SEIMED support to enhance the innovation management of SMEs

Project Information

SEIMED-INNOSUP

Grant agreement ID: 643332

DOI

10.3030/643332

Project closed

EC signature date 12 November 2014

Start date 1 July 2014

End date 31 December 2014

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 70 000,00

EU contribution

€ 56 000,00

Coordinated by

INSTITUTO VALENCIANO DE LA COMPETITIVIDAD EMPRESARIAL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SEIMED-INNOSUP (SEIMED support to enhance the innovation management of SMEs)

Reporting period: 2014-07-01 to 2014-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Enterprise Europe Network – SEIMED has launched a new service in order to enhance the innovation management capacity of SMEs in the regions of Comunidad Valenciana y Murcia.
Both co-leaders in the Consortium, IVACE and INFO Murcia have started to support SME´s and guide them to implement effective processes in order to become more competitive and have a pro-active attitude towards the changing business environment, promoting the creation of a system that would continuously generate innovation and not only erratic and sporadic progress.
This service has been delivered by qualified innovation experts and has been linked to other support services of the Enterprise Europe Network SEIMED as well as other national and regional support services ensuring that the SMEs receive, and have the capability to benefit from the right form of support at the right time along their innovation cycles.
Furthermore, the EEN SEIMED has taken advantage of the implementation of these services to leverage potential innovation projects that could be financed by the SME Instrument EU Programme. The selection of companies for this action has been made bearing in mind the second objective of the call which has to do with supporting SME Instrument beneficiaries to succeed on bringing their innovation to the market. The EEN SEIMED has delivered Key Account Management services for the SME Instrument beneficiaries identifying weaknesses in their innovation capacities and offering suitable coaches to back up the global business innovation opportunity.

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 this pilot action the EEN SEIMED partners involved, have been able to put in place two brand new services within the framework of the Enterprise Europe Network: the services to Enhance Innovation Management Capacities (EIMC services) and the Key Account Management services (KAM services). Although the two partners had previous experience on promoting innovation management the launch of these EIMC services has required the creation of a pull of experts within each organisation and their training on the IMP3rove methodology. On the 23rd and 24th of June IVACE, as the coordinator of the action, organised an “Introduction to IMP3rove” training in Valencia giving access to IMP3rove licenses to the innovation experts involved in the project. In a very short timeframe the partners have been able to assess and benchmark 21 innovative companies in their territory and 11 of them have been offered an action plan to enhance their performance on innovation management. On the 9th of December IVACE organised an event addressed to those companies that had been assessed by the IMP3rove methodology in order to offer them a wide rage of experts and consultants in the field that could help them on the day by day implementation of an innovation management system (34 attendees). Regarding the KAM services, the Valencia region in the call for proposal of June 2014 gathered 6 companies beneficiaries of the SME Instrument. On the 29th of October IVACE organised a meeting with all the beneficiaries to inform them on the KAM services and convince them on the benefits of the business coaching. Finally 5 out of these 6 companies received KAM services including the selection of a coach suitable for their needs. Five of them have signed and benefited from the coaching services.

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)

In order to promote the EIMC and KAM services both partners have included in their standard EEN SEIMED presentations the brand new services. Furthermore specific meetings with SMEs and Technological centres have been organised to optimize the selection of companies that could actually benefit from the EIMC services and hopefully from the KAM services as well. IVACE, in this pilot action has leaned on two technological centres in the region that represent two of the target sectors in our Regional Innovation Strategy: the Agrofood Technology Centre AINA (Food Sector) and the Biomechanical Valencian Institute IBV (Quality of Life). This collaboration has facilitated the pre-selection of innovative companies that could be interested in implementing an innovation management system. At least in 6 thematic H2020 infodays organised by IVACE it has been presented the SME Instrument and the KAM services to the audience (492 attendees). All companies that have received EIMC services have been included in our customer relationship management tool and therefore have been forwarded the EEN satisfaction questionnaire for them to assess the service.

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