How can small and medium-sized enterprises use artificial intelligence meaningfully while also shaping long-term transformation and succession processes? These are the questions addressed by the event “Berlin SMEs and AI: What Matters Now” as part of Transferale 2026.
The event brings together representatives from academia, business and politics to discuss current challenges and development perspectives related to AI transformation, competence building and business succession. The focus is on concrete practical questions from SMEs and family businesses, as well as the question of how digital technologies can contribute to securing the long-term future of companies.
The EMF Institute is also represented academically. Prof. Dr. Birgit Felden shows how AI is used in transformation and succession processes and what role business succession can play as a starting point for innovation and further development. In addition, Prof. Dr. Sabine Baumann, Vice President for Research and Transfer at HWR Berlin, is the head of the IFAF research project KI-InnoX. The project examines how technology, platform and architecture decisions are made in AI-supported transformation processes and what impact these have on companies and innovation ecosystems.
In addition to expert inputs and a panel discussion, the event offers various exchange and dialogue formats on topics such as AI competence development, business succession and cooperation in the innovation ecosystem. The aim is to provide companies with concrete guidance on the use of AI and to strengthen exchange between research, business and practice.
The event will take place on 30 June 2026 at the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) in Berlin and is part of Transferale 2026, which makes current research and transfer projects from Berlin visible.