How peer-to-peer learning can help SMEs embrace digital transformation

The manufacturing sector is undergoing rapid transformation, driven by digital technologies that are reshaping how industries operate, compete and grow. While large corporations often lead this shift, the broader success of industrial transformation depends on the active participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up over 90% of all businesses worldwide and account for around 70% of global employment and up to 50% of global GDP.

Despite their importance, SMEs continue to face systemic barriers, including fragmented networks, limited access to advanced technologies and a lack of tailored expertise, which constrain their growth and competitiveness in the digital era.

Without targeted support, SMEs risk falling further behind, deepening the digital divide and losing their foothold in global supply chains. Crucially, accelerating SME digital transformation requires the creation of a trusted environment where SMEs, technology providers, policymakers and academia can collaborate and exchange knowledge, ensuring that innovation is effective, inclusive and scalable.

Digital disruption is fundamentally reshaping the way industries operate, compete and create value. Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and automation, are driving a new wave of industrial innovation, one defined by data-driven decision-making, interconnected systems and unprecedented levels of efficiency.

These technologies are optimizing production processes and transforming entire business models, enabling real-time visibility across supply chains, predictive maintenance and mass customization. As the pace of change accelerates, companies that adapt quickly are gaining a significant competitive edge, while those unable to integrate digital capabilities risk falling behind in an increasingly technology-driven economy. SMEs are facing a number of fundamental barriers to technology adoption.

Many SMEs face isolation from industry peers, mentors and innovation ecosystems that could accelerate their learning and growth. Without strong connections, SMEs struggle to exchange practical knowledge, benchmark their capabilities against global standards or identify market opportunities. This lack of connectivity often slows down digital adoption and limits their ability to innovate effectively.

Adopting technologies, such as AI, IoT and data analytics, remains challenging due to high upfront costs, uncertain returns and limited access to reliable connectivity or platforms. These constraints prevent SMEs from fully leveraging digital tools critical for competitiveness, efficiency and scalability.

Many SMEs do not have in-house specialists or trusted advisers who can translate emerging technologies into actionable solutions. This results in fragmented pilots, delayed implementation, or projects that fail to deliver tangible impact, creating inefficiencies and slowing the pace of digital transformation.

Tackling these deep-rooted industrial challenges has become a common priority among global institutions and innovation networks working to advance inclusive and sustainable industrial growth. In this context, peer-to-peer learning has emerged as a practical and effective approach to help SMEs navigate digital transformation challenges.

Rather than relying on top-down training or one-off consultancy models, peer-to-peer learning transforms digital adoption into a collective journey. SMEs facing similar challenges collaborate, exchange practical knowledge and adapt proven solutions to their own contexts. This approach empowers them to move from isolated experimentation to collective progress, reducing duplication of effort and accelerating learning across the ecosystem.

Peer-to-peer models are already being applied in practice. PeerLink, developed by the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Saudi Arabia, demonstrates how this approach can be scaled: creating a structured space for SMEs, technology providers and policymakers to exchange knowledge, access use cases and contribute success stories. The initiative shows that when learning becomes a shared resource, SMEs are not just recipients of innovation, but active contributors in shaping the future of manufacturing.

Building on our experience in Saudi Arabia, this model can be replicated and scaled globally through international networks such as the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) Network. By enabling countries to localize solutions while benefiting from global insights and shared use cases, the C4IR Network amplifies the impact of peer-to-peer learning and collaboration. Connecting innovation communities worldwide, it helps translate successful models, like PeerLink, into scalable frameworks that advance an inclusive, sustainable and globally connected industrial transformation.

The lessons learned from developing peer-to-peer learning models for SMEs extend well beyond national borders. They highlight how shared knowledge frameworks and trust-based collaboration can help countries close capability gaps and create more inclusive pathways to digital transformation.

Through enabling continuous exchange across industries and geographies, this approach enables SMEs worldwide to build resilience, strengthen participation in global value chains and contribute to a more balanced industrial landscape. Such collaboration reinforces the idea that digital transformation is not a competition, but a collective global effort to advance innovation and sustainable growth. For instance, ARC Strategies estimates that unplanned downtime in process industries costs around $1 trillion annually in lost productivity, a gap that peer-to-peer collaboration and data-driven practices can significantly narrow, translating shared learning into measurable economic value.

Peer-to-peer learning proves to be a key enabler for SMEs to adopt digital technologies and compete globally. We invite SMEs, policy-makers, technology providers and academia to join PeerLink, contributing to and benefiting from this collaborative ecosystem. Together, we can co-create a global SME innovation network that strengthens competitiveness, enhances resilience and drives sustainable growth across industries worldwide.