Final Report Summary - INCAS (Intellectual capital statement - made in Europe)
To obtain competitive advantage in Europe, it is crucial for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to utilise knowledge efficiently and to enhance their innovation potential. Furthermore, reporting those intangible assets systematically to customers, partners and investors as well as creditors has become a critical success factor.
Thus, managing their specific 'intellectual capital' (IC) becomes increasingly important for future-oriented organisations. Current balance sheets and controlling instruments are not sufficient anymore, because intangible assets are not taken into consideration by conventional methods. IC can prove particularly useful in the development, production and selling of a company's products and services. It covers a diversified knowledge area, ranging, for instance, from staff qualification and motivation, leadership and management structures, to organisational capacities or relations to the market. Overall, IC is a crucial resource in gaining an advantage over competition, and in ensuring the future success of a business. However, such a powerful resource naturally requires an appropriate operating instrument.
The collective research project INCAS aimed at implementing ICS in 25 European SMEs, based on an EU-wide consolidated ICS methodology and at raising the awareness for ICS in over 1 000 SMEs across Europe. To achieve these objectives, a thorough analysis of researchers and developers (RTD) on existing, but scattered ICS approaches was required in order to identify common grounds, cultural differences and national requirements. INCAS places the emphasis on a practical approach, suitable for SMEs, combined with maximum benefit regarding the improvement of exploitation of existing IC and revealing unused innovation potentials.
Focusing on an SME core group in five core branches, the project aimed at minimising complexity and implementation efforts. A systematic dissemination of the developed European ICS guideline was carried out by a consortium of multipliers in five core countries. The tested ICS methodology set pre-normative standards for assessing and reporting IC in European SMEs.
Summarising all research results and practical experiences as well as the reviews of IC experts, the capital market and standardisation bodies, the project published a 'European guideline for intellectual capital statements' serving as an instruction manual for further SME-users as well as defining minimal standards for IC benchmarking activities. It contains the experiences from the pilot implementations as well as practical guidance for ICS moderators and SMEs.
To enable SMEs and trainers, a software tool (ICS toolbox) to support and accelerate the ICS process was developed, taking the experiences of the pilot-SMEs into consideration. Consisting of several components for methodical support and data management the final ICS toolbox is a significant part of the ICS methodology as well as the INCAS training programme.
Thus, managing their specific 'intellectual capital' (IC) becomes increasingly important for future-oriented organisations. Current balance sheets and controlling instruments are not sufficient anymore, because intangible assets are not taken into consideration by conventional methods. IC can prove particularly useful in the development, production and selling of a company's products and services. It covers a diversified knowledge area, ranging, for instance, from staff qualification and motivation, leadership and management structures, to organisational capacities or relations to the market. Overall, IC is a crucial resource in gaining an advantage over competition, and in ensuring the future success of a business. However, such a powerful resource naturally requires an appropriate operating instrument.
The collective research project INCAS aimed at implementing ICS in 25 European SMEs, based on an EU-wide consolidated ICS methodology and at raising the awareness for ICS in over 1 000 SMEs across Europe. To achieve these objectives, a thorough analysis of researchers and developers (RTD) on existing, but scattered ICS approaches was required in order to identify common grounds, cultural differences and national requirements. INCAS places the emphasis on a practical approach, suitable for SMEs, combined with maximum benefit regarding the improvement of exploitation of existing IC and revealing unused innovation potentials.
Focusing on an SME core group in five core branches, the project aimed at minimising complexity and implementation efforts. A systematic dissemination of the developed European ICS guideline was carried out by a consortium of multipliers in five core countries. The tested ICS methodology set pre-normative standards for assessing and reporting IC in European SMEs.
Summarising all research results and practical experiences as well as the reviews of IC experts, the capital market and standardisation bodies, the project published a 'European guideline for intellectual capital statements' serving as an instruction manual for further SME-users as well as defining minimal standards for IC benchmarking activities. It contains the experiences from the pilot implementations as well as practical guidance for ICS moderators and SMEs.
To enable SMEs and trainers, a software tool (ICS toolbox) to support and accelerate the ICS process was developed, taking the experiences of the pilot-SMEs into consideration. Consisting of several components for methodical support and data management the final ICS toolbox is a significant part of the ICS methodology as well as the INCAS training programme.
