SME Partnership Program

Are you a small or medium-sized company and want to continue to operate confidently in the age of AI and secure your competitiveness? Our SME Partnership Program will accompany you on this path.

Are you interested in a partnership? Get in contact with us

The director of Strategy is giving a talk about the possibilities and dangers of AI

Staying competitive in the age of AI – the ultimate goal of our SME Partnership Program

Small and medium-sized companies are used to focusing on their strengths to secure their competitiveness or maintaining their technological leadership in specific areas. This ability is particularly important in times of transformative change with artificial intelligence: strategically, it is important to solidify the future viability of the company and practically, it is important not to get bogged down in the hype surrounding AI. The SME Partnership Program will support you with the challenges relevant to you:

Realistically assess the significance of AI for your own company – developing an idea of what AI can and cannot do is essential for an effective approach to the topic.
Recognize opportunities for the value-add of AI – identifying and prioritizing meaningful applications of AI requires knowledge.
Use AI effectively – before the use of AI can bring a positive return on investment, practical hurdles must be overcome and entrepreneurial prerequisites need to be created.

View of the stage where a panel talk between AI experts takes place

We offer you a unique AI ecosystem to build knowledge, stay informed, network and interact with others

Your access to the appliedAI ecosystem

Over the years, appliedAI has created an ecosystem in which leading players from business, science and politics come together and generate knowledge on current and relevant AI topics. This ranges from best practices to the latest regulatory developments within the framework of the EU AI Act. As an SME partner, you have access to this knowledge and have the chance to become an active part of the ecosystem. With content optimized for SMEs and exclusive formats for our SME partners, we ensure that you can use the ecosystem ideally – online as well as offline.

Building AI knowledge

Our SME partners have access to trainings, workshops and other educational resources (e.g. white papers, best practices). Based on the self-diagnosed AI maturity level of your organization, specific content (e.g. introduction to AI, AI strategy, use cases, AI Act, etc.) will be recommended to you. This enables you to systematically develop and expand AI expertise in your company.

Stay informed

ChatGPT, Copilot, Generative AI, EU AI Act - what was new yesterday is already omnipresent today. As an SME partner, you will not only build up basic AI knowledge, but also stay up to date with latest news, technologies and developments with formats such as Learn & Lunch, Technology Sessions, our conferences or the newsletter.

Exchange in the SME network

As the initiator of an AI ecosystem that is unique in Europe, we know how important it is to exchange ideas with like-minded people. That's why we specifically promote exchange and networking among our SME partners - both online and offline. You become part of our Online Community for SMEs, at our conferences we ensure that SME-relevant topics are covered and that you get to know each other in special sessions for SMEs. You can learn with and from each other.

Advice from AI experts

We offer monthly open expert consultations that provide you with the opportunity to exchange ideas with experts on focus topics. Whether you're seeking strategic advice or practical tips, these sessions provide a platform for support and knowledge exchange to drive your AI initiatives forward.

You have questions? Contact us

Panel talk with AI experts about trustworthy AI and current developments

Take action yourself and increase your AI maturity – the principle of the SME Partnership Program

The SME Partnership Program is specially tailored to the needs of medium-sized companies (with fewer than 2,500 employees or less than 0.5 billion euros in annual revenue). With 1,500 euros per month and monthly cancellable (after 6 months), the SME Partnership Program offers you valuable resources in a way that is cost efficient and flexible. This is made possible by the fact that the partnership offer requires personal initiative. You are responsible for taking advantage of the content provided to you. By becoming engaged yourself, you increase the AI maturity level of your company - we help you by creating the right conditions .