At this point it is hard to determine the overall impact of the KAM and EIMC services for the North of the Netherlands, since 2015/2016 was the first period for us to implement the Network activities. A large part of this period has been spent on getting familiar with the rules, requirements and tools.
KAM services
Because the two companies involved in a completed process were not interested in a coach, the impact was limited. The impact is limited to the insights gained by the assessment of needs and gaps. These insights led to cost savings and quality improvement. As mentioned earlier, we have supported 3 SME Instrument beneficiaries, including 2 completed case and one still on-going. None of these companies has indicated a quantitative impact, because they felt that the impact of the insights gained by the assessment of needs and gaps was hard to measure.
EIMC services
The EIMC services were experienced as very hands-on and useful. By assessing the current status of the innovation management system in the SMEs and consequently proposing and implementing an action plan to address the main bottlenecks, the SMEs were able to improve their innovation management capacities. With stronger innovation management capacities, the SMEs were able to gain a better market position and to save costs (because the management can work more efficiently and effectively). At the same time, these stronger innovation management capacities will close the gap with regards to innovation capacity and internationalization compared to the national average.
As mentioned earlier, 11 companies went through the Innovation Health Check. The companies have not indicated an increase in jobs, but did mention changing job tasks. They did indicate cost savings, but did not indicate exactly numbers. In these cases it is hard to measure exact numbers on generated impact by the supporting activities of EEN NN.
Implementation Strategy
In the Implementation Strategy we articulated the need for more information about the innovation framework programme. We described that it’s often hard for companies to find the right information about EU innovation support. The national contact point (RVO) is located in The Hague, which is seen as a barrier to contact them (long distance).
Because of the effort invested in gaining familiarity among companies in the North of the Netherlands with the Network and the KAM and EIMC services, we contributed to a better infrastructure of EU innovation support services. Companies in the North of the Netherlands do not have to go to The Hague for one-to-one EU information anymore, and therefore we are convinced that the companies in the North of the Netherlands can find the right information more easily than before.
Secondly, we offered the innovative SMEs support in turning innovative ideas into real actions. With the EIMC services, we supported them, - directly or indirectly – in developing soft skills, knowledge about IP protection and networking and so on. Because we have facilitated appropriate financial support and tailor-made coaching, we have raised awareness about the available innovation support and because we were able to match companies with knowledge institutions or other businesses, we were able to contribute to an improvement of innovation performance of local SMEs.
Last but not least, the coherence and synergy of the COSME activities and this H2020 project was very important. In some cases companies that applied for the IHC turned out not be ready for this, or after a preliminary assessment by our team it turned out that this was not what they needed. If this was the case, they were forwarded to colleagues that would be able to help them. By smart signposting the clients were optimally served and have benefit optimally of the services of the Network.
