Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for around 66% of the total employment and 85% of recent recruitments in Europe. Human resource management constraints in smaller businesses pose particular challenges in terms of hiring staff, develop their skills and retaining highly skilled employees. Apprenticeship schemes and other forms of initial vocation education & training (iVET) can form an important element in resolving the skills challenge. However, many national VET systems are not adapted to SMEs and lack the necessary incentives and support structures to facilitate their involvement.The registration to this event has now closed.