Barcelona SME Resilience Forum
The event is by invitation only.
Overview
The Barcelona SME Resilience Forum, organized by UNDRR, the Barcelona City Council and Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, will convene local governments, business chambers and associations, SMEs, and resilience partners from Barcelona and across Europe to discuss the successes achieved in strengthening the resilience of SMEs to disasters and systemic risks. Building on UNDRR’s Strengthening the Disaster Resilience of SMEs initiative, the event marks a transition from project delivery to sustained, city-led and regionally relevant resilience services for SMEs.
Background
As part of UNDRR’s global initiative to strengthen the disaster resilience of SMEs, public and private partners in Barcelona (Spain), Bridgetown (Barbados), and Sendai (Japan) are working to strengthen SMEs’ capacity to make risk-informed decisions and withstand growing disaster and systemic risks. Leveraging ARISE Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilience Societies and Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) networks, the interventions have supported peer learning and included tailored support, adapted to local risk and business contexts.
In Barcelona, UNDRR worked throughout 2025 with the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Barcelona City Council, and a broad range of local partners to drive a citywide shift in how SMEs understand and prepare for disaster risk. The initiative has mobilized the Barcelona metropolitan region, business associations, financial institutions, academia, technology providers, and other stakeholders to address resource and capacity gaps that have left many SMEs - Barcelona’s economic backbone - vulnerable to heatwaves, droughts, blackouts, and other shocks. As a result, over 100 SMEs participated in activities to strengthen their resilience, with sustained engagement of business chambers and the local government. Through the initiative, partners delivered hands-on training, developed tailored tools to support business continuity planning and crisis simulation exercises, explored financing and tech solutions, and raised awareness through local and global media.
UNDRR also conducted a landscape assessment, providing actionable recommendations to strengthen governance, coordination, financing, and capacity-building services for SMEs. The collaborative model established through the project has catalyzed new partnerships and laid the foundation for sustained, tailored support services for SME resilience. Together, these achievements have embedded SME resilience into Barcelona’s governance, further reinforcing the city’s role as a MCR2030 Resilience Hub and positioning it as a regional reference point for peer learning and innovative public–private partnership approaches to business resilience.
Objectives
The Barcelona SME Resilience Forum will bring together key stakeholders to:
- Showcase new tools, initiatives, lessons learnt and policy approaches for strengthening SME resilience in Barcelona and other cities
- Outline next steps for sustaining and scaling services and tools that support SMEs in Barcelona and in other participating cities
- Identify partnerships and networks to advance risk-informed policies, financing mechanisms, and support services for SMEs across Europe and beyond