The Austrian consortium supported 44 SMEs in addressing factors hindering successful innovation cycles. Activities were targeted at (1) providing substantial consulting and support services in the form of key account management (KAM) to beneficiaries of the Horizon 2020 SME instrument and at (2) enhancing the innovation management capacity (EIMC) of SMEs. The figure given refers to cases started and completed within the period 2015-2016, while many more clients were supported in 2016 with services still ongoing.
Within the frame of the SME instrument, partners conducted company assessments, identified weaknesses in the SMEs’ innovation strategies and subsequently helped SMEs to assign professional coaches. These coaches then jointly developed a coaching plan with the SME and addressed these weaknesses. This process was facilitated and accompanied by the Enterprise Europe Network expert. Further support (e.g. the link to additional financial resources) was provided and the SMEs thereby received a vital consulting service free of charge throughout the SME instrument project. The majority of SMEs utilized and highly appreciated the KAM’s efforts and services and considered the business coaching as a very valuable support.
In addition to the SME instrument, the partners directly supported high-potential SMEs in improving their innovation management. This was achieved through targeted innovation management consulting by senior staff members of the consortium. Thereby, SMEs in need of this specific type of consulting were reached, which could not benefit from the H2020 SME instrument while still showing a high potential for successful market introduction of innovations and international growth. The EIMC services, and especially the acquisition of SMEs, proved to be very time-consuming as SMEs often do not see innovation management as a necessary tool in their daily business. Neglecting this aspect, however, is usually very costly as it causes delays or failure of bringing innovative ideas successfully to the market. SMEs that utilized the EIMC services valued the services highly, even the ones that in the beginning doubted the usefulness and impact of innovation management.
The services were fully integrated into the work programme of the Enterprise Europe Network, linked to its other support services and closely coordinated with the National Contact Points and relevant regional and national stakeholders. This approach guaranteed a high quality of services promoting the successful introduction of Austrian innovations to the European and international market.
