Welcome to Paris

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It is our pleasure to welcome you to Paris for the ICSB × OECD SME World Forum 2026, convened under the theme “SMEs at Frontier Speed.”

Across the world, small and medium-sized enterprises are navigating profound change. Artificial intelligence is reshaping how businesses operate, emerging technologies are opening new possibilities, and entrepreneurs are confronting persistent challenges in accessing finance, building capabilities, and scaling their ideas.

At frontier speed, the challenge is not simply how quickly SMEs can adapt, but how we ensure they have the capabilities, opportunities, and partnerships to succeed.

Over these three days, we will bring together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and institutional leaders to move beyond identifying challenges toward sharing evidence, exchanging practical ideas, and advancing actionable recommendations. Our conversations will span AI adoption and skills, deeptech, scale-up finance, women and youth entrepreneurship, human-centered entrepreneurship, and emerging issues shaping the future of SMEs.

We hope you will use this forum not only to learn from one another, but also to form new partnerships and carry ideas into action long after we leave Paris. Thank you for bringing your experience, curiosity, and commitment to this international conversation.

We look forward to three days of meaningful dialogue, new connections, and shared progress.

Warm regards,