Periodic Reporting for period 1 - INVENTORY (INVENTORY: Unique Online B2B Marketplace for Industrial Products) Reporting period: 2016-08-01 to 2017-01-31 Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project INVENTORY is a business model innovation project with the objective to create an online business-to-business marketplace for manufacturing SMEs in the EU. It is a unique online platform that provides industrial B2B SMEs smooth and straightforward transactions while improving the functioning and speeding up the growth of the market. As the outcome, the INVENTORY project increases visibility and competitiveness of SMEs on the EU market by creating conditions for an efficient market. INVENTORY provides product recognition systems, standardised and comparable product information, real-time automated inventory management, deposit service, extensive compatibility with other software and simple set-up. These are all essential characteristics of an efficient and effective marketplace that current European market lacks. Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far During Phase 1 the technical feasibility assessment carried out consisted of five tasks 1) compatibility assessment with different software and services 2) development of product recognition and display features 3) development of product classification and categorisation feature 4) identification of key partners for technology development 5) development of the detailed action plan for technology development, localisation and upgrading. The product prototype is ready for initial testing in relevant environment. During phase 1 also market research was conducted to analyse in detail the trends and needs of target users on the initial target markets in EU. Better understanding of the relative strengths and weaknesses of INVENTORY and possible market barriers was obtained. With the technological and technical research conducted in phase 1 and in combination with a relevant market study we have now reached TRL 6. We are in the process of finalizing our technological aspects of the product, testing the business model, getting ready for product launch and starting business operations at full capacity. We need to get our technology ready for the next integrated testing level where we also need to involve other partners to ensure that we include the required competencies to operate on broad market. The important objective of this INVENTORY project is to gain European market acknowledgement and trust in us and our product. These activities will enable INVENTORY to increase the TRL of its solution to 9, defined by the product’s readiness for commercialization and scale-up. Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) INVENTORY is targeted at industrial SMEs in the EU who are seeking for opportunities to expand their client base and find new suppliers to optimize costs. It enables innovative functionalities for B2B e-commerce for every manufacturing SME who wants to expand their business through online sales. It provides high quality product and price information availability that allows every SME to buy products necessary for their specific production/business activities. It allows easy to use interface and high quality product comparison data that permits SMEs to easily and quickly find the products they are interested in purchasing. Our mission is to increase visibility and competitiveness of SMEs on the EU market by creating conditions for an efficient market. We value commitment, teamwork and passion. Our customers’ satisfaction is our number one priority. inventory-com.jpg
