The Basque Country is reaching a positive success in the SME Instrument having, up to now, 11 SME beneficiaries already working on innovation projects funded by this Instrument (April 2015). In 2014, the assigned Key Account Managers (KAMs) from the Basque Country have assisted the 3 first following beneficiaries: Graphenea, S.L. (SPRI) and Biolan Microbiosensores S.L. and Sapa Operaciones S.L. (Innobasque). Following the information, recommendations and preliminary working tools provided by the EASME, the KAMs have been working, with both the directive team and the project team, in the assessment of each SME gaps and needs, and in the identification and the selection of the most appropriate coaches. There is a fourth Basque SME beneficiary, Bioftalmik, that participated in a co-operation project led by the French company Horus Pharma. The KAM informed Bioftalmik about the EEN services.
Regarding the service offered by SPRI related to “Enhancing Innovation Management Capacities” we have started providing the service to 3 of the 4 planned companies: Innoprot, S.L. Syslan IIA and LUMA INDUSTRIAS S.A. Two of them have reached the online IMP3rove Assessment evaluating their Innovation Management in five performance dimensions: Innovation Strategy, Organisation and Culture, Innovation Life Cycle Processes, Enabling factors and Innovation results. Both companies have received the IMP3rove Assessment Report where their strengths and weaknesses in Innovation Management have been identified. The service provided to the third company, LUMA INDUSTRIAS S.A. has been limited to making the first contact meeting in which we have analyzed the main challenges of the company, present the process of the EEN programme “Services Enhancing the Innovation Management Capacity of SMEs”, present the value propositions of IMP³rove and provide them a vision of an ideal outcome of the EEN support. The rest of the service will be provided in the next year.
SPRI contacted and offered the EIMC services to a fourth SME; Grupo TTT, S.A. but due to its load of activity at the end of the year, the work could not be started in the framework of the project. Nevertheless they showed interest and the service will be provide in 2015 in the frame of the project BASKAM.
With all of this in mind, a summary of the work performed during the reporting period is the following:
Work package 1: “KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT” FOR THE BENEFICIARIES OF THE SME INSTRUMENT
The KAM services delivered for the 3 first Basque beneficiaries of the SME Instrument-Phase 1, have been carried out following the methodology proposed by the EASME. This work has been carried out following the Tasks described in our proposal:
- Task 1.1: First contact with the 3 beneficiaries of the SME Instrument: after receiving the notification from the EASME, the Coordinator of the Basque EEN KAMs assigned who acted as KAM for each beneficiary. Mrs. Garbiñe Larrauri from Innobasque was assigned as KAM for Biolan Microbiosensores S.L. and Sapa Operaciones S.L. and Dr. Arturo Antón from SPRI was assigned as KAM for Graphenea S.L.
- Task 1.2: Assessment of the SME gaps and needs and identification and selection of the lead coach: the objective of this task was to get a comprehensive analysis of the main barriers, gaps and weaknesses in the innovation cycle of the companies that might hinder the realization of their ambitious innovation projects and of their full commercial potential.
- Task 1.3: Facilitate initial coach-SME interaction to prepare a coaching plan: the 3 beneficiaries of the SME instrument have been receiving support from their respective KAM in facilitating the interaction between them and the selected coach.
- Task 1.4: Close case and initiate next steps
Work package 2: “ENHANCING SME INNOVATION MANAGEMENT CAPACITY” FOR INNOVATING SME INDEPENDENTLY FROM A SPECIFIC PROJECT
The EIMC services provided to the 3 first Basque companies have been carried out following the methodology suggested by the EASME with the 7-day support packages designed to support innovation management capacities using the IMP3rove tool as a basis for the services. The IMP3rove Academy provided SPRI with access to IMP3rove licence that included an entitlement to up to three training days on the IMP3rove methodology and use of the IMP3rove assessment tools. These trainings for EEN staff members started in October and, Amaia Martínez took part in the training session “Introduction to Innovation Management and the IMP3rove Approach” on November 11-13 in Frankfurt Germany.
The EIMC service provided to companies started after that training session and has been carried out following the tasks described in our proposal and the IMP3rove methodology:
- Task 2.1: Assessment and selection of suitable SMEs for the service at regional level
- Task 2.2: Assessment of the innovation management capacity based on performance
- Task 2.3: Analysis of the SME's gaps and needs and Action Plan development
