Providing GDPR compliance solutions to European Micro Enterprises (MENTs) - The SMOOTH project

SMOOTH is an EU H2020 project that aims to help microenterprises to adopt GDPR in a smooth manner, with the use of easy-to-use and affordable tools.

The project will last from 2018 to 2020 and it is now developing a cloud-based platform that validates micro businesses compliance with GDPR and informs them of the elements needed to be revised to avoid potential fines.

Twelve partners from six European countries gathered to form its consortium. GDPR experts, representatives of European SMEs, large enterprises, innovation and research institutions, an SME and a standardization body ensure complete coverage of the topics relevant to the project.

The relevance of Micro Enterprises in the EU market

It is fundamental to remember that SMOOTH focuses on Micro-Enterprises (MENTs), companies with a maximum of 10 employees. In 2017 MENTs were responsible for 29% of the employees in the European Union.

With GDPR legislation getting in place, MENTs are liable just like any other organization but contrary to larger enterprises they don’t usually have the proper in-house resources to adopt the GDPR nor the required legal background to understand such complex regulation. SMOOTH aims to provide a cloud platform solution that allows MENTs to validate whether they are compliant with the main aspects of the GDPR that are relevant for them.

SMOOTH’s platform: an easy and affordable solution for MENTs

Current market solutions and consulting services to help companies to adopt the GDPR do not usually come at affordable prices and are mainly thought for large enterprises. SMOOTH aims to offer a simple solution that can be affordable even to MENTs and that requires a small investment in terms of time.

With its adoption by European MENTs, SMOOTH will also become a very important tool to guarantee that personal data of EU citizens are properly managed by small companies, which are collectively processing personal data from most EU citizens.

Delivering impact to the EU socio-economic ecosystem through MENTs

SMOOTH represents an important first step towards defining technical solutions that drive proper management of personal data information, which is a fundamental right of EU citizens. SMOOTH consortium believes that the Horizon Europe programme should devote an important amount of resources to fund R&D projects that help citizens to guarantee their online privacy. At the same time, this will foster the European socio-economic ecosystem, generating a relevant number of new employees in the EU in the coming years.

More information about the SMOOTH Project is available on their website: https://smoothplatform.eu/

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