center in Katowice. The slogan of this year’s event is “Here & Now”, which emphasizes the need for immediate action in the face of dynamic economic, geopolitical and technological changes. This is the largest event of this type in Europe for companies from the SME sector.

Congress with global range

Congress has been attracting not only entrepreneurs from the SME sector for years, but also representatives of large companies and international institutions. According to data from the European Commission, 1 out of 5 European SMEs today cooperates as suppliers with large concerns.

Last year’s edition gathered nearly 10,000 participants, 350 experts and over 100 panels and workshops.

This year, the Congress program was designed as a response to the most urgent challenges of modern business, largely on the canvas of suggestions and needs reported by participants of edition 2024.

Among the many distinguished guests of EKMŚP will be Robert Podleś – founder and president of Cobi SA, a company producing plastic construction blocks for children, called “Polish lego”. Thanks to three decades of consistent work, he developed a small, family plant and created a company, which is the first producer of this type of toy in Poland and the second in Europe.

The Congress program includes ten different thematic paths

Each of them is responsible for the key needs of the SME sector:

• Here & now – main path,

• AI and digitization in the development of companies,

• Tech Trends-start-ups and innovations,

• The company is people

• Barriers and challenges in the development of companies,

• Cities of the future,

• Law and taxes,

• Financing development,

• Marketing and sale,

• International Talks – international path.

The organizer of the Congress is the Regional Chamber of Commerce in Katowice, and co -organizers of the Śląskie Voivodeship, the city of Katowice and Business in Silesia – the Department of Promotion, Economy and Sport of the Marshal’s Office.

Event partners

This year’s edition of the Congress is created with the support of academic and local government environments. The substantive partner of the event is Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, the WSB Academy-a strong scientific and research center, educating in 10 locations and the Merito Chorzów-Katowice University belonging to the largest group of private universities in Poland.

The main local government partner is the city of Dąbrowa Górnicza-an important center of the Upper Silesian-Zagłębie metropolis, and also the largest city in the region. The city of Czechowice-Dziedzice, located on the border of industrialized Silesia and Beskid slopes, also joined the group of local government partners.

Congress is supported by key business institutions. One of the special partners is the European Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprise Associations (CEA-PME)-the largest organization of SMEs in Europe, bringing over 1.5 million companies in 35 countries.

Another special partner is the Katowice Special Economic Zone (KSSE) – a leader among Polish special economic zones and No. 1 in Europe, in which over 600 enterprises operate, investing a total of about PLN 50 billion and creating almost 100,000. jobs.

The honorary patronage of the event was taken by representatives of the Polish government

Among them are:

• Minister of Infrastructure,

• Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy,

• Spokesman for small and medium -sized enterprises Agnieszka Majewska.

Partners

The partners include:

• Invest region Leipzig,

• Legalis Business Staff Accounting,

• Polish Agency for Enterprise Development,

• Fair Play,

• Entrepreneurship Development Foundation prof. Jerzy Dietl,

• Craft Chamber and Small and Medium Entrepreneurship in Katowice,

• Opole Chamber of Commerce

• National Association for the Protection of Classified Information.

Media patronage

The media patronage over the event was:

• Business hub,

• Dziennik Zachodni,

• Market monitor,

• Our city,

• Publicity Media Group,

• Business zone,

• Śląskibiznes.pl,

• Directly,

• Forumbiznesu.pl.

You can still sign up!

Congress participants can take part in numerous panels, discussions and networking meetings – including new, interactive formats. Registration is free.