Provision of services to enhance the innovation management capacities of SMEs in the East of England - 2014

Project Information

EECIPInnoman

Grant agreement ID: 641528

DOI

10.3030/641528

Project closed

EC signature date 8 December 2014

Start date 1 May 2014

End date 31 December 2014

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 38 953,75

EU contribution

€ 31 163,00

Coordinated by

EXEMPLAS HOLDINGS LIMITED
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EECIPInnoman (Provision of services to enhance the innovation management capacities of SMEs in the East of England - 2014)

Reporting period: 2014-05-01 to 2014-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

During 2014 Exemplas carried out both initial Key Account Management (KAM) and Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity activities.
Exemplas engaged with two SME Instrument Phase 1 beneficiaries to provide KAM support.
Exemplas engaged with one client to provide support under the EIMC programme
The support for all three clients is continuing in 2015
Exemplas has also contributed to the development of the Coach Database through the recommendation of a number of coaches in the UK

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

EIMC activities:

We developed an initial assessment methodology which is now being further developed and adopted as part of the ENIW (England, Northern Ireland and Wales) Consortium for EIMC activities from 2015.
Two colleagues (John Christopher and Roger Hetherington) undertook IMP³rove training during 2014 and subsequently used the IMP³rove diagnostic assessment tool with one client, namely Meteor Communications (Europe) Ltd. The meeting with the client to carry out the IMP³rove assessment was held late December (17/12/2015).
The outputs of the IMP³rove diagnostic have been discussed thoroughly with the client and an action plan has been developed which is being implemented in 2015

KAM Activities:

Two colleagues - Roger Hetherington and John Christopher undertook training in the use of Oxford Innovation's GROWTHMapper diagnostic tool during 2014. This is a tool which is used by a number of UK Business Support Programmes (including the Growth Accelerator Programme) and is used to help identify coaching needs for growth aspirational businesses.

During 2014 two East of England SMEs were Phase 1 beneficiaries of the SME Instrument, namely Alterix Ltd and Forward Composites Ltd. Following the invitation from EASME our KAM Cooridnator allocated Alterix Ltd to Roger Hetherington and Forward Composites Ltd to John Christopher. Both cases were entered on the KAM Case Tracker Tool https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/KAMCaseTracker.

Meetings and various follow up calls and emails were held with both companies to engage and explain the package of support available to them and to initiate the GROWTHMapper diagnostic to assess needs and to help identify a suitable coach.

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)

EIMC Activities

The work had only commenced with one client (Meteor Communications (Euope) Ltd during 2014. Further support to implement the action plan will be provided as part of the ENIW EIMC work in 2015.


KAM Activities:

At the time of writing, Forward Composites Ltd has not yet completed the GROWTHMapper diagnostic exercise to help identify their coaching requirements. It is not yet clear whether they will take up the offer of coaching. We are continuing to discuss with them during 2015.

Alterix Ltd completed the GROWTHMapper diagnostic exercise and are continuing through the process. A coach was appointed in 2015. We will continue to manage this case during 2015 and will hopefully be able to provide information on the impact as part of the report for the work under the ENIW consortium's activity.

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