The Conference on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises provides a distinguished forum for scholars, practitioners, and industry experts to exchange cutting-edge research findings, theoretical frameworks, and practical insights on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping SMEs, creating new opportunities for growth and innovation while introducing emerging risks and uncertainties.

This year’s conference theme, “Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Threats for Small and Medium-sized Businesses,” will convene a diverse cohort of researchers, academics, policymakers, and industry professionals to examine the transformative effects of AI on SME strategy, operations, and competitiveness. The conference will explore AI-enabled approaches to productivity, decision-making, process and marketing innovation, and digital transformation, alongside critical challenges such as cybersecurity threats, data governance, regulatory and ethical constraints, workforce impacts, and the risk of technological dependency. Together, these discussions aim to advance knowledge and practical guidance that help SMEs adopt AI responsibly and thrive in a rapidly changing business landscape.

The Western Galilee Academic College was established in 1994 and currently has 4,000 students in all study units. The College sees itself as an academic, cultural, social, economic and educational anchor for the western Galilee region as well as for the region of Northern Israel. The College operates out of a sense of commitment to the social and business communities, in partnership with its leaders, in order to create prosperity and growth in the Western Galilee region. Therefore, the main goal of the College is to be an exclusive high-quality institution for higher education, attracting a wide range of students from the region and from all over the country.

The College campus is located in the center of the Galilean landscape and the northern seashores, spreads over 80 Acres, with a broad infrastructure of modern buildings and advanced technological laboratories on an area of ​​approximately 25,000 square meters. This area includes the modern and advanced building of the Sir Harry Solomon School of Management, with classrooms that are equipped with the finest educational technology, an advanced academic library, computer rooms, student services as: a restaurant, cafeteria, shop, dental clinic, copy and print services, preservation laboratories and “The Galilee Gallery” which is a leading and innovative art gallery.