"Particular attention has been given to the internal coordination of the KAM and EIMC activities as new services for the EEN and the organisation of smart signposting of clients within the VEBIN consortium in charge of the overall EEN activities in the region, and to ensure a close interaction with the NCPs for Horizon 2020 in Flanders (more specifically the NCP for SMEs and the NCP for Access to Finance) .
An important element in the project management is also the interaction with the local support ecoosystem for SMEs in the region. The focus of the project has therefore been on smart signposting, delivery of high quality service with a distinct Europan added value, taking into account the existence of local support systems and thus respecting the principle of additionality.
The first cut off evaluations of the SME instrument in 2014 resulted only in a very limited number of Flemish companies having been selected. Therefore we diligently looked into the causes there might have been for this and how we could remediate this through our own services.
This resulted in an even more close cooperation with the NCPs in the region and with other stakerholders. We also identified some weaknesses on the internationalisation strategy of SME instrument potential candidates and remediate this since 2015 with our consortium partner Flanders Investment and Trade, the Flemish agency for internationalisation. Another weak point is the ""investment readiness"" of our clients: we pay enormous attention to this and signpost them to other stakeholders in order to help them remediate this weakness. Undoubtedly, this will be a major point of attention also in 2017 in view of the next Phase 3 of the SME instrument coming into force.
The main success factor of our approach has been the organisation, at regular intervals, of a ""challenge"" during which beneficiaries can discuss their business case with a panel of four of our EEN experts (financial aspects, strategic business development in general, and more specifically marketing aspects and internationalisation strategy, IPR and certification issues, ...). During ths one-hour discussion major attention is also given to the H2020 societal challenges making the SMEs aware of how to embed their own project in the overall EU strategy to tackle the main societal challenges.
Particular attention has also been given to the mastering of convincing storytelling as we detected major weaknesses with regard to this aspect among the majority of our clients. We also organised a specific workshop on this with external experts, and we will definitely plan further focus on this aspect also in the following contract period.
Evaluating the results of the first cut-offs resulted also in another more focussed communication strategy for the SME instrument among the Flemish business community.
Further efforts have also been made to promote the programme among potential coaches in the region and to encourage them to apply for registration at EASME for future coaching assignments.
In 2015-2016 a total of 15 clients received KAM services, while 64 clients received EIMC services. Important to note is that from the 64 clients that received EIMC services in this two-years period 5 obtained a Phase 1 SME instrument grant, 1 obtained a Phase 2 grant in the January 2017 cut off, and 18 obtained a Seal of Excellence for the SME instrument (both Phase 1 and Phase2) in the course of the 2015-2016 period.
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