Skills on Demand – How DiHubMT Is Upskilling Malta’s SMEs and Start-Ups

• February 26, 2026
• Andrew

Small businesses are the backbone of every European economy, yet they face a paradox that grows sharper each year. The digital technologies most likely to improve their competitiveness are also the ones they are least equipped to understand, evaluate, or afford. In Malta, a practical answer to that paradox has been built in Mrieħel, Malta, in the shape of DiHubMT, the country’s European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) and one of its most ambitious upskilling instruments for the business community.

Established by the Malta Digital Innovation Authority under the EU’s Digital Europe Programme, DiHubMT serves SMEs, start-ups, and public sector bodies with a mission that is deliberately broader than conventional business support. Its central conviction is that digital transformation cannot succeed without deep, continuous upskilling. For businesses, upskilling means far more than attending a half-day workshop on productivity software; it requires structured capability-building in advanced technologies that directly affect competitiveness.

The hub’s training offer reflects this conviction directly. DiHubMT’s skills programme targets advanced digital competencies that are reshaping every sector: artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, the Internet of Things, augmented reality, robotics, and high-performance computing. These technologies are already determining which businesses survive competitive disruption and which do not. By making structured training in these areas accessible to SMEs that could not otherwise afford it, DiHubMT tackles one of the most stubborn inequalities in the European business landscape, the widening gap between the upskilling resources available to large corporations and those accessible to small firms.

To date, DiHubMT has delivered structured training to approximately 680 participants across Malta’s SME and start-up ecosystem. Its course portfolio includes Advanced 3D Printing, Fundamentals of 3D Printing, Internet of Things (IoT), VE Cybersecurity, AI Upskilling, Microsoft 365 Training, and AWS Courses, combining technical depth with direct business applicability.

The SME Toolkit series is yet another of DiHubMT’s most visible vehicle to ensure practical upskilling. Running as a recurring programme of practical, themed sessions, it covers digital tools and productivity, data-driven decision-making, digital marketing, cybersecurity awareness, and growth strategy in digital markets. The sessions are designed for business owners and their teams, not just IT specialists. They require no prior technical expertise and focus entirely on practical application within participants’ own operations. Within the SME Toolkit framework, DiHubMT has delivered sessions such as Core Productivity Essentials, Access to EU Tenders (TED Essentials), The Missing Link, Malta as a Launchpad, and Build It Right, each addressing a distinct capability gap faced by growing enterprises. From operational efficiency to public procurement access and strategic positioning, the Toolkit translates digital knowledge into actionable business outcomes.

The Train the Trainer strand significantly extends this impact. Beyond equipping businesses directly, DiHubMT is building a multiplier network of trained professionals capable of cascading digital knowledge within their own organisations and communities. So far, the Train the Trainer programme has reached approximately 150 participants. The series has covered Financial Literacy, Cybersecurity, and 3D Printing, with dedicated AI-focused Train the Trainer courses currently in the pipeline. This approach ensures that digital capability becomes embedded within Malta’s business ecosystem rather than remaining centralised within the hub itself.

Beyond training, DiHubMT’s “Test Before Invest” workspace gives businesses hands-on access to emerging technologies in a professionally supported environment, from AI platforms to 3D fabrication and drone systems. This facility addresses a barrier that no amount of classroom training can overcome alone: the inability of small businesses to evaluate whether a technology is right for them before committing resources. Experimentation, guided by expert practitioners, turns abstract awareness into informed decision-making and reduces the risk associated with digital adoption.

The entrepreneurship dimension reinforces the upskilling mission. DiHubMT’s three-tier programme, incubator, pre-accelerator, and accelerator, guides start-ups through a structured development pathway where digital capability is built at every stage. Founders develop the technical and strategic digital fluency needed to scale in competitive markets. Partnerships with organisations such as the Malta Business Bureau, Mindset Malta, and MBM Commercial LLP anchor this support in commercial reality rather than theory.

Since launching in 2024, DiHubMT has already supported seven start-ups and delivered multiple cohorts of its Unlocking Funding series. Through Unlocking Funding, businesses have explored themes including Entrepreneurship through Acquisition, EIT Clinic engagements, The Crowdfunding Playbook, Digitalise Your SME, Technology Development Programmes in collaboration with national research bodies, follow-up workshops for scaling initiatives, and structured guidance on venture capital readiness. By demystifying EU instruments, alternative financing models, and investment pathways, the programme ensures that digital capability is matched with financial strategy.

These activities demonstrate a model that integrates skills development, experimentation, financial literacy, and entrepreneurial growth within a single national framework.

Replicating This Across the EU
The EU’s network of European Digital Innovation Hubs exceeds over 150 across it member states. However, DiHubMT demonstrates that a hub’s impact is determined not by its presence on a map, but by the depth, coherence, and integration of its upskilling, reskilling and services it offer. The model is directly replicable by any regional EDIH with modest resources and a genuine commitment to practical outcomes. The “Test Before Invest” concept can be scaled to any context where SMEs have access to a shared technology facility. What matters most, however, is the ownership model. DiHubMT works because the Malta Digital Innovation Authority has treated it as a strategic national asset, not a compliance exercise. That institutional seriousness expressed through staffing, partnerships, programme design, and delivery quality is what transforms a hub from an entry on a European database into a genuine upskilling engine. Other member states already have the framework. Malta demonstrates what it means to activate it with strategic intent.