SEIMED services to enhance innovation management capacity of SME's KAM services

Project Information

SEIMED INNOSUP

Grant agreement ID: 674812

DOI

10.3030/674812

Project closed

EC signature date 16 September 2015

Start date 1 January 2015

End date 31 December 2016

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 230 322,50

EU contribution

€ 230 322,50

Coordinated by

INSTITUTO VALENCIANO DE LA COMPETITIVIDAD EMPRESARIAL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SEIMED INNOSUP (SEIMED services to enhance innovation management capacity of SME's KAM services)

Reporting period: 2015-01-01 to 2016-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Enterprise Europe Network – SEIMED launched these two different types of services, KAM and EIMC services on 2014 and during this two year period, these services have been fine tuned with the final aim of giving the best value added to SMEs and generate the economic and social impact expected.
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.
The high success of the SME Instrument in Spain and our regions (74 SME beneficiaries until end of 2016) has boosted our dedication to implement and continue improving the KAM services.
Both EEN SEIMED partners involved, IVACE and INFO Murcia, have supported SME´s and guided 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 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 SME receives, and has the capability to benefit from the right form of support at the right time along their innovation cycles.

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 period, both regions involved in the action have had very good results in the SME Instrument EU Program. Since 2014, a total of 60 SME beneficiaries of Phase 1 (46 in Valencia and 14 in Murcia) and 14 SME beneficiaries of Phase 2 (12 in Valencia and 2 in Murcia).
Part of this success has had to do with different initiatives financed under COSME EEN SEIMED project. A total of 659 participants have attended the different SME Instrument events (594 in Valencia and 65 in Murcia) and more than 80 companies have received individualized advice.
Besides four of our KAMs did attend the event ""Pump up the KAM"" held in Brussels on the 27th and 28th of June, 2016, in order to exchange experiences with other KAMs and improve the service.
Finally, 30 cases have been closed (IVACE 24 and INFO 6), doing the needs Assessment, supporting the coach selection, validating the coaching plan and facilitating interaction between the SME, the Coach and the European Commission until the final assessment.
Both partners feel that the EIMC service is actually a very valuable ""entry service"" to get to know deeply pre-selected companies and define tailor made action plans to boost innovation and competitiveness.
Nevertheless it is very important to mention that this service has a long learning curve and needs senior innovation advisors to properly deliver value added to the companies.
Both partners are doing losts of efforts to continue improving the service and continue training the innovation advisors involved in the action. It is good to mention that 3 innovation advisors attended two IMP3rove trainings on ""Action Plan Development"" and the ""Introduction to the IMP3rove approach"" in Germany.
IVACE has invested time and resources to organise 5 workshops in collaboration with relevant innovation experts at international level on different topics to do with innovation management such as ""Innovation Strategy"", ""Design Thinking and Creativity"" or ""Agile project management"". The participation in these workshops has been linked to the EIMC services, linking also the marketing efforts of these COSME events to the promotion of the EIMC services. A total of 120 participants of 79 different companies attended the workshops and 16 of them actually fulfilled the application form to request for the EIMC service. The satisfaction questionnaires carried out during the sessions gave as a very positive feedback.
Finally 21 cases have been closed during the reporting period and there are 14 open ones (IVACE 2 closed cases and 14 open ones and INFO 19 closed cases).
"

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)

Both partners involved in the action serve 74 SME Instrument beneficiaries (60 phase 1 and 14 phase 2). All these projects have stated for a total grant of 22,7 million euro (22,1 M€ to Valencia and 2,6 M€ to Murcia).
The KAM services, assessing the gaps and needs of each innovation project and introducing appropriated coaching experts, are backing the company to accelerate the commercialization of innovations and bring good returns on investment to our regions and Europe.
On the other hand, the EIMC services, focused on mature or established companies, have worked to make SMEs management teams understand the great significance to manage innovation as a vector for future growth. Introducing Innovation from the very start of the definition of a Business Strategy and to getting to manage innovative ideas and project portfolio in an efficient manner.
The innovation advisors have agreed with the SMEs to define concrete actions to enhance innovation capacities. In our opinion guiding the company through the innovation ecosystem and helping them identify the right advice, potential collaborators and suitable programs will also have an impact on business performance.
Moreover the innovation advisor gathers first-hand information on the real needs of the companies and feedback on the impact of actual policies to share with policy makers and continuously improve programs and services offered to SMEs.

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