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Good practice Imported

SMV:Digital — Denmark's National SME Digitalisation Support Programme

Denmark · Copenhagen · See the Denmark profile · See the Copenhagen profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 50% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Denmark's national digitalisation-voucher and advisory scheme has backed over 7,000 SME projects since 2018 through the country's regional business hubs; a March 2025 mid-term evaluation found 80% of participants already saw or expect productivity gains.

7,000+
Digitalisation projects supported (2018-2025)
37%
Participants reporting already-realised positive productivity impact (March 2025)
43%
Participants expecting positive productivity impact (March 2025)
80%
Participants reporting positive/expected productivity impact (combined) (March 2025)
SMV:Digital — Denmark's National SME Digitalisation Support Programme

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen) & Danish Agency for Digitalisation (Digitaliseringsstyrelsen)
Period
2018-2025 (ongoing)
Keywords
SME digitalisation, business advisory services, productivity, automation

Context

Danish SMEs have historically adopted digital technology more slowly than large firms, prompting the Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen) and the Danish Agency for Digitalisation (Digitaliseringsstyrelsen) to fund SMV:Digital as part of the broader 'Virksomhedsprogrammet', delivered since 2018 through Denmark's nationwide network of regional business hubs (Erhvervshuse).

Objectives

The programme funds part-subsidised consultancy to map digitalisation potential, subsidised trial loans of automation equipment, and co-financing for investments such as cybersecurity and data-driven customer service.

Activities

Funding is pooled from the Danish state budget, the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, and the EU Regional Development Fund, delivered nationally through the regional Erhvervshus network.

Results

The Danish Agency for Digitalisation reports more than 7,000 digitalisation projects supported between 2018 and 2025. A March 2025 mid-term evaluation of Business Programme II found that 80% of participating companies concluded their participation had already had (37%) or would have (43%) a positive impact on their productivity.

Conclusions

The productivity finding rests on participants' self-reported assessment at programme exit rather than independently audited before/after financial data, and the evaluation covers the wider Business Programme II track rather than isolating SMV:Digital's specific contribution.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — Funded from three pooled sources - the Danish state budget, the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, and the EU Regional Development Fund; per-project costs are not separately published.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Delivered continuously from 2018 to 2025 through Business Programme I and II phases; mid-term evaluation published March 2025.
Staffing & skills
Erhvervsstyrelsen (Danish Business Authority) programme staff, Digitaliseringsstyrelsen (Danish Agency for Digitalisation) staff, Regional Erhvervshus (business hub) advisors delivering consultancy nationwide

Conditions for success

  • An existing nationwide regional business-hub network as the delivery channel
  • Blended funding (state budget plus EU Recovery and Resilience Facility and Regional Development Fund) to sustain scale
  • Combining subsidised consultancy, equipment trial loans and investment co-financing

Common failure modes

  • Outcome evidence relies on participant self-report at exit rather than independently audited financial data
  • The evaluation bundles SMV:Digital with the wider Business Programme II, making it hard to isolate this track's specific effect

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes Recovery and Resilience Facility (national plans) ERDF — European Regional Development Fund

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

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