Baklava and business at the 2026 SME Future Day

The GJU Project Office and the German Jordanian University highlight global partnerships as a key factor for the future of small and medium-sized enterprises

The SME Future Day organised by the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (BVMW) on 15 April 2026 in Berlin demonstrated once again just how central SMEs are to Germany’s economic strength – and how important it has become to look beyond national borders.

Together with colleagues from the German Jordanian University (GJU), we were on site to present the GJU model – in particular the ‘Germany Year’. In numerous discussions at our stand in the ‘Global Forum’, we were able to showcase our international business network and demonstrate how valuable German-Jordanian collaborations are for innovation, skills development and market expansion.

The discussions on the ground made it clear: German SMEs face major challenges – rising costs, increasing regulatory requirements, a shortage of skilled workers and the need to drive innovation, particularly in the field of AI. In our view, this makes it all the more important to be closely networked with colleges and universities.

Only in this way can innovations from research and teaching be transferred to businesses, and conversely, practical experience, new perspectives and real-world challenges flow back into academic networks.

GJU students act as a key link between the university and industry – particularly during their compulsory internship in the ‘Germany Year’, but also through their final-year projects or when starting their careers.

The discussions also highlighted the added value offered by a partnership with the GJU Project Office. Corporate Relations Manager Lisa Westphal emphasised: “Our industry partners benefit from our support in recruiting GJU students for compulsory internships and final-year projects. Furthermore, our mobility programmes offer our industry partners the opportunity to organise courses, hackathons or entrepreneurial training sessions in Jordan.”

International cooperation is no longer merely a ‘nice-to-have’, but a strategic necessity – not only to secure skilled workers, but also to strengthen the corporate brand, tap into new markets and promote innovation and resilience in an increasingly dynamic global environment.

Another strong sign of this collaboration was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the German Jordanian University and the Bundesverband mittelständische Wirtschaft e.V.

We look forward to building on the connections we have made and working together to drive new initiatives.‍